In 1968, President Fidel Castro forged the idea of a green revolution: he would reforest the mountains that had been logged by Spanish conquistadors, plant fruit trees in areas destroyed by coffee plantations, and nurture land ripped up by hurricanes; and he would improve the lives of Cuba’s campesinos (in this part of the island, mainly illiterate charcoal makers) who lived in poverty in remote rural ridges of the Sierra del Rosario mountains. The young community of Las Terrazas grew, its inhabitants known as terraceros. But in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and with it, Cuba’s economy. “We were forced to make ‘steaks’ from grapefruit rind, and ‘beef stew’ from banana skins to survive,” guide Leonardo Peréz explains. With the fate of the community at stake, Osmany Cienfuegos opened Las Terrazas to tourism.