Agrotourism and more: An idea worth exploring

HAVANA — Practically lost in the map of Cuba’s geography there is a rural community that, thanks to many people, is betting on a decorous and prosperous future, due basically to the effort of its own residents, who in no way view the city as a safe haven.

What is happening in La Picadora, Mayajigua, municipality of Yaguajay, province of Sancti Spiritus, is worthy of admiration and imitation, now that the country is engaged in a process of reforms or transformations, where the State no longer follows the erroneous concept that it must look after absolutely everything.

Simply permitting and supporting experiences like this is more than enough.

Two hundred and twenty-seven people live in 88 dwellings. The men number 115; the women, 97; the children, 15. The main source of income is farming, with 45 farmers in the Manuel Montaña cooperative and 8 in the Baraguá Centenary cooperative.

To La Picadora, almost 400 km. east of Havana, came an international multidisciplinary workshop called “Tourism, Patrimony and Community: Experiences for Local Development.”

The event, conducted by Vanessa Vázquez Sánchez, a doctor in biological science at the School of Biology of the University of Havana, was sponsored by the Montané Anthropological Museum, part of the School of Biology of Havana University; the Brazilian firm Sociombiental Projetos; Prodel (Projects of Local Development), and the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP).

Sixteen issues were submitted for debate in the presence of the president and vice president of the municipal government.

At this kind of event, it usually happens that, once the discussion and analysis of the experts’ presentations have ended, the accords and recommendations are promptly shelved.

The opposite happened there, because the workshop contributed to the continuation of the status quo. For some time now, La Picadora has seen a turn in the behavior of its almost 200 residents.

I am told that the workshop sessions were attended by every responsible person who, in some way or other, is associated with the town. To some, it was a predictable event; to others, it was a pleasant and necessary surprise.

Armando Rangel Rivero, doctor in Historical Science and director of the Montané Museum, knows the region well and spoke to the residents of La Picadora about the history, the archeology and the patrimony of the community and its environs.

Rangel confessed to Progreso Weekly his admiration for those people.

“Like few in the country, they face the daily problems with a great desire to solve them. Look at the lime kilns, the brick factory, the preserves factory, the transportation of children to school, which they do with their own means. They are an example to many. They have an extraordinary energy, with which they tackle their own reality.”

Brazilian Dr. Ines de Oliveira Noronha is a fervent supporter and promoter of whatever happens in La Picadora. The residents respect and admire her, an active value that goes beyond any material purpose.

At the end of the Anthropos 2015 Congress in Havana, she packed her bags, rented a car and didn’t stop driving until she reached the town, some 20 kilometers from Yaguajay and 3 kms. from the famed baths at Lagos de Mayajigua.

“This is a very important experience because I also do community work in my country,” she told me.

A singular experience 

La Picadora prepares for an endeavor of singular attractiveness and proven results at an international level: agrotourism in the well-known “country houses.” The word “agrotourism” was perhaps coined by a tourist agent, but in the rest of the world it is as old as history itself.

In the range of interests that could appeal to a foreign visitor is spending full days in a different environment and coexist with the natives, to enjoy their hospitality and wisdom, gained from their contact with Mother Nature.

Some foreign tourists look for 18-hole golf courses but others want to see how a farmer milks a cow. Or they want to photograph birds in flight or learn about ancient farming tools that are still in use.

In Greece, for example, more travelers stay in private homes than in hotels.

Cuba has still not launched that style of tourism, which is widespread in many other countries because it contributes to the well-being of rural dwellers.

That’s the opinion of Esther Denis Pérez, a community labor leader and promoter of agrotourism. She lived those experiences in Spain and is the wife of José Ángel Rodríguez Sánchez, a political delegate in the region.

Every two years, international events involving archeology and paleontology take place in their area.

The plan conceived for La Picadora envisions welcoming tourists to the homes of local farmers; exchanges with the visitors about how crops are grown in their countries; attention to different species of domestic animals; the study of local vegetation; the appreciation of local identity in terms of culture and traditions; visits to archeological and paleontological sites, and observation of (and participation in) the production of lime kilns.

Four representatives from La Picadora presented their experiences during the workshop. One was Elvira Sierra Díaz of the Simón Bolívar People’s Council (in Cuba, the People’s Councils are part of the government system, with the direct participation of citizens). The council had organized a “mini-factory” that produced more than 20 types of preserves.

A plan for an agrotour called “Man and the Tilling of the Soil” included a visit to the country estate known as Las Meliponas, which features cultural traditions and local crafts; horse rides and trips on ox-drawn carts or horse-drawn carriages; the observation of the rural landscape from a plateau called La Loma Grande, and visits to local historic sites.

La Picadora and its residents deserve a better future, with more prosperity, because they want to achieve it with their own resources and initiatives. They’re not stealing, not embezzling, not “rerouting resources.” Corruption does not grow in their fields. They just work. That’s what they do best.

Hopefully, luck will smile upon them and they’ll do well, will welcome tourists to their community and make their two cooperatives an example to the province and the country.

(Photo at top: The figure of a farmer welcomes visitors to the community.)