In an attempt to be more productive and feel like we’re not just waiting around in Havana while our work papers make their way through the circuitous route of Cuban democracy, we decided to go on a field trip. The location we chose was described by the Lonely Planet as being Cuba’s oldest eco-village, started in the 60’s as a reforestation project and seemed to have been self-sustaining since then.
We looked into various options of how to get there and our new friends told us about a tour that happens through the Hotel Parque Central. After some inquiry and price comparisons, we settled on the Spanish tour, leaving at 7:30am on Thursday.
Thursday morning saw us managing an early wake-up, which included E making us some much-needed coffees and me making us a hearty breakfast to prepare us for our day of exploring the alleged natural beauty of the area.
The bus was leaving from the Capitolio, so we made our way there in two separate maquinas. E and I showed up first, walked by a dead dog that was lying on the sidewalk, ignored all the men trying to get us to choose their taxi, and found our little tour bus.
An upside to being up at such an ungodly hour is that it’s not unbearably hot yet!
Entonces, we all arrived on time and the tour guia introduced herself as Svetlana. I later found out the she had moved to Cuba 20 years ago with her Cuban husband, who she had met while he was studying abroad in one of those ex-soviet, communist countries. When she spoke Spanish, it sounded to me like she was speaking English! I’m improving. The accent here still trips me up, but I’m improving.
Our guide described the activities of the day to us in the first few minutes of the drive and then left us to ourselves while a music video of old classics played on the screen at the front of the bus. Within 5 minutes, E and I were rocking out to “Take on me".
We arrived to Las Terrazas after a gorgeous drive through the countryside and up some beautiful hills. Our first stop was by a big lake where we were fed welcome coctails of rum, orange fanta and cola. There was the option of non-alcoholic beverages, thank goodness. While we downed our welcome drinks, a live band played music by a man who had grown up in Las Terrazas... Polo something. 
We were herded back onto the bus with our local guide and were driven to the first stop: the Canopy Tour. Not included in the price of the tour of course. Everyone on our little bus opted to pay the extra 7CUCs to do it, while we walked around on our own and tried to find out what part of the village was "eco". We were at a loss. There was a little pond with beautiful white and pink lotus flowers, teeny fish and the indigenous beer cans, bottles of rum and juice boxes that grow rampant in that part of the country.
We headed back to meet our tour guide with even more questions. Neither Svetlana nor the local guide were able to answer our very simple queries about the reforestation project that had started in that area over 3 decades ago. Thankfully, the man who was working at the Canopy Tour cash register was able to explain that Las Terrazas used to be used for lumber and coal making so the entire area had been degraded. Several individuals started replanting trees there in the 60s and managing the land differently. When other people saw that they could actually make a living there, the community grew. The man mentioned that there had previously been a nursery to grow the trees on-site, but it had fallen into disrepair recently with changes in how people are paid for their work here.
That was basically the extent of what we learned. The next stop on the tour after the zip line was Maria's house. Who is Maria you may ask? We have no idea. I asked the tour guide who Maria was, why she was important, and why this was part of the tour. In response, the tour guide pointed to a little old woman who was watching us from a balcony over the cafe and then walked away, without answering my other queries.
After Maria's house, we were driven along a dirt path to a little river that supposedly has healing powers. We had a very nice lunch by the river and then we were left to our own devices for the next 4 hours so that we could relax in the water. At this point we were too far away from the town to go back and walk around and ask more questions of people. 
All in all... not an ideal research field trip to find out about eco-villages in Cuba.
That was the extent of what we learned.
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