Sep 11th, 2009 at 2:30PM: Travel to Cuba is still illegal for most Americans, but if you don't want to challenge the law or take your chances sneaking there and back, you can still arrange a visit. The Katonah Museum of Art, in Katonah, New York, has been authorized to lead a tour group to Cuba.
Participants on the trip, which is scheduled for January 17-23 of next year, will visit Havana and learn about Cuban culture ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
havana posts
Travel to Cuba legally with New York art museum package
Sep 11th, 2009 at 2:30PM: Travel to Cuba is still illegal for most Americans, but if you don't want to challenge the law or take your chances sneaking there and back, you can still arrange a visit. The Katonah Museum of Art, in Katonah, New York, has been authorized to lead a tour group to Cuba.
Participants on the trip, which is scheduled for January 17-23 of next year, will visit Havana and learn about Cuban culture ...Cool Lust-Collazo photo exhibition in Havana
May 5th, 2009 at 9:00AM: During my time in Cuba, I grew increasingly obsessed with those colorful, old, refurbished American cars that would go galumphing down narrow urban streets. I mean, who wouldn't? I'm not even a car lover, but these clunky vehicles give Havana its character and speaks volumes about the country's history as well as its relationship with the United States. As another great effort to bring awareness ...
Talking Travel (and Cuba) with award-winning travel journalist Christopher P. Baker
Apr 21st, 2009 at 4:00PM: Christopher Baker is the 2008 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year and has visited Cuba more than 30 times. He's personally met with Fidel Castro, as well as leading members of the Cuban government and is personally acquainted with key figures within Cuba as well as key industry figures outside Cuba. Baker is not only a Cuba fanatic who is intensely interested in Castro's family life and ...Photo of the Day (4.18.09)
Apr 18th, 2009 at 7:00PM:
My Cuba Libre posts will be ending in a few days, but until they do, I feel it's only appropriate to continue with my Cuba-themed posts! Our photo of the day comes to us from JKEvgen, who snapped this gem five years ago in Havana. This photo really captures how timeless the country and its people are, which in my opinion is one of the greatest things about Cuba. The nations bright colors, ...Cuba Libre: Havana - Part 2
Apr 17th, 2009 at 7:00PM:
Having spent only two days in Havana and entirely in the old part of the city and only having two more days before hitting the road to Trinidad to meet up with the boys, I still had a lot of ground to cover. The beach Havana is full of great seaside and beach. If the outer part of Havana (where we stayed) called Miramar and Playa don't strike your fancy, you can opt for taking a short bus or ...Cuba Libre: Being sick and discovering "Cash Cab" in Cuba
Apr 17th, 2009 at 9:00AM:
[Though this might look like the U.S. Capitol, it is actually Havana's Capitolio. The strange resemblance makes even stranger sense when you get to the "Cash Cab" comparison at the end of this post.] Peter and Frank planned to leave for Trinidad on Monday, leaving Lora and I in Havana. They had hoped for a noonish start to their day and planned on renting a car for the remainder of their stay. ...Cuba Libre: Havana - Part One
Apr 16th, 2009 at 4:00PM:
The old part of Havana (Habana Vieja, they call it) reminded me a great deal of Cartagena with its fairly well-preserved colonial and often brightly colored buildings. In just our first two days in Havana, however, I was most astounded by the Cuban people. Lora's guidebook says that the locals earn on average U.S.$25 a month and that, in some cases, even doctors double shift as waiters by night. ...Cuba Libre: High-end hotels and money in Havana
Apr 16th, 2009 at 10:00AM:
So the Melia Habana Resort. We were not aware such luxurious resorts were available for just $50 a night! Had I not come with Lora there would be no chance to stay in such a place. Regardless, we pretty much decided to stay in Havana for the entire week. We arrived at 1 p.m. and were already pretty spent from such early wake-up time, so Lora and I spent the day tanning and resting the immense ...Cuba Libre: First impressions of Cuba
Apr 15th, 2009 at 4:00PM:
I am usually so unprepared when it comes to my travels, and this trip was no different. I assumed Varadero was a municipality of Habana. Instead, it's a city in a whole other region of Cuba and a 2 hour drive from the city of Habana. Luckily, our package through the travel agency booked transport, and we boarded the white Gaviota van #23 (a modern Toyota with A/C) headed for Habana. Our driver ...Photo of the Day (3.15.09)
Mar 15th, 2009 at 4:00PM:
I've never been to Cuba but this picture by Un rosarino en Vietnam is exactly how I picture it in my mind. Crumbling facades and vintage cars, all colored by a faded palette of soft blues and gentle greens. You just don't find a scene like this one in many places in anymore - it's like a time warp to the past. Have you taken any stellar photos in Cuba? Or maybe just one from your last trip to ...A wrap-up of Cuba news and stories
Jan 13th, 2009 at 2:30PM: As my plans to travel there solidify, Cuba has been on my mind -- and luckily quite present in the news! Here's a wrap-up of some of the interesting stories coming from Castro country.
Taxis and transportation: Unlike his brother, Raúl Castro is encouraging independent drivers to apply for taxi licenses to improve transportation in major cities in Cuba.
Guantanamo hunger strikes ...Travel read: Around the Bloc
Dec 21st, 2008 at 11:00AM: I stumbled upon Stephanie Elizondo Griest's writing on a stopover in New York City. She was reading from her third and most recent travel-related book, Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, at Book Culture near Columbia University. I was immediately struck by her engaging use of language and her savvy presence. It's a pleasant sight to behold a young, female traveler and writer who is ...Cuba Closer than Ever for Americans
Jul 22nd, 2008 at 11:30AM: Canada's southernmost city might as well be called a suburb of Detroit. The Motor City's skyline is distinctly visible from downtown Windsor, which lies just across the Detroit River. While most border-hopping is for the purpose of shopping or sightseeing, Windsor's airport is a major gateway to Cuba for US residents. It is illegal for folks from the US of A to spend money in Cuba. Thus, there ...Blogging fearlessly from Havana. How?!
May 19th, 2008 at 3:30PM: One of my favorite country blogs of all time is that of Yoani Sanchez, the 32 year old blogging secretly from Havana. To write on her blog, she has to pretend to be a tourist and go to a hotel to access the Internet. Of the 11 million people who live on the island, only about 200,000 have open access to the web -- they are mainly government employees, researchers and academics, to whom the ...Literary Gadling: Hemingway's Cuba, Cuba's Hemingway
Aug 1st, 2007 at 11:30AM: Paging through the August 2007 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine, I found an article about Ernest Hemingway's impact on Havana. It is written by Hemingway's last personal secretary, Valerie Hemingway, who later married his youngest son Gregory (hence the same last name.) Hemingway lived in Cuba before 1960, when the US Ambassador advised it would no longer be safe for him to live there. He kept a ...Photo of the Day (03/26/07)
Mar 26th, 2007 at 3:03PM:
The waterfront in Havana, Cuba as captured by romanvardi.
This is how communism looks best - romantic, in pastel colors, from a distance. ...Future Travel to Cuba Possibly Easier
Dec 5th, 2006 at 9:40AM: Ever since I saw the Buena Vista Social Club, I was sold on getting to Cuba. It wasn't just about wanting to watch tiny old woman roll fat cigars anymore or about chilling on some cool Cuban coastline with a cocktail anymore. That movie made me what to explore the bottomless depths of the music scene. Or should I say musicia? The songs, the dance, the history and the lives of the people swaying to ...
