Museo Arqueológico Cueva del Paraíso
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The highlight of Baracoa is Museo Arqueológico Cueva del Paraíso (no tel., Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 8 a.m.–noon, CUC2), inside a cave on the southern side of town. Aboriginal artifacts, carvings, and jewelry, plus skeletons (one possibly being the cacique Guamá, who rebelled against Spain) are displayed within floodlit glass cases ensconced within crevices between the dripstone formations.
A funerary cave has skeletons in situ; access is via makeshift wooden scaffolding: you clamber at your own risk!
Follow Calle Moncada uphill to a tiny traffic circle; the museum is signed from here.
Other caves with dripstone formations and Taíno petroglyphs (one of which local archaeologists purport represents Columbus’s three caravels) are protected in Parque Natural Majayara, east of town. It was closed to visitors at last visit.
© Christopher P. Baker from Moon Cuba, 5th Edition
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