Exclusive Travel Series to Cuba 2015
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Cuba is the
largest island of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Cuba’s land area
is 42,426 square miles (same size as Pennsylvania) with a population of 11
million (same as Ohio). Havana is the largest city on the island with a
population of 2.1 million (same as Houston, Texas).
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Editor’s
note: Throughout June 2015 on a daily
basis this blog will feature articles, photos and insights resulting from what
we dubbed our group: the April 23 Brigade’s Tour of Cuba 2015.
TOUR OVERVIEW.
The
Discovery/Gate 1 tour we took out of Miami lasted eight
days. We traveled by a charter 737 to
Cienfuegos then to Trinidad, Santa Clara, Playa Giron before reaching Havana.
From
Miami, a U.S. tour guide led our 20-person group. Once on Cuban soil a bi-lingual Cuban guide
and bus driver joined us. The trio
provided excellent leadership and made the experience truly one of a lifetime.
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| Discovery/Gate 1 Tour of April 23-May 1, 2015 |
As this
was a bi-government sanctioned tour, it was not surprising we stayed in two of
Cuba’s best hotels (Hotel Jagua/Cienfuegos and Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana). Another surprise greeted us immediately. The Cuban people like us—they really do. This was experienced on-tour and during our
limited free time off-tour.
Our days
in Cuba were basically from 8 am until after dinner. “This was work,” offered one tourgoer. Because of the jammed schedule we saw a lot.
No siesta
for the wicked on this tour. As a
result, the overload of educational and inquisitive fabric of the tour exposed
the artistic, architectural and educational side of Cuban life to random U.S
citizens.
By
visiting Trinidad and Santa Clara on day trips from Cienfuegos, we were able to
witness more rural life and within each small town we noticed a common blend of
art schools, senior centers, museums, farms, historic sites, shopping areas,
tourist centers that reflected a socialist uniformity found in larger cities.
Havana
was next as we left Cienfuegos. But
first we drove to Playa Giron to visit the small seaside village on the east
side of the Bay of Pigs, where in the 60s an ill-fated Anti-Castro armed
invasion was repulsed.
We toured
the Giron Museum, a site devoted to the war logistics of the invasion; from
there we had a terrific lunch at Hotel Enrique, a home that doubles as a
restaurant. The owner is a local
fisherman, who caught our lunch. The red
snapper there was the freshest and best prepared.
Cubans
around Giron were busy fishing and catering to the large influx of Euro and
Canadian tourists, who love scuba diving.
The bathwater warm Caribbean beckons snorkeling and old fashioned beach
camping and horse back riding.
From
Giron to Havana we drove through countryside not unlike a hillier version of
America’s great plains with sugar cane fields and mango groves instead of miles
of growing wheat and corn.
Entering
Havana’s Hotel Nacional porte cochere was in the nick of time as a huge
tropical downpour entertained us from top floor windows (five inches of rain in
two hours with a light show of thunder and lighting never seen in San
Diego). Streets were flooded in Havana
for several days.
What’s
nice about the tropics is the rain goes away in time for a beautiful sunset
over a colorfully painted city that claims 500 years of history. Ancient Detroit built cars drive by countless
buildings needing maintenance, especially around the malecon, the famed seaside
road.
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| Gate 1 U.S. tour guide Daniel Guzman (5 stars) Photography by Bruce Henderson |
Be sure
to find a map with street names because finding street signs in real time will
be difficult. Cabs and pedicabs are
plentiful while public buses are slow. A
physically fit bike cab driver will get you anywhere you wish in Havana faster
than granddad’s ’49 Chevy, especially in rush hour traffic.
Havana is
what you want it to be. Tailor your
adventure to music, the arts, vintage deco and colonial architecture, old cars,
great cuisine and an entire city of bargain shopping. If you’re a fan of scaffolding and huge
cranes then you’ve found your mecca because Havana is being restored one
building at a time (including the national capitol).
Of
course, you want a Cuban cigar. Don’t
buy it off the street because there’s no telling where they were made—probably
Miami. No doubt your tour will take you
to the Spanish era fortress across Havana harbor. At Castillo del Morro you will find a
terrific rum and cigar store with good prices.
Plus, you’ll see the fort and witness great views of the city across the
bay. Save your shopping for the cobblestone streets and alleys of Old
Havana.
Because
Gate1 travel provided lecturers to discuss with us the political and economical
aspects of the Communist/Socialist country of 11 million, we had a chance to
ask questions.
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Norkis, our Cuban tour guide extraordinaire
Photography by Bruce Henderson
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For many
on the tour, the reason for signing up now was to see Cuba before Euro and USA
fast-food and chain retail outlets overwhelmed the island.
Albeit,
Cubans we spoke with said they are looking forward to change in what ever form
it takes. They quickly add they do not
fear more commercial modernization because—in the words of a Cuban architect we
met—“we are capable of deciding for ourselves what is good for Cuba.”
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Adrian,
our intrepid bus driver throughout the tour, points to where he parked the
bus. The group gathered outside El
Dorado, our lunch restaurant in the town of Trinidad, Cuba.
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Our walking tour arrived in Old
Havana, where a young architect involved in the government’s challenge of
restoring 17th and 18th century buildings, led us through
several plazas. From him we learned that
the government owns the land, but the residents own their “space.” A building cannot be rehabbed unless all the
tenants agree to move. If they move they
get a free apartment in the suburbs of Havana.
But many, would rather live in decaying buildings than move from their
beloved Old Havana. A big problem, said
the architect.
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Bruce Henderson from San Diego
has kindly shared many of his
images for this blog.
We highlight our fellow tourgoer’s
photography throughout our coverage.
In
this photo, Bruce has found
a bit of shade in Trinidad, where noon temperature
soared to 100 degrees. |
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Photographer Phyllis Shess
contributed many images for
our coverage.
She’s in Cienfuegos
posing with one of the few cats
in Cuba allowing tourists to get
up close and personal. |
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Mike Shess, publisher of a San
Diego based craft beer magazine, West Coaster, was on the trip. We share many of Mike’s images in this blog
and we appreciated his Spanish skills as a translator. Here Mike is about to finish his first Cuban
beer, Cristal, in the Hall of Heroes bar in the Hotel Nacional in Havana. Mike gave it a thumbs up, especially at the
end of 100 degree day.
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Thanks to a wonderful serendipity, Gary Payne and his wife, Zoraida, were on another People to People tour of Cuba about the same time as our group. Gary is one of San Diego's top magazine photographers, whose work has appeared internationally. We appreciate Gary's kindness in sharing many of his images.
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