Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

Strolling Cuba’s Cienfuegos, buying art, listening to music, watching children dance, making repairs with Duck Tape

  Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast: Sixth Cuba blog by David G. Molyneaux (first, cars and artists // second, Havana people-to-people // third, Bay of Pigs, Trinidad // fourth, dancing at Juventud // fifth, bumping into rules )  

1956 Ford Fairlane in Parque Marti, Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos, Cuba

On our last day on the south coast of Cuba, my wife Fran Golden and I set out on a long walk, sandwiched by two outstanding musical programs arranged by Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic — a religious and classical Cuban performance by the Cantores de Cienfuegos choir, and a classic children’s show, Cucarachita Martina. 

"Cucarachita Martina" in Cienfuegos

Lead singer in “Cucarachita Martina”

Our full afternoon walk, from the center square, Marti Park, to the yacht club harbor, was in search of conversation and a souvenir. We found both.

People we met on the streets, walking or sitting at doorsteps or stoops, welcomed us, asked us where we lived, and talked about their lives and their homes, where, said a local guide, many residents still display photos of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and other fighters in the Revolution that began nearly 60 years ago.

“Why?” I asked. “To many, the revolution is still going on,” he said.

Travelers in my Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic group unanimously reported a positive feeling about life in Cuba and their many contacts with its residents. American travel guides who have spent time recently in Cuba call it a country of scarcities when speaking of material goods but with no scarcities of enthusiasm and confidence among the people.

That was an accurate portrayal of the Cuban folks we met, both the people we were guided toward and those whom we met casually on the streets.

American travelers bump into Cuba’s rules on early cruise to southwest coast, but all runs smoothly later

 Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast: Fifth blog by David G. Molyneaux (first, cars and artists // second, Havana people-to-people // third, Bay of Pigs, Trinidad // fourth, dancing at Juventud ) 

 Isla de la Juventud, Cuba

After a calm winter’s night at anchor on Cuba’s remote Siguanea Bay, 35 American travelers on the 150-foot motor-sailor Panorama II awakened before dawn and collected their snorkeling gear, prepared for a ride on a local boat to a dock on the southwest corner of Isla de la Juventud (formerly Isle of Pines).  

Remote dock on Juventud. Note image, far right, of Che Guevara, a major figure in the Cuban revolution of 1959. The port's relaxed guard sits in a chair above the Che image (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

On this day, the schedule, as arranged with and approved by top tourism officials in Havana, was not to be. 

Communication about changing procedures is not an attribute of central government in Cuba, a country known for breakdowns in plans and mechanics, and disincentives for individual decision-making.

Military guards in charge of the island docks had received no written instructions from Havana (though an approving word would filter down for Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic trips in weeks that followed).

So, no local boat would be coming to tender us from our ship to shore as the sun began to rise.

Ever resourceful, expedition guides attempted alternative transportation, rolling out zodiacs that belonged to our chartered Greek vessel. Alas, the zodiac engines quit, and some passengers were rescued by the same local boat that had not been allowed to tender us ashore.

(Failure of the Greek ship’s zodiacs upset the Lindblad expedition team, as Lindblad is well known for its outstanding equipment. For the following week’s trip, the ship’s zodiacs were working well, reported a Lindblad spokesperson.)

Dancing and music on the Isle of Juventud, where Castro once was imprisoned

Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast: Fourth blog by David G. Molyneaux (first, cars and artists // second, Havana people-to-people // third, Bay of Pigs, Trinidad ) 

Dancing the sucusucú in Nueva Gerona, Juventud, Cuba (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

  Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic leaders had briefed passengers on the 150-foot motor-sailor Panorama II about the Isle of Juventud (Youth), once a haven for pirates, then a place for exiled undesirables and later for 150,000 students from overseas learning about the values of post-revolutionary Cuba.

Today, Juventud is relatively isolated from the rest of Cuba, so it gets few foreign visitors, and our presence, we were told, would cause heads to turn.

When we arrived on the eighth of our 11 days in Cuba, we turned heads, but not at the empty and deteriorated Presidio Modelo, and its hospital where Fidel Castro and fellow revolutionaries were imprisoned 1953-1955 after a failed attack on Cuba’s troops. 

Sailing, cruising to Cuba’s Bay of Pigs and Trinidad

Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast: Third blog by David G. Molyneaux (first, cars and artists // second, Havana people-to-people)  

Panorama II at daybreak in the waters off Cuba's southwest coast (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

One of the more exciting moments of an 11-day expedition was boarding a 150-foot motor-sailor, the Panorama II, for a one-week cruise off Cuba’s southwest coast.

Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic has chartered the Greek ship for its initial Cuba sea journeys, so our trip not only carried a twist of history — few Americans had explored these waters since the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 — but also a learned staff of lecturers and photographers. They led our group to meet Cubans and experience cultural highlights and sights unseen by most Americans in more than five decades.

A tank at the Bay of Pigs

We were 35 passengers and a crew of eight when we floated away, on the evening of Day Four, from Cienfuegos, a major Cuban port on the opposite side of the island from Havana, where we had spent our first three nights.

We were bound for Puerto de Casilda, port for Trinidad; the Cuban island of Juventud, formerly known as the isle of Pines, and Playa Giron, the port at the mouth of the Bay of Pigs.

Fifty-five years after the failed invasion, we arrived in Playa Giron for a visit to a museum that tells Cuba’s version of the battle.

But first, half of our group, all bird watchers, left the ship at daybreak for a woodsy walk at Bermejas in the Zapata Swamp National Park, with a local bird and natural history expert.

People-to-people travel to Havana, food and music, Hemingway, and talking about life

Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast: Second blog by David G. Molyneaux (first, cars and artists)

Nacional Hotel, Havana, Cuba (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

Havana

If you are traveling to Cuba, not so much to rest on vacation as to experience the island’s people and culture, your best bet is to choose an expedition by one of the more reputable outfits known for its guides and lecturers.

Your trip may — or may not — be the most cushy, and your beach time surely will be limited. But you will gain some understanding about today’s Cuba, a country on the Caribbean's largest island that has been closed to most U.S. citizens for more than half a century.

Besides, you are the traveler Cuba is hoping to entice as the country rebuilds its way into a prime travel destination.

Less than one hour by plane from Miami

Tourism already is the Cuban economy’s number one industry, and that's before the onslaught of American travelers anticipated during the months to come, many on cruise ships that now have received government permits through October 2017.

If your expedition is like mine, you will encounter some Cuban government propaganda and some extra paperwork to get into the country, then honest, optimistic feelings from the people who live there. The dozens of folks I talked with all hope that Americans will arrive with some interest in their lives, some money to spend, and no plans to take over their country.

My Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic tour to Cuba — three nights in Havana at the venerable, impressive but outdated Nacional Hotel and seven nights cruising on the cozy 150-foot Panorama II — was described in brochures and communications as a people-to-people tour, as spelled out in a contract with the Cuban government.

That’s what we did. We met, listened to and/or watched talented Cubans speak, entertain and show off their homes, businesses and artistic creations. Local experts, learned lecturers, and outstanding photographers led us to fascinating people, artists and artwork, musicians, and glimpses of life only an hour's plane ride south of Miami.

We met Cubans from all walks of life.

Cruising Cuba for the first time, exploring cities and seacoast

First of a series of blogs by David G. Molyneaux from Cuba  

Passing Cuba's National Library, with a newly installed photo of the late Fidel Castro

Never has a news reporting trip on six continents, to more than 100 countries, elicited as many questions from family and friends as a journey to Cuba with my wife Fran Golden at the close of 2016.

For 11 days, we joined a Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic people-to-people tour to Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Playa Girón, and Nueva Gerona, Juventud. Three nights, we lived at the venerable but dated Hotel Nacional in Havana. Seven nights, our home was a 150-foot motor-sailor ship in the waters of the southwest coast of Cuba where we (peacefully) walked at the Bay of Pigs.