The city of rivers and bay

Among the nicknames that identify Matanzas, the City of Rivers and City of Bridges are prominent. Many claim that the fluidity of the currents has tempered the imprint of those who are born and die here. The first reference in the Canto a Matanzas, by the poet Carilda Oliver Labra, is precisely to a spring next to the Yumurí estuary: the Pon Pon, a magical place immortalized in legends and poems. And whoever describes the city has the flow of rivers and bay as the first distinctive element.

The neighborhood called Matanzas itself is distanced from Pueblo Nuevo by the waters of the San Juan, while on the opposite bank of the Yumurí lies the neighborhood of Versalles. Whoever travels to Varadero will be surprised by the beauty of Canímar. Eighteen bridges have been built over the three rivers, to which the majestic Bacunayagua, the border between the province and the municipalities of Havana, joins.

Various artistic works have been dedicated to the bay, to these river avenues and to the roads that cross them, and they shine in literature, music and the plastic arts. The gentleness of its waters, which at times can become threatening, is said to have determined the internal rhythm of the original or adopted Matanzas resident, who walks without haste, admires clouds and waves, listens to chirps and dreams, absorbed, both with a past of alleys and cobblestones, and with futures of hope.

Matanzas will forever be marked by that element that shimmers under the breeze, curls up and challenges, and that marks those who love this City of Bridges, City of Rivers.

Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon