Cuba Was One Of The Best Places To Visit In 2019
In 1959 the United States enforced a trade embargo against Cuba. Because of the embargo, travel to Cuba was limited to Cubans returning to visit family. Many of us were pleased when President Obama removed some of the restrictions for Cuban travel—and unpleased with the current administration’s recent restrictions. Still, Cuba has become a popular travel destination again.
When I added Cuba to my bucket list, most of the trips I found were on cruise ships with only brief stays in Havana. I wanted more as I love walking in the footsteps of history.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, 112 miles from Florida and 130 miles from Mexico. Because of its geographic location, Cuba has always been a crossroads of cultures. As far back as the 1500s the island's population has consisted of European settlers, enslaved Africans and native Americans. It is estimated that 1.3 million enslaved Africans were brought to Cuba mostly from Nigeria, Angola, Benin, Sierra Leone and Ghana. By 1848 the island was 45% African. I had my walking shoes ready and I was ready to go and explore.
The first of our four hotels, The Nacional de Cuba, opened in 1930, and it was the place to be for the rich and famous. Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra and European kings all stayed at the Nacional when Cuba was in its heyday. The beautiful gardens with the views of the sea makes it a popular tourist site and easy to imagine why the hotel is still considered a must see when in Havana.
We were excited to find a trip for 11 days, starting with 3 days at the Havana Jazz Festival. We traveled from the north of the island starting in Havana to the southern city of Holguin. Having a host that knows the country, loves the people and knows all the hidden gems of a place makes all the difference. Most of our trips have all these components and Juanita, our awesome Cuban-born vacation planner and host was no exception. She was raised in the states and started taking friends back home with her 16 years ago. This then turned into a business. Our trip was a wonderful collaboration of local experts and a travel professional. Our group of 15 traveled from different parts of the States met at our first hotel, the famed Hotel Nacional de Cuba.
Instead of the usual bus for our first day’s tour, Juanita surprised us with a caravan of multi-colored, antique classic cars. Yes, a rolling car museum pulled up in front of our 4-star hotel. It was a shocking and delightful surprise to kick off our first full day in Havana in style.
The theme of our trip was to learn about Cuba's historical connection to Africa. The beautiful ladies pictured are descendants from Haiti. They performed their traditional dances and had us join them.
Our trip started with three evenings at the Havana Jazz Festival, which first started in 1978. African roots are visible everywhere in Cuban culture. The music is a combination of Spanish melodies and African rhythm. The festival has expanded to include the main concert halls in downtown Havana, and the city is filled with impromptu street jam sessions along el Malecón, the waterfront. Our gracious and knowledgeable travel host not only made sure we had some of the best seats at the festival, but we also went backstage afterwards and met some of the performers.
During the day we were led by our own expert on walking field trips through old and new Havana. We learned about the history of Cuba, the revolution, and life in Cuba since then. At night we enjoyed the many venues for the Festival. This was truly a people-to-people exploration of an exciting country.
A trip to Cuba must include a visit to a Cuban cigar bar. Yes, I did smoke a cigar along with a shot of strong Cuban rum. Bucket list checked off.
The people of Cuba are some of the friendliest people I have met in my travels, and I have had many, many travels. A highlight was a visit to a famous restaurant and heard the story of how they had a surprise visit by President Obama. They felt the same pride for our first Black president.
Our next stop, Cayo Coco, was an island north of Havana and in this beautiful beach town we attended workshops and dance classes.
Back on our modern, comfortable, air-conditioned bus, we traveled south to Camaguey. The guidebooks described this as the city of artists. You realize as soon as you arrive why. As we walked through the small town square there were life-sized bronze sculptures of town residents .Some were on benches, store steps or pushing carts. Everyone took a picture of a man reading a newspaper because next to the statue was a man imitating the sculpture also reading a newspaper. My favorite was the Three Gossips, women seated in a circle telling some good, juicy gossip,
Martha Jiménez is a famous artist from Cuba, which I learned later, has a large gallery in New York. She was the celebrated artist of the town sculptures. It was a joy meeting her in her own workshop. Martha was a warm, friendly woman whom I loved because she does a lot of full-sized women sculptures and paintings and highlights femininity. She asked if she could take a picture of my two friends and myself to use in a future piece. What an honor. Stay tuned!
Santiago de Cuba is a historical city and once was the capital of Cuba. This is where it all happened. The planning of the revolution started here. It is also a cultural capital, known for its music, architecture, literature, people and politics, and for these reasons, it is one of the most interesting places to visit in Cuba. The African influence is evident in the faces of the people. Here, we visited the Santa Ifigenia Cometery where Fidel Castro is buried. This was a very peaceful, soothing site. Every 30 minutes there was a changing of the guards in front of his tomb. There is a large rock in front of his grave which he stood on when he gave one of his famous speeches.
That night we joined the local folks for a night of salsa dancing.
The last city to visit was Holguin and Tainos Village, which is much more than a museum. It is a recreation of a Native village in the early 1500s, of what Columbus saw when he arrived. Tainos were natives found throughout the Caribbean., As we wandered back into time the actors recreated life as it once was in early Cuba.
So much to see, but so little time. We will return. Cuba Was One the Best Places to Visit in 2019. We were so fortunate to be able to visit Cuba before the current administration banned travel. It is an island filled with such history and warm and friendly people. Hopefully, one day travel will resume so that everyone can experience that which is Cuba. Cuba was opened once to Americans for travel and it will happen again.
