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

[MADem]

1. I have two cousins who are going in the fall.

It's not cheap but I expect they will have fun. They are looking forward to it.

[Judi Lynn]

2. It should be great learning what they will have experienced.

It would be an enormous step forward if the travel ban to Cuba were retired, after all these years, and people could come and go as easily as the Cuban "exiles."

It would help cut right through the tall tales we've been stuck with throughout the years we've been totally barred from going there, without special conditions being met and approved in advance.

[MADem]

3. My nephew went on a "sports thing" last year.

People to people, with a group of college and postgrad kids. It was very "monitored" (teens and early twenties, a rambunctious crew)--but they had fun, anyway. They spent most of the time either engaging in sports, or watching sports.

I think my cousins are going on a church thing--one cousin joined a church that is very 'into' doing charitable works. Her brother is a cheerful and adventurous non-religious type whose kid has flown the nest and has time on his hands, so he'll go along even if he's not much of a fan of the holy roller stuff.

It's much more open than in the past, but we know it will not fully open up until Fidel breathes his last. He's on the "Unforgiven" list, and to spend too much effort wondering precisely why that is the case would cause this thread to be directed to "Creative Speculation," I suspect!

We're trading and touring round Vietnam like gangbusters...but we can't "get over" Cuba? Every presidential candidate who makes broad declarations about getting rid of sanctions and embarking on a new relationship gets into office, and poof...all that talk gets ratcheted back! There must be a file lying about with some compromising material in it....

[joshcryer]

4. I find photos from the Cuban perspective (as opposed to a tourist perspective) more interesting.

Here's an awesome photo stream that has some really amazing photography: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37676145@N03/