Bayamo Travel Video - Predating both Havana and Santiago, and cast for time immemorial as the city that kick-started Cuban independence, Bayamo has every right to feel self-important. Yet somehow it doesnt. The citys affectionate name-tag, ciudad de los coches (coches means horsecarts) is a far more telling appraisal of its ambiance: an easygoing, slow-paced, trapped-in-time place that is less about industrial drive and more about, well, horses. Cubas balmiest provincial capital resounds to the clip-clop of hooves and an estimated 40% of the population utilize the four-legged friends each day for getting about. Thats not to say that bayameses arent aware of their history. Como España quemó a Sagunto, así Cuba quemó a Bayamo, (As the Spanish burnt Sagunto, the Cubans burnt Bayamo,) wrote José Martí in the 1890s, highlighting the sacrificial role that Bayamo has played in Cubas convoluted historical development. But while the self-inflicted 1869 fire might have destroyed many of the citys classic colonial buildings (dont worry -- theres still plenty left), it didnt undermine its underlying spirit or its long-standing traditions. Amazing Bayamo Travel Video

• published: 11 Aug 2014
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