Cuba from east to west--February 9 to 20, 2017

dancers by the sea wall in Gibara

We're leading our second group trip to Cuba in February, 2017.  I've blogged about our previous 2 trips to Cuba before, so I'll just discuss some of our thoughts about and favorite experiences traveling in this beautiful island country.

monument to Che Guevara, Santiago

Most American tourists only visit Havana and, perhaps, the Vinales Valley to the west or Trinidad to the east on day trips.  If you can take the time, we think seeing the entire island is well worth the extra time and effort.

mural at Compas Dance Group, Havana

For one thing, amazingly enough on such a small island, the culture differs significantly from east to west.  The eastern part of the island is more Afro-Cuban, while Havana was strongly influenced by the centuries of Spanish and American colonial rule and the hordes of rich tourists who sought it out during its hedonistic heyday.

Moncada Barracks, Santiago, site of failed attack by Castro's rebels

Fidel Castro started his revolution in Santiago de Cuba, on the eastern end of the country, and chose to be buried there after his recent death.  Che Guevara is widely revered throughout Cuba, but especially in this city lying below the Sierra Maestra Mountains where the rebels sought refuge after their first disastrous attempt at overthrowing the Batista government.  Before this revolutionary period, Cuba's 4 million African slaves toiled relentlessly on the sugar plantations and left their legacy of music, rhythms, and dance that thrives today, while colonial overlords built lovely structures and an elegant society oblivious to the misery they had created around them.

colonial villa, Havana

Driving west, you pass through villages, decrepit colonial cities filled with beautiful architecture badly in need of renovation, cattle ranches, mountain coffee plantations and sugar cane fields.

painting of sugar plantation

The rusting remains of the sugar factories, reminders of the days when sugar was king, dot the landscape.
Christopher Columbus' first landing place in the Americas was on the northeastern side of the island. While we are not visiting his landing spot on this trip, it is worth a stop if you're touring this part of Cuba.  It was a pirate's paradise with its coves and bays where it was easy to hide and resupply a ship.

Columbus' landing site

There aren't many tourists here.  While Europeans frequent the resorts in this area, definitely not up to the standards we require for our groups, there aren't many tourists in the coves and fishing villages and historic sites.  One village we wish we had time to visit on our tours is Gibara, for its gorgeous location on the water and its pretty city center with musicians and dancers performing most of the day.

Moorish palacio, Cienfuegos

We love the only French colonial city in Cuba, Cienfuegos, set on a wide bay, with many nicely renovated buildings, a large and beautiful main plaza, and its Moorish palacio right on the tip of a peninsula separating two bays.  It's a perfect short tour and lunch stop between Camaguey and Trinidad.

loggia of colonial building, Trinidad

Trinidad, probably my favorite city in Cuba, is yet another 500 year old colonial city.  Many people get around with horses and buggies, the streets are still cobblestones, the plazas in the tourist areas are full of flowers and musicians, and there are actually some shops selling local crafts.  On Saturday, the Casa de Cultura offers all kinds of classes for kids.  On our last trip, we all sat and watched young dancers and singers and children in their art classes.

Escambray Mountains near Trinidad

The Escambray Mountains above Trinidad are well worth a day's visit, and an extra day in Trinidad. There are coffee plantations, cattle ranches, beautiful hikes through the forest and a couple of hotels where I wouldn't stay (hence the extra night in Trinidad).
While we've visited the Bay of Pigs (Playa Giron) twice, we haven't seen any other tourists there.  We think the small museum with its photos of the desperate swamp people who lived in utter misery and made charcoal for the townspeople, and of the Bay of Pigs invasion and brief aftermath is a very interesting visit.  Fidel Castro was proud of bringing relief to these societal outcasts, with schools and health clinics that vastly improved their lives.  It's a valuable lesson to see Cuba's version of history which differs so much from our own.

photo of Che leading guerillas
Playa Giron Museum

On our first two trips to Cuba, we stayed in government hotels (all the hotels are government hotels). There are a couple, the Iberostar in Trinidad and the Parque Central and Saratoga in Havana, that are beautiful.  Most others are basic and below. Because of the heavy demand for hotel rooms, the Cuban government refuses to confirm the hotels of your choice until close to your departure time. Since the backup hotels are mostly way below the quality we find acceptable, we're using the tiny private tourist sector on our February trip.

tobacco drying barn, Vinales Valley

The government has allowed families to rent up to 7 rooms in their homes to tourists and to start up to 2 private, family-owned and run restaurants (paladares).  Cubans can own cars and vans and use them to transport tourists.  We are using this private sector option for our February trip.  Some of our casas will be very basic, but so are most of the hotels.  Our villa in Havana looks really beautiful. Only those Cubans who get money from relatives overseas can afford to buy and renovate homes and vehicles, so they are the lucky ones who can take advantage of this tiny opening to private enterprise. They can make far more money than the average salary of $15 t $20 per month and, according to one paladar owner, pay only 20% of their income in taxes (another person told us it's closer to 45%).

Jose Fuster neighborhood
Havana

If you've read my blogs from our 2 earlier trips, you know not to fly anywhere in Cuba unless you have absolutely no other options.  Decades of the embargo have wrought havoc on Cuba's airline and flight infrastructure. Avoid it.

Compas dance drummer

I won't spend time on Havana and the Vinales Valley because so much has been written about both. Needless to say, Havana is a wonderful city with so many gorgeous buildings in need of immediate repair, such a fascinating history and so much energy and cultural activity.  The Vinales Valley in the midst of limestone mountains, "mogotes", is beautiful and the heart of tobacco production, a wonderful day's visit.
We enjoyed the Cuban people tremendously.  Their resilience and kindness in the face of extreme poverty is remarkable.  They express their culture in all its originality and liveliness in every plaza, street corner and public or private space.  They have many sad stories to tell and even more examples of resourcefulness and creativity in the midst of adversity.  They are funny and smart.  The advantage of all the restrictions on American travel to Cuba is the "people to people" requirement that ensures you will spend time talking to Cubans about their work and lives.  These are the experiences you will most treasure.

child in plaza

I will publish blogs of our upcoming trip upon our return in late February.  Can't really publish a blog from Cuba because of the very limited internet access there.