The Varadero you don't know
Here is a French translation of an article by Ciro Bianhi Ross
"It was Sebastián de Ocampo, in his bojeo de la Isla, the first European to visit Varadero in 1508, famous first for its salt flats and then for its quarries before becoming one of the fundamental poles of Cuban tourism. Do you know how it grew? I am going to dedicate today's space to talk about a Varadero that you do not know.
The Temporadista movement began in Varadero around 1840 and in 1883 a nascent tourist industry was created when Mamerto Villar established an inn and hostel service, a business that the city of Cárdenas considered so rare that it ended up exempting it from paying taxes.
That same year, Antonio Torres created the Torres Kiosk for the sale of soft drinks and fried fish. This establishment prospered and is today considered the embryo of the great hotels opened in Varadero during the Republic. It was in 1883 that the complex acquired legal status when ten investors shared equally the two land cavalries [?] of the Varadero estate. In 1888, Torres added several rooms and two wooden and tiled houses to his kiosk. The establishment soon became a cultural center and a few years later, Villar transformed his inn into a motel. A new city was promoted in the spa and the Varadero Sports Club emerged.
With the advent of the Republic, in 1902, Torres began to provide a restaurant service throughout the year. In 1910, the first beach hotel opened its doors and, after the end of World War I, a restaurant was set up in a ranchón in the Kawama region. The regattas, originally convened in 1900, were systematized from 1910. In 1913, the telephone arrived and in 1915, public lighting with carbide lanterns was lit until nine at night. Electricity arrived in 1917. However, in 1919, only 193 people regularly resided in Varadero. It could not be otherwise in a place where public hygiene was disastrous and there was no drinking water.
In the 1920s, despite the economic crisis, Torres made his establishment a hotel worth considering, and the Kukito bar, with its ballroom, was the embryo of the 1930s of the future tourist centers of the region. The American millionaire, Irene Dupont de Nemours, acquired land on the peninsula, built her mansion in Xanadú in the best area of the beach and created a land sales company.
The aqueduct has existed since 1928. The shell and snail crafts, which were very popular with visitors to the spa, began to be marketed in Havana, thanks to the La Sortija store, and arrived in the United States. In 1931, the Kawama Hotel began to provide services. From there, there was a dizzying growth of recreational and nightlife centers and by 1933, there were five beach hotels, not to mention the pensions. In 1938, the Varadero bakery was in operation. Around the same time, the first service center was established in Kawama and the cinema arrived in this seaside resort. Two years later, an industrial products store opened its doors and would focus on beach items and fashionable textile clothing. A laundry with home collection and delivery was also inaugurated. With the establishment of these last services, Varadero was already able to begin receiving tourism.
Communication routes have improved considerably since the construction of the highway in 1911 from the city of Cárdenas. In 1933, the railways opened their Havana-Cárdenas section and, in 1935, an air link provided the connection to the island's capital. In 1949, Miami-Varadero-Miami flights began.
The network of services to the population and tourists becomes vast and varied at this stage with the opening of an ice factory, a radio station and new commercial establishments. Two events will close the decade: the inauguration, on December 21, 1950, of the International Hotel , costing three million pesos, and the drilling, in Cayo Diana, of an oil well, the exploitation of which is not continued. In 1952, the permanent population exceeded 7,000 inhabitants.
In 1935, the first tourist guide of the spa was published in English. In the 40s of the last century, tourism had already replaced all other economic elements in Varadero. At the beginning of the 50s, the territory had sixteen hotels, to which six more would be added until 1959 for a total of twenty-three hotel establishments. At that time, 18 guest houses, 30 recognized and duly registered discos and 17 gastronomic units were operating in Varadero, a figure that did not include cafes or bars."
The original Spanish version of this article is available from the following link:
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