Blogs from Oeste, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 5

Cuba! Oh Cuba how I love you. I had a fantastic time traveling throughout the western half of the island of Cuba with my friend Barb and 14 other travelers on a guided tour. Many of you may be confused as to why I would choose a guided tour and it really came down to concerns over changing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, my poor Spanish skills (I can buy a beer and find the bathroom, but not make reservations or take care of business), and just time pressures. We booked our tour with Cuba Adventures and we met our fellow travelers in Havana before heading out on the road. We completed a brief walking tour of old Havana, which included a look into the various squares, churches and the sweet ass Cadillacs so ... read more

Forgive Me, O Travel Gods, For I Have Sinned... ...I am traveling on a package tour. My first since I was a teenager. I realized early on that I preferred to make my own decisions and what to do and where to go, and that I liked figuring how to get around. My resolve to avoid package tourism was reinforced in 2014 when I took advantage of Incheon Airport’s free stopover tours of Seoul. I regretted that decision because I didn’t feel like I made a connection with the place. So, how did I end up on a tour? Jeff’s parents - Jeff Sr. and Peggy - very kindly sponsored a family trip for the four of us to Cuba. We all wanted to experience Cuba before it truly emerges from isolation and American brands saturate ... read more

I want to share more photos of my Cuba trip. I shared some right after my return in March, but did not have time to share more. I now have a few days of down time, so I will attempt to share more. I hope that you enjoy... read more

We were blessed to sit in on a 2 hour briefing with Bruce Kleiner, Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Havana Cuba and with Julio C. Llopiz, Deputy of Public Affairs, Asst Public Affairs officer. The meeting included 70 persons. There were lots of questions afterwards. He did discuss the fact that there is still a U.S. embargo against Cuba (I did not know this) and that U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba as tourists ( our group leader did tell us this.) There are currently 12 categories allowed for our travel, such as education, religious, etc. The future of U.S. relations was still unknown at that point. Interesting! We were only allowed to take photos outside of the U.S. Embassy. Not much to see so I included some miscellaneous photos with captions. ... read more

Last full day in Cuban paradise with nothing to do. We had breakfast, back to the room, changed and lubed up for the beach. Everyone had some part on their body over-exposed to sun. But for the most part, we were all doing well. Kirsten leaned that we could walk to a private beach. We were up for one more adventure. We headed down the sand to find the private beach. It was a good walk and we even had to take to the ocean to get around a bunch of dead trees to take up the path again. There was one sign that had an arrow on it and the word “bar”. Sweet! Think again, this is Cuba and our expectations needed to remain low. It was a private beach, and there was an area ... read more