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| Cuban teacher and her student. |
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| PROGRAM OVERVIEW |
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| TRIP ACCOMMODATIONS |
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Hotel Habana Libre Luxurious respite during an action packed itinerary at this historic five star facility. |
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| CITIES AND SITES VISITS |
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Havana City and Havana Province |
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Viñales Valley and Pinar del Río |
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Las Terrazas eco-community |
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| TOUR HIGHLIGHTS |
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| Learn Cuban dance with private tutors, enjoy great music, meet with urban planners, visit schools and teachers' union leaders, meet university professors and artists. Explore Afrocuban culture, visit farms and jungles, and make new friends in Cuba and amongst tour participants. See the entire itinerary below. |
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Getting to Cuba Call 1-877-687-3817 toll free or email us. We can help. |
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| Saturday 27 December 2008 to Saturday 3 January 2009 |
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| Eight days and seven nights of learning, fun and friendship |
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| Celebrate New Years – the 50th Anniversary of the Revolution – in Havana with Cubans |
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| Five nights in the luxurious five star Hotel Habana Libre and two nights in the charming mountain top Resort Hotel Los Jazmines |
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| Witness an education system based on equality and optimism |
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| Enjoy historic architecture, schools, music, arts and dance |
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| Tax deductable professional development opportunity for educators |
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 Educational, safe and comfortable travel. This is a fully escorted tour. While in Havana you'll stay in the heart of Havana's cultural scene at the luxurious five star Hotel Habana Libre. In Viñales you'll stay in the charming rustic hilltop Resort Hotel Los Jazmines. From the minute you touch down in the Capitol until you return home, you'll be in the conscientious care of a full time multilingual Cuban guide together with a professional bus chauffeur. |
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Who should attend? Teachers and their spouses, and people want to learn about Cuba's acclaimed system of lifelong free education for all. Those who seek to experience Cuban reality beyond the beach resorts: to sample island culture, history, nature, art, music and dance, and meet its people. Every participant will benefit from special time with our Cuban hosts, as such this tour is limited in size. |
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Time to commit. Our Cuban hosts need to know if you'll join them right away. This tour takes place during the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution celebrations. Hotel and air flights are extremely tight (see tour costs). Consider registering now, as space is limited. (Shy, budget-minded or ultra-independent? Read about the benefits of group travel to Cuba). |
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Apple icon for education activities |
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Shoe icon for music and dance venues |
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Face icon for art and museum visits |
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Turret icon for history and architecture |
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Owl icon for nature and ecology tours |
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Fork icon for meals included in tour cost |
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Smiling icon for free time and leisure |
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Ball icon for beach, sun and swimming |
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| Hint BLUE text links offer more details and pictures. |
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USA travelers This program is legal and licensable for professionals whose work is related to this tour's theme. LegalCubaTravel.com provides an easy step-by-step application kit. If you don't qualify for licensed travel there are alternatives! Contact us. |
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| Included in costs are all activities listed below unless noted otherwise. |
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Island transportation You travel in a private luxury tour coach chauffeured by a professional driver. |
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| Meals B=breakfast L=lunch D=dinner indicates meals included. Breakfasts are complementary on this tour. Your guide is glad to suggest eateries for every taste and budget for lunches and dinners not included. |
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Memories of Cuba last forever. Click here to read what educators say about our Teachers Introduction to Cuba Tours. |
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| SEE EACH TOUR DAY |
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:: 01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05 :: 06 :: 07 :: 08 :: |
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| GETTING TO KNOW THE CARIBBEAN'S LARGEST CAPITOL |
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Small section of the incredible scale model of the city of Havana (second largest in the world) used for sensitive and rational urban planning. |
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El Morro, three centuries old, guards the entrance to Havana Harbor. |
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Cuban youth snake dance in the island's annual Festival – a Latin America tradition, also with strong Afrocuban influences. |
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You'll meet with renowned architect Dr Mario Coyula Cowley, Director of the Group for the Integral Development of Havana. |
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Morning visit to the Scale Model of Havana and a private meeting with world-renowned architect Dr Mario Coyula Cowley, director of the Group for the Integral Development of the Capitol. His organization hosts a museum that contains a model of the entire city of Havana. The model took nine years to build and is the second largest in the world after one of New York. Havana's 727 square kilometers are represented in an area of 22 meters of length and 10 meters of width. City planners needed to see and have a tactile sense of the impressive physical and cultural patrimony of Havana, spanning five centuries as a port city, island Caribbean capitol, and launching pad for the conquest of the Americas.
Historical periods of construction are displayed through the use of different colors. Brown represents the colonial period, ochre the republican period, ivory the revolutionary period, and white represents new projects, sculptural monuments and cemeteries. With the use of textures and colors similar to the natural ones, the vegetation, parks, beaches and plazas are distinguished. This virtual tool enables city planners practical and realistic planning. They experiment by placing miniature buildings in the peewee metropolis to see how they fit within a specific area and architectural context. If planners don't like a proposal, they can move it somewhere else, demand a design change, or nix it. You'll learn how each part of the city has developed historically, and the tough challenges each district faces today.
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Island billboard reads: 200 million kids in the world sleep in the streets, none of them are Cuban. |
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Complementary lunch at the popular restaurant La Mina where you'll enjoy traditional Cuban dishes and live music!
Afternoon walking tour of Havana Vieja (Old Havana), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We'll visit four of the five historic plazas that make Havana unique in the western hemisphere. We'll stop at museums and many other attractions.
This evening we have a private Cuban band playing for us: Grupo Dulce María. You'll learn to perform and dance to Salsa, Son, Rumba and Mambo from band members. In this relaxed environment you'll find it easy to learn the steps and start dancing like a native! |
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| HAVANA – ARCHITECTURE, ART AND HISTORY IN ACTION |
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University of Havana historian and professor of law Dr Delio Carreras, right, renowned for his sense of humor, will lead tour of campus below.
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Moviemaker Michael Moore visits the home of Cuban artist José Fuster while filming "SiCKO" in March 2007. |
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José Fuster ceramic vase. |
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Plaque at Literacy Museum: "Yo Sí Puedo" means "Yes I Can" learn to read. |
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Morning visit to the University of Havana. Led by its distinguished official historian and professor of law Delio J. Carreras Cuevas, we'll tour the campus, the beautiful Aula Magna where opening ceremonies for conferences and other important functions are held, the law library and meet students from that faculty. Dr Carreras has hosted world leaders such as Hugo Chavez, Pope John Paul II and Jimmy Carter, among other luminaries. The University of Havana, founded in 1728, is an esteemed institute of higher learning with academic ties to venerable universities in Canada, Europe and Latin America.
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Fantasy garden and studio of acclaimed artist José Fuster. |
Get ready for an air-conditioned luxury coach tour of the most important sites of Modern Havana such as the Capitol building, the Grand Theatre, Central Park, Prado promenade, Revolution Square, Coppelia Ice Cream Park, Plaza José Martí (in front of US Interests Section), Malecón seawall, Monument to the Battleship Maine, Hotel Nacional, University of Havana, Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón, and the Miramar, Central Havana and Vedado neighborhoods.
Lunch (included in cost) hosted by José Fuster, one of Cuba's most important ceramists and painters at his whimsical studio in Jaimanita, just outside of Havana.
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Museum of Literacy at Liberty City near Havana. |
Afternoon visit to Museo de la Alfabetización (Museum of Literacy) that exhibits relics of the 1961 literacy campaign. Prior to the Revolution a quarter of adult Cubans were illiterate and another million were semi literate. Ten thousand teachers were unemployed and 70% of the rural population had no schools. After 1959 all private schools were nationalized and education became free and universal. Former military garrisons were turned into schools. In 1961 all schools were closed for eight months and some 250,000 students and teachers were sent to rural areas to teach reading and writing, laying the foundation for Cuba's stellar literacy rate today. This campaign brought tens of thousands of city youth into contact with the country people, breaking down racial barriers and instilling a spirit of national cohesion.
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Sculpture at Museam of Fine Arts. |
Followed by a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts' Cuban Collection where we see the evolution of Cuba's visual arts over the last 300 years. The collection accounts for the richness of our Spanish, French, Chinese, African cultural roots (included in cost). The exhibit holds a rich inventory of over 47,000 Cuban and universal pieces.
Tonight we'll enjoy the best Cuban jazz in the city at La Zorra y el Cuervo [The Fox and the Raven], optional, not included in cost. |
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| CUBAN ART AND HEALTH CARE |
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Cuban doctors and nurses display medicine donated by foreign guests. |
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Bicyles remain a common, economical and environmentally from of transport. |
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Music students at the Institute of Superior Arts. The school specializes also in theatre, dance, visual and communication arts. It offers courses at the undergraduate, graduate, MA and Ph.D. levels. |
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Morning visit to Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina – ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine). Established in 1999 and finance by the generousity of people of Cuba, ELAM is the largest medical school in the world with a current enrollment of over 12,000 students from over 29 countries. All its students are from outside Cuba and mainly come from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. The school also accepts disadvantaged students from the United States. Tuition, accommodation and board are free, and a small stipend is provided to students. Upon graduation young doctors are expected to return to their homelands and provide medical services to the poor for a period of three years. (Please note: this activity is subject to change.)
Lunch at Pan.com Restaurant. This open air eatery serves modern Cuba lunches and has a fun atmosphere (not included in cost).
Afternoon meeting at Asociación Cubana de Pedagogos (Association of Cuban Educators) headquarters. Here we will meet with union leaders and rank-and-file teachers to discuss the Cuban education system. The Asociación Cubana de Pedagogos has enjoyed a long fruitful relationship with the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) resulting in numerous cultural and academic exchanges.
Afterwards we'll explore the Museum of Revolution, the former Presidential Palace. Today it exhibits the history of the Cuban Revolution through documents and objects among which we find the famous Yacht Granma that returned Fidel and his 82 guerilla fighters from Mexico to Cuba to launch the struggle for liberation from the Batista dictatorship.
Your evening is free to explore Havana's best music and cultural venues – all within walking distance of your hotel. |
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Logo of the Latin American School of Medicine. |
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Busy market in Old Havana. |
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Cuban youth enjoy a baseball game – their national sport. |
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Museum of the Revolution: old car not part of exhibit. One in ten autos are pre-1959! |
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| EDUCATION, EXPLORING AFROCUBAN CULTURE AND NEW YEARS EVE |
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We'll visit Havana's Barrio Chino. Chinese-Cubans are a respected island ethnic group. |
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Callejón de Hamel, located in Central Havana's Cayo Hueso neighborhood, is an Afrocuban cultural hotspot. |
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New Years Eve at Cathedral Square. |
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Casa director Rosa Sardiñas. |
Morning walk to Casa del niño y la niña [House of the boy and girl], a Central Havana neighborhood sponsored learning facility for young Cubans seeking to expand their academic options following the regular school day. We'll meet with Director Rosa Sardiñas for presentation on her outreach work for kids in the community of Cayo Hueso. We'll have exchanges with teachers that live in the community.
We'll the Callejón de Hamel, an alley where all the buildings display murals inspired by Afrocuban culture and religions. Afterwards we'll meet alley artist Salvador Gonzales at his studio.
Return to Havana for lunch in Chinatown (not included in cost).
Ferryboat ride across Havana harbor to the Municipality of Regla. This Afrocuban community has a long, rich and still active tradition of African-inspired religions.
We'll visit Regla's church dedicated to the black "Virgen de Regla" Yemayá, the African goddess of the sea in the Yoruba religion and the patron saint of sailors.
We'll tour the Museo Municipal de Regla and learn of the origins of this unique community and its Afrocuban cultures.
We'll visit home studio of painter, master printmaker and designer Antonio Canet.
New Years Eve on the 50th anniversary of the Revolution We suggest dinner at Cathedral Square, which comes with amazing entertainment and festivities. However participants are free to choose other festivities on their own. Your guide will keep you posted on events. |
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You'll visit the studio of master artist Antonio Canet. |
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Regla's church honors a black goddess who protects fishers and sailors. |
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Ferryboat traversing Havana harbor to the municipality of Regla. |
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Flamenco dancers. |
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Musical extravaganza. |
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New Years Eve is always festive in Cuba – today more so than ever – it is the 50th Anniversary of the Revolution! |
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| NEW YEARS IN LAS TERRAZAS: RURAL CUBA IN ALL OF ITS SPLENDOR |
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Las Terrazas pool. Be certain to bring a swimsuit. |
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Once deforested and mired in poverty, Las Terrazas today is a self-staining eco-community. |
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| CUBA HAS 300 ecologically protected areas comprising 22 percent of its landmass. Six of these areas are UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves. Over half the island's diverse flora and fauna is indigenous – existing nowhere else – and is guarded from exploitation. In 2006, the World Wildlife Fund named Cuba the only nation to achieve a sustainable planet friendly economy. |
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Morning departure to Las Terrazas eco-community in the Sierra del Rosario mountain range west of Havana in the province of Pinar del Río.
We'll tour its rural village called Rancho Curujey and enjoy a welcome cocktail while hearing about this self-sustaining community's goals of reforestation, historical preservation, environmental balance and a good life.
We'll visit its school Republica Oriental del Uruguay for primary and secondary children and talk with teachers and students who live in this community.
Next we'll meet with local artists and craft workers in their homes and studios.
Later we'll walk the incredible ruins of a French Coffee Plantation built in 1801 worked by African slaves.
Then we continue on to La Moka, an ecological hotel with trees growing up through its balconies and ceilings.
Complementary lunch at a local eatery serving traditional Cuban country cuisine.
You'll have free time to swim in the fresh waters of the Río San Juan and explore the surroundings of this lush tropical paradise.
Now we're off to Viñales Valley and check into your Hotel Los Jazmines with dinner included!
Evening is free to enjoy the amenities of your hotel. Your guide will keep you posted on tonight's local happenings. |
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The jutía, native to Cuba, is a large rodent the size of a cocker spaniel. They dwell in trees and are vegetarians. Jutías are the preferred breakfast of crocodiles. |
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Junior learns to ride a horse. Cubans can truly claim that no child is left behind. |
| THERE ARE NO poisonous plants, bugs or animals in Cuba. Tropical diseases are nearly vanquished. No vaccinations are required to visit the island. Visitors don't return home with mysterious maladies. |
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| PINAR DEL RIO'S DRAMATIC VINALES VALLEY |
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Consider climbing to the top of a mogote! |
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Viñales is perfect for trekking, bird watching and horseback riding. |
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Exotic and unique plants and animals thrive in Cuba. The island has more protected areas than any other country. |
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Young person staffs a farmers market in Viñales. |
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Sea turtle hatchling poised to become a gentle giant. Cuba protects endangered marine life, thus all species flourish. |
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A river runs through the Cueva del Indio used by the Guanahatabey Amerindians as a burial site and a refuge from the Spaniards. |
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Morning exploration of the rural agriculture-based Viñales Valley. You'll be in awe of its spectacular natural landscape featuring the most interesting and varied geological formations in the Caribbean. The valley is particularly famous for its great freestanding rock formations called mogotes.
Visit a local farming family and learn first-hand the process of tobacco cultivation – an essential and famed commodity for Cuba's U.S.-blockaded economy.
Followed by a magical walking and boat tour through the Cueva del Indio used by Guanahatabey Amerindians as a burial site, and later as a refuge from Spanish slavers. Within you'll witness earth's natural and social history from the Jurassic to the Paleolithic era and beyond
Four kilometres from the village, on one side of the Dos Hermanas (Two Sisters) mogote, stands the Mural de la Prehistoria (Mural of Prehistory), a impressive 120-meter high fresco painted in 1961 by Cuban artist Leovigildo González, a student of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Depicted are the animals and other creatures that lived in the valley in prehistoric times. The mural pays tribute to the Darwinian perspective of evolution.
Farewell group lunch at Casa de Don Tomas Restaurant in the oldest building in Viñales serving the best food in Village.
Free time to explore Viñales village at your leisure. Examine its open-air craft market, Parque Martí, main parish, and other interesting highlights of this charming colonial hamlet.
Following dinner (included) at your hotel, the evening is free to rest up or go out on the town. Our guide will keep your posted on the best local entertainment options tonight. |
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Animal partners help out on the farm. Eco-friendly practices result in tasty organic produce and high productivity. |
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Learn about the cultivation and processing of tobacco from seed to leaf culminating in the world's most famous cigars. |
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The oldest building in Viñales houses Casa de Don Tomas Restaurant. We'll enjoy a farewell lunch today. |
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| Some among many staples grown organically in Havana and Pinar del Río provinces: Left to right Bananas, coffee beans, cucumbers, pineapple, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and avocados. |
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| GOODBYE CUBA – HELLO NORTH AMERICA |
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| KEEP IN TOUCH with your new Cuban friends – exchange email addresses! Bring some business cards to pass out on the island. Take pictures and keep a journal. Upon your return, we'll post them on this website for all to see and enjoy. |
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Early morning transfer to Havana's José Martí International Airport for your return home. Don't forget to save 25.00 CUC for your Cuban airport departure tax.
Want to stay longer on your own? Contact us and we will help make it happen. |
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| We'll miss you and hope you return soon! |
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Old Cuban saying, "a true friend remembers the song in your heart when you have forgotten the lyrics." |
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