Florencia's landscapes, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba

(Florencia's landscape, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A7)
Florencia is a municipality located in the northwestern portion of the province of Ciego de Avila, in the central region of Cuba. It is known for the beauty of its picturesque landscapes of mountains, valleys, and lush vegetation of tropical climate, so much so that it is called in Cuba as "the municipality of beautiful landscapes".

(taken from Google Earth and modified by author)

From north to south the sequence of landscape units is constituted by the "Lomas de Florencia", the Central Valley and the Alturas del Cacahual.

(Lomas de Florencia, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A7)
The Lomas de Florencia are the eastern termination of a chain of elevations that comes from the province of Sancti Spíritus known as "Sierra de Jatibonico". These elevations, in the municipality of Florencia reach altitudes of more than 450 meters above sea level, and from the landscape point of view they are submountains of tectonic origin that raise rocks coming from the old Bahamas Platform, constituted fundamentally by limestones and other carbonate rocks. They are karstified and covered with semi-deciduous and evergreen forest vegetation. There are numerous caves and they are cut by the Jatibonico del Norte River, which dives into the subterranean mantle below this mountain range and comes out to the surface again on the other side.

(Central hilly plain of Florencia, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A7)

The Central Valley lies between this mountain range and the Alturas del Cacahual mountain range to the south. The main towns and urban centers of the municipality are located in this region. From the landscape point of view it corresponds to erosive fluvial plains on rocks of the geological basement of Cuba, where rocks of volcanic, oceanic and mantle of the Earth origin outcrop.

(Jasper stone found by the author on the plains, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A7)

It has precious stones such as jaspers, agates and amethysts. Its soils are very good for agricultural work, and they grow various types of food such as beans, tropical fruits, viands, etc., and tobacco for trade. It also has a large reservoir in which fishing activities are developed.

(Alturas del Cacahual, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A7)
The Alturas del Cacahual are a chain of elevations that limits and closes the Central Valley to the south and east, until it meets to the northeast with the end of the hills of Florencia. They are tectonic elevations that raise limestone rocks, karstified, with numerous springs that sprout on its northern slope. They are covered by lush forest and scrub vegetation, and are home to numerous species of birds, reptiles and mammals.

Undoubtedly, it is a marvel of Cuban nature.