Cuba As Seen On A New 'People-To-People' Tour (PHOTOS)

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba As Seen On A New 'People-To-People' Tour (PHOTOS)
AP | By KATHY WILLENS Posted: 07/06/2012 1:18 pm

HAVANA -- Girls dressed in ruffled layers for a quinceanera. American cars, from the Eisenhower era, in tropical colors. A hand-hewn carousel with peeling paint. Young fans cheering at a baseball game.

These are some of the scenes of everyday life I observed on a recent people-to-people tour of Cuba. These tours allow Americans to travel to Cuba as long as they go with a group licensed by the U.S. government to provide a "full-time schedule of educational activities." (The U.S. government forbids unrestricted travel to Cuba, but in addition to people-to-people tours, travel is permitted for certain other groups, including Americans with relatives there, religious organizations and academics.)

Most people-to-people trips have a themed itinerary like music or food. Some are offered by large travel companies, others by small nonprofits. I joined 21 artists, writers, filmmakers and photographers on a trip organized by a small group from Minnesota that traveled to four cities: Havana, Bayamo, colonial Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba, home of Cuba's historic summer carnival, birthplace of Cuban musical legends and gravesite of national hero Jose Marti.

People-to-people tours are not typical vacations. Structured itineraries include daily meetings with government-sponsored organizations and tours of schools and other institutions. Some meals were in dreary government cafeterias, but we also ate well in paladars, which are intimate restaurants in private homes. You're not supposed to spend the day at the beach the way Canadian and European tourists do, but we did get some free time, and occasionally participants ditched the schedule to explore on their own.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/cuba-as-seen-on-people-to-people_n_1654438.html?utm_hp_ref=travel#slide=1192978

[Suich]

1. I have a nephew and his wife (who live in Vancouver BC)

traveling there now. I can't wait to hear about their trip and see the pics!

[Judi Lynn]

2. It would be downright decent if our government allowed us to go, wouldn't it?

As it is, the only ones who can go without seeking special permission are the ones who claim they've left Cuba because they're political refugees. If they are so unhappy with Cuba, why on earth do they turn right around and go back and forth to Cuba, anyway? You'd think they'd be too afraid of getting thrown in prison to show up there again, if we were to believe the yarns we've heard!

That's so very odd.

Hope your nephew and wife have a tremendous trip. Many do, I've heard.

[Mayflower1]

3. I have actually been to Cuba (2001)

It is very beautiful. It is very dilapitated, run down. The citizens live in absoute squallor. They live where they are told. They have no AC. I was there in Jan and it was already hot - hot - hot. I can't imagine what they endure in the summer.

The people who left there return to visit family members who were not so lucky to get out of there in the 1960's.

The family I went back with left Cuba in 1968 after they had several friends who were taken into custody for questioning and never seen again. We can't even comprehend that.

I don't know what you are implying but people are absolutely persecuted in Cuba for saying things far far less "offensive" than what we post on our facebook pages every day.

I toured a hospital in Havanah (the family I went with are physicians). I don't know what Michael Moore saw but what I saw made me almost vomit. Bloody bandages in the hallway. Operating rooms that were filthy. People lying on rusted gurneys crying and moaning in the hallways. Can you imagine no computers in the admitting area? THey had files everywhere, no computers. It was like stepping back in time about 40 years.

We walked around Havanah with some of the family members that I was with. Do you know the citizens of Cuba can not enter grocery stores (which are more like grocery closets)? They are for tourists only. Same with restaurants and hotels. Cuban citizens can NOT enter them - under NO circumstances or they will be arrested. Now that I recall, they can't ride in taxis either.

Sounds like fun to me. Oh and NO TOILET PAPER. well, very little toilet paper - it is rationed. Even the hotels' rolls are like mini-rolls. We took TP with us as we were made aware of the TP issue. Maybe that's better now, but I don't know.

Oh, and tv? This is rich. Three channels - pick the Castro speech of your choice. That was absolutely true when we were there. (Hotels had a little cable, but it isn't available to citizens).