Can Us Service Members Cruise To Cuba
Viñales, Cuba (CNN) — In the foothills of the Sierra de los Órganos Mountains, more than two hours west of Havana, a trickle of riders on horseback descends a reddish-chocolate-brown mount in a serpentine line. They grin every bit they pass a group of hikers and go on on their ride.
Known as the garden of Cuba, the Viñales Valley was designated a UNESCO Earth Heritage Site in 1999 both for its natural beauty and use of traditional agricultural methods, says Gabriel Vasquez, a regional specialist with Patrimonio Mundial, which oversees the Caribbean area's UNESCO Globe Heritage Sites, including the nine in Republic of cuba.
Vasquez points out mogotes (tall, rounded hills that rise dramatically to nigh 1,000 feet) and various tree species such as the Cuban mountain palm and roble caimán -- with its ridged bark resembling a crocodile's peel -- as he shepherds his crew of tourists into a drying barn, where bunches of tobacco leaves hang in rows from overhead beams.
What'south unusual near this particular group of 18 tourists, at to the lowest degree these days, is that they're American.
US travel to Cuba has dropped dramatically
Since U.s.a. President Donald Trump signed the latest round of restrictions on US travel to Cuba, which eliminated "people to people" educational tours for Americans and cruise send operations from the US to Cuba in June, tourist arrivals to the Caribbean area isle accept plunged nearly 21%, Cuban government information shows.
In 2019, nearly 500,000 people traveled from the US to Cuba, compared to more than 638,000 in 2018.
The current decline reverses a nail in arrivals following the US-Cuba agreement under old U.s.a. President Barack Obama.
"It became very evident in June when Trump made these changes that information technology was not going to exist business as usual," says Peggy Goldman, president and co-owner of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania-based Friendly Planet Travel. Goldman said Friendly Planet's The states-to-Cuba numbers, echoing manufacture-wide trends, are down by twenty%.
"The impression that people had -- even travel agents who understand the manufacture -- is that travel to Cuba from the US is no longer legal. We had to explicate and educate people on travel to Cuba all over again."
"But all is not lost," adds Goldman. "Nosotros still go reservations every day."
Some United states of america-Cuba trips are still possible
The Viñales Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
This guided morning hike falls on day five of a vii-day group bout called Accurate Havana and the Scenic Viñales Valley," which included exploring the Viñales Valley countryside and two days in Havana.
The itinerary, arranged by Friendly Planet, falls under the category "Support for the Cuban People," 1 of 12 legal categories of travel to Cuba by United states citizens. The other legal categories include family unit visits from Cuban Americans, professional inquiry, journalism, religious activities and able-bodied competitions.
To qualify for this category, the tour must have a full-time schedule of activities that, according to the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Command (OFAC) "promotes the Cuban people'due south independence from Cuban authorities ... and results in meaningful interaction with individuals in Republic of cuba (PDF)."
In addition, Us travelers must stay in private homes with tourist accommodations and eat at paladars, restaurants run by Cubans in their homes or else ensure that they patronize hotels and restaurants that are not on the U.S. Department of State's Cuba Restricted List. And, they must go on a written record of their activities and expenses on the island (an itinerary and receipts, for case) and retain those records for at least v years.
According to OFAC, the bout must as well be in conjunction with "recognized man rights organizations; independent organizations designed to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy; or individual and nongovernmental organizations that promote contained activity intended to strengthen ceremonious society in Cuba."
So, every bit long as yous travel with a tour operator that uses private suppliers - since these suppliers are role of "ceremonious society" - and meet the other OFAC requirements outlined here, you can legally travel to Cuba. This is how reputable tour operators such every bit Friendly Planet, Insight Cuba, Intrepid Travel and a handful of others take routinely sent (and continue to send) tourists to Cuba.
Secretarial assistant of State Mike Pompeo said in a January 10 argument that Washington'southward latest round of restrictions "further impedes the Cuban regime from gaining admission to difficult currency from U.S. travelers." The new restrictions, Pompeo said, are meant to prevent charter service from expanding to fill the gaps left past the Trump administration'due south October ban on commercial flights to Cuban airports outside Havana.
A state frozen in time
Visitors can tour tobacco farms in the province of Pinar del Rio.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
A postal service-hike dejeuner consists of a greenish salad, fried Malanga and yucca, grilled pork, chicken, tuna and arroz congri (Cuban rice and blackness beans), all served family style at Finca Agroecológica El Paraiso, a farmhouse with sweeping views of the valley that stretches across the lush Pinar del Río province.
In addition to our table of xviii Americans, the farmhouse hosts Dutch and British diners traveling independently, and another pocket-size table of Americans enjoying café con leche with flan. Nether the new regulations, a legal tour tin operate with equally few as ane participant.
Claudia Miranda, a 39-year old graphic designer from Washington D.C. and one of the participants on the tour, was mistakenly told by friends last summer that she wouldn't be allowed to legally travel to Cuba. Miranda says she's glad she did her inquiry and booked the tour.
"Information technology'southward a beautiful state," says Miranda. "I appreciate that it has stayed the manner information technology is ... without being influenced by other countries. People need to run into it."
After lunch, a boat ride in the Indio Cave feels like a scene from the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie, minus the audio of schoolboys squealing. This gigantic cave on the route to San Vicente is named for the ancient Guanahatabey, hunter-gatherers who lived in Western Republic of cuba until the 16th century.
Information technology'due south part of the same cave organisation as Cueva de los Portales, just 25 miles east, where revolutionary Che Guevara hid out during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A Cuban "gondolier" steers passengers through a dimly lit undercover river, with limestone stalactites dripping from the grotto overhead.
The next morn, at the Hector Luis Prieto Tobacco Farm nearly an 60 minutes north in San Juan y Martínez, devious dogs scamper about the bout group as guide Osvaldo Diaz blows rings with his cigar smoke.
This xv-acre tobacco plantation gives multilingual tours to visitors in add-on to housing up to iv guests in an Airbnb cabin on the property. (Aye, it's a existent Airbnb.)
Tobacco farming is one of the few industries in Cuba that is considered private. Farmers own the state, simply they must sell 90% of the leaf they grow to the regime -- at a cost fix by the government -- for the Cuban cigar industry. The rest they can sell or use every bit they wish.
Trump sanctions hit Cuban businesses hard
Faced with U.s. sanctions, farmers have switched from using diesel to oxen and plows to tend their crops.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
Diaz says Trump's regulations have affected business organization, a concern which resonates with guides across the state.
"We had a partnership with a local swoop operator that brought cruise ship passengers here," he says. "We used to go at least 100 visitors a calendar week from the Us. Now we might become two small groups in a month."
The owner of the subcontract, Prieto himself, arrives and joins the conversation. Prieto says that the subcontract originally belonged to his granddaddy who immigrated to Republic of cuba from the Canary Islands over 100 years ago.
"It'south a shame that it'south so much harder to come to Cuba now," Prieto says. Of Trump's sanctions, he says, "On the product side, it hurts. A lot."
In addition to the travel regulations imposed in June 2019, the Trump administration sanctioned ships bringing oil from socialist ally Venezuela to Cuba in an endeavour to pressure level Republic of cuba and strength Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out.
This move has prompted farms like Hector Luis Prieto, which once used diesel to tend their crops, to use oxen and plows and other methods.
The footstep is quick
Dance instructors at La Casa Del Son make their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look like shooting fish in a barrel.
Kristan Schiller
During the bout's couple days in Havana, the step of life moves much quicker -- and the tour grouping can only effort to keep up.
At La Casa Del Son dance studio, dance instructors wearing brightly colored skirts brand their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look easy earlier a rapt audience.
Later their performance, they offer their hands to this more often than not senior grouping of Americans who express joy equally they go. One adult female continues dancing with the handsome male person instructor long after everyone tires. The teacher counts aloud then his student tin follow.
When the trip the light fantastic lesson is over, the group weaves its way through the city past cafes and private casas to Clandestina in Old Havana, an independent Cuban manner brand founded past two women in 2015 afterward then-Cuban President Raul Castro loosened regulations on the private sector.
The t-shirts, numberless and caps line the shelves while posters encompass the white walls of their trendy studio, where they brand clothes from recycled materials.
Clandestina has become synonymous with the give-and-take "cool" both in Cuba and -- at present with their online store and pop-up stores throughout the United states -- abroad.
"[Foot] traffic from the U.s.a. has been less compared with when Obama was president," says store manager Johnny Rivera. "But our local customer base has grown."
Rivera says that as the brand has grown internationally, young Cubans equally well as foreigners regard Clandestina clothing every bit collectors' items and keep business organization steady, specially in summer.
A hipster in a fedora enters the store and buys a few shirts with an entourage trailing him, his vintage car parked smack in forepart of the store, still running while the Friendly Planet tourists peruse the shelves. A handful of Americans buy gifts for their kids back home before the tour group moves on.
Giving back is part of the tour
This Havana park is popular for its views of the castle and lighthouse of El Morro.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
On the tertiary day of the bout, the Friendly Planet double-decker heads to Lawton, one of Havana'due south poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of the metropolis, stationing itself conspicuously alongside Muraleando, an after-school fine art plan for children created inside an one-time water tank.
The space, built in 2010 and covered in vibrant murals and tiles, at present houses an fine art gallery, workshops and a stage space, funded entirely by community members, where volunteer artists give instruction to local kids equally well every bit perform.
"Our roof is made from parts of an old '53 Buick and '49 Ford," says Muraleando guide Victor Rodriguez Sanchez, pointing overhead to metallic auto scrap that has been welded together on the ceiling and resembles a sculpture i might see at MoMA in Manhattan.
Sanchez ushers the group into an open-air theater where 5 musicians perform a series of rumba songs, one after the other. A 20-something crooner cradles a microphone and moves to the beat of the rousing percussion while the American spectators give her a standing ovation.
Equally the group departs, Marilyn Draxl and Hugo Keesing from Columbia, Maryland get out a large bag of art supplies, transported to Republic of cuba in their luggage, for the children at Muraleando.
"Our friends remember no one can come to Cuba," says Draxl, who has traveled the world with her married man.
Draxl says most of their friends in the U.s. observe the Trump administration's new Cuba travel regulations and so confusing that they but make up one's mind not to go.
Legal tours take packed itineraries
The Cathedral of Havana dominates the plaza that bears its name.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
The United states rules for American travel to Cuba require a "total-time schedule," stating somewhat nebulously that such a schedule should "not include free time or recreation in excess of that consequent with a full-time schedule." That makes the Friendly Planet bout, by necessity, a busy 1.
In add-on to an assortment of people-to-people cultural experiences, the tour hits a few literary highlights such as a terminate in Cojimar, the fishing village that inspired Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Old Human being and the Sea" and a visit to the Hotel Ambos Mundos, where "Papa" Hemingway took upwards residence in room 511 to write.
The bout besides calls upon the Spanish-manner Hotel Nacional de Cuba, once financed by American mobster Meyer Lansky, where the Americans sip mojitos from giant wicker chairs on the hotel'southward bounding main-facing veranda.
The last night of the tour, a collection of perfectly polished vintage cars line the narrow street in forepart of Hostal El Encanto de Perseverancia, Friendly Planet's canonical casa of choice in Key Havana.
Gentlemen dressed in khaki pants and pressed white shirts hold their car doors open and help the ladies inside, leaving the men to fend for themselves.
Classic American cars are everywhere in Havana.
Courtesy Friendly Planet Travel
Claudia Miranda asks her driver to plow up the music and Tony Bennett's "The Best is Yet to Come" roars from the speakers. Tops down, the cars head due west on the Malecón as the dominicus sets over Havana harbor.
A good day repast of garlic shrimp, standard mandarin chicken and cheesecake accompanied past craft cocktails at Habanera, a 1930-built art deco paladar in Havana'south posh Miramar commune, feels like an intimate dinner party for 18.
"I wanted to come to Cuba considering of the travel restrictions," says Sara Contreras, a forty-year erstwhile existent estate agent from Washington, D.C. who speaks fluent Spanish and immigrated to the United states of america from Republic of el salvador with her parents when she was a child. "The fact that it's forbidden made me want to know more about how Cubans live ... And now I practise!"
"We are so happy to have Americans visit," adds Monica Munoz, a tour guide with Friendly Planet based in Havana. "It'due south a beautiful thing when you lot tin connect with people and keep politics aside."
Can Us Service Members Cruise To Cuba,
Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cuba-travel-for-americans/index.html
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