Cuba for Christmas

Cuba is only 80 miles from our home in Jamaica. Every Friday a small cruise ship leaves Montego Bay for a 7-day trip to Cuba. It was quite a week – we visited 4 cities and learned a lot.  

Streets of Havana

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) is the US government Treasury Department agency that controls Americans’ travel to Cuba and creates the specific guidelines for allowable travel; our trip was a “People to People” educational journey under the sponsorship of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a US 501(c)3 non-profit.

After a night at sea, our first port was Santiago de Cuba where, on 26 July 1953 Fidel Castro struck the first blow against the Batista government. Fidel and Raúl Castro gathered 123 fighters and attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago.

Streets of Santiago

Rebellion yesterday, hospitality today, heroism always.

At San Juan Hill - site of the Teddy Roosevelt battle in the Spanish American war

After another overnight at sea including circling around the US base at Guantanamo (with a Cuban naval escort for our ship), we arrived for a 2 day stay in Havana. Our official programme was very structured and covered many of the ‘tourist’ sights, but Irene and I were very lucky to spend a day with a local Cuban friend who helped us learn so much more about the ‘real’ Cuba.

Enjoying a day with our Cuban friend learning about Havana

Maria la Gorda is a nature reserve where we made an afternoon swim/beach stop before arriving at our last Cuban port, Cienfuegos, a powerful town due to the fertile fields surrounding it and its position on the trade route between Jamaica and South American cities.

Streets of Cienfuegos

  

Ceifuegos Harbour

Our small ship’s crew were from many parts of the globe; however, the cruise schedule gave us too little time to  experience enough of Cuba…when we return, we will try to travel independently and certainly make more time to learn more about Cubans' daily lives.

The complete picture story is on FaceBook – just click on the LINK:

 

We wish all our family and friends a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016. We are considering extending our Peace Corps service in Jamaica into 2017 (we will know more soon). Thank you for following our story and for your comments.

As Jamaicans say, “di fon kyaahn don,
so av a Jaiful airi krismus in di son!”

[The fun is not done, so have a joyful good Christmas in the sun!]