CUBAN HEIGHTS

The fecund flatlands are disjoined by three mountain zones, where the air is cool and inviting and roads dip and rise through very untropical-looking countryside. Each of the three "alturas" offers its own compelling beauty, with cool pine forest and sparkling lakes.

The westernmost is the slender, low-slung Sierra del Rosario and Sierra de los Organos that together constitute the Cordillera de Guaniguanico, forming a backbone along the length of northern Pinar del Río province and rising to 692 meters atop sugarloaf-shaped Pan de Guajaibón. In their midst is the striking Valle de Viñales, a classic karst landscape of limestone formations called "mogotes" that rise abruptly from the plain.

The compact Sierra del Escambray rises steeply from the coast of west-central Cuba, dominating eastern Cienfuegos and southern Villa Clara provinces, with slender fingers extending east into Sancti Spiritus province.

A third mountain zone, incorporating several adjacent ranges, overshadows the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo and spills over into Holguin province. To the west, the precipitous ranges of the Sierra Maestra rise steeply from the sea, culminating atop Pico Turquino at 1,974 meters. They extend from Cabo Cruz eastward 250 kilometers to Guantánamo Bay, interrupted only by the small depression and bay in which nestles the city of Santiago de Cuba.   To the east, the folded ranges of the Cuchillas del Toa, Sierra de Puriscal, and Sierra de Cristal are separated from the Sierra Maestra by the Nipe Plateau.