Existing Travel Programs
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRAVEL PROGRAM 1 | General Culture
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Day 1
Travel day to Havana. Check into hotel. We will have an orientation and a welcome dinner that evening
Day 2
Morning lecture on Cuba’s history and culture. We will then go on a walking tour of Old Havana. We will visit the four main squares and meet with several entrepreneurs who can now operate small businesses in Havana. We will compare business styles in this people to people interaction.
Day 3
Today will be devoted to studying community life in Havana. We will visit a senior community center and learn how Cubans support and interact with each other. We will have lunch and then in the afternoon we will observe the spirit of entrepreneurship in Cuba today. We will visit and interact with farmers and produce vendors at a community garden and the agromercado.
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Day 4
Breakfast in the hotel, followed by a talk on Hemmingway in Cuba. Visit Vigia, Hemmingway’s finca outside Havana and lunch in nearby fishing village Cojimar. Afternoon visit to orphanage and artist Fuster’s studio and return to Hotel Riviera. Dinner will be on your own.
Day 5
Breakfast in the hotel. Then we will depart for Cayo Levisa , a small island beach resort, where we will study the flora and fauna, as well as the marine life of the cayo. Local residents will share their knowledge of and respect for the sea in a community-based sea food and spiritual exercise.
Day 6
Depart for Vinales. After a scenic drive through Pinar del Rio, the province west of Havana, we will visit the beautiful valley of Vinales, famous for its tobacco where we will visit fields of tobacco and talk with farmers. After lunch. we will enjoy a cultural- dance interaction in the afternoon.
Day 7
After breakfast in the hotel, we will visit the Gallery of Contemporary Art, followed by lunch and shopping in the San Jose arts and crafts market. Return to Havana. We will end the day with a farewell dinner.
Day 8
Depart for home
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRAVEL PROGRAM 2 | Medical
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Day 1
Travel day to Havana. Check into hotel. We will have an orientation and a welcome dinner.
Day 2
Morning lecture on Cuba’s history and culture. We will then go on a walking tour of Old Havana. We will visit the four main squares and have an opportunity to get a pulse of what the city of Havana is like. We will interact with Cubans in the Belen center and learn how Cubans integrate medical community projects with seniors and children.
Day 3
We will have a discussion on the current Cuban reality of the medical system. We will have time for question and answer and then we will visit a family doctor in Havana and learn about the role of preventive medicine in Cuba has there is a doctor for each neighborhood in Cuba, the doctor lives upstairs and practices in a clinic below. We will have lunch lunch and then in the afternoon we will learn about the role of agromercados in Havana and how the vegetable entrepreneur market exists for Cubans.
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Day 4
In the morning we will have a discussion on medical education in Cuba. We will visit the ELAM, Latin American medical school. We will also visit a dentist’s office. After lunch we will visit the malecon where the heartbeat of Havana exists. We will have open discussions with Cubans on healthcare and general Cuban policies.
Day 5
We will visit this unique self-sustaining community which has its own clinic. After lunch we will intermingle with farmers growing organic crops such as coffee, mango, guava and the harvesting of bees.
Day 6
We will have a lecture on public health in Cuba. We will then visit a polyclinic and if possible a public health project. After lunch we will visit Hemmingway’s finca and the small fishing village of Cojimar.
Day 7
We will head to the east side of the island to the city of Matanzas. We will have some cultural interaction with Cubans in Matanzas city in the pharmacy museum and also an interesting local farm that combines agriculture and the arts. We will enjoy a country lunch that is produced from the all natural farm and then will experience some of the afro Cuban culture. In the evening is our departure dinner.
Day 8
Depart for home.
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRAVEL PROGRAM 3 | Photography
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Day 1
Arrive to Miami
Day 2
Travel day to Havana. Check into hotel. We will have an orientation and a welcome dinner.
Day 3
Morning lecture on Cuba’s history and culture. We will then go on a walking tour of Old Havana. We will visit the four main squares and meet with various entrepreneurs that are now allowed to perform their small businesses in Havana. This is a good opportunity to get to know some of the small business owners of the centro and interact with them and enjoy exchanging the differences in businesses and photographing them.
Day 4
Breakfast in the hotel. This day will be visiting Las Terrazas which is a community in which the members work together to sustain their existence. The community is outside Havana is in the country. Historically the land was used by French farmers to cultivate coffee, today there are many community projects with farmers and universities that are study environmental sustainability. This is a great opportunity to capture the essence of the campesino spirit as well as the community program that sustains itself to a large extent.
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Day 5
Breakfast in the hotel. This day will be devoted to the arts and meeting and discussing the arts with artists. We will have a lecture in the morning regarding how Cuba has succeeded in spreading the arts in the community and how arts are taught in Cuba. We will visit the arts school and then we will break for lunch. We will then visit a community wall art project in Havana and commune with the participants of the community wall art project. Seeing the community in action is a unique experience. In the evening before dark we will visit the malecon (sea wall) which is the heartbeat of Havana. There we will meet and mingle with Cubans and discuss life’s daily challenges and photograph the experience.
Day 6
Breakfast in the hotel, we will head out to the town of Matanzas. This is a cultural center of Cuba and is well known for Santeria as well as afro-Cuba dancing. We will stop in the city center and visit with locals from Matanzas and wonder through the main square of Matanzas. We will exchange some money into Cuba pesos and interact with the locals in their economy. We will then take a drive to an interesting farm sight in the country. We will have a country lunch and we will see a unique garden of trees and plans that were brought in from various locations as well as a workshop of pottery where creations are placed in the garden and for sale.
Day 7
Breakfast in the hotel, we see some of the successes in Cuba in the medical, educational, arts and general projects in Cuba. We will interact with the Cubans and enjoy sharing treats we have brought for the Cubans. In the afternoon we will visit a small fishing village outside of Havana, Cojimar where we will have lunch and also visit a page out of history where Hemmingway had a ranch outside of the city, we will do our best to converse a bit with the fisherman of the town. In the evening we will have a farewell dinner.
Day 8
Depart for the U.S.
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRAVEL PROGRAM 4 | Business
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Day 1
Arrive in Havana check into Hotel Nacional. Small orientation walking tour of the surrounding area where the hotel is located, where to get necessities and where to get water and close amenities. Arrival dinner and orientation.
Day 2
This will be a day to get acquainted with the main city of Havana and its 4 squares. We would have an expert discuss the history and culture of Havana before our walk. We will have lunch and then visit new Havana and its surroundings. After lunch we will have an opportunity to meet entrepreneurs in the downtown area and learn what entrepreneurial business activities are allowed in Havana.
Day 3
We will visit Las Terrazas this is a self-sustained community and a day of nature and away from the city. We will enjoy the nature, visit the community and learn how it sustains itself. Lunch. Visit to a local farmer and see how the people farm and work the land.
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Day 4
We would have a lecture on the new business reforms in Cuba allowing Cubans to have their own businesses and what activities they can engage in. Next we will visit a cigar factory. After lunch we will study how the Cubans maintain their 1950s American cars.
Day 5
Breakfast in the hotel. Then we will depart for the city of Matanzas where we will visit the town’s center and experience the people and culture of Matanzas. Time permitting we will visit a small farm that combines farming, agricultural engineering and a pottery studio. We will enjoy an organic lunch made with the fruit and vegetables from the farm. We will then push on to Varadero.
Day 6
We will have an opportunity to discuss with Cubans the daily life and challenges of living in Varadero. Lunch in Varadero. Afternoon return to Havana.
Day 7
We will have a lecture on music in Cuba and the history of how the arts are taught. Then we will visit a musician and his home studio to see how they record music and create their own businesses. Lunch. In the afternoon we will have a local expert discuss the reinvestment act of Cuba and how the changes in March of 2014 affect international business. We will visit the area of foreign investment. We will visit some joint ventures and how the structured in Cuba.
Afternoon: opportunity to reflect on business possibilities. Evening farewell dinner.
Day 8
Departure
Purchase This Trip
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRAVEL PROGRAM 5 | Art
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Day 1
Travel day to Havana. Check into hotel. We will have an orientation and a welcome dinner.
Day 2
Morning lecture on Cuba’s history and culture. We will then go on a walking tour of Old Havana. We will visit the four main squares of Havana with the eye of art and architecture in mind. We experience the Cuba lifestyle in the main squares of Havana and see art in motion. There will be an opportunity to meet and discuss with street artists as well as craft masters in the arts market.
Day 3
We will be interacting with Cuban artists in Las Terrazas. We will have an opportunity to meet artists in their own environment which is a biosphere reserve in the country. Las Terrazas is a unique community. We will have a country style lunch and then visit the community at large to mingle with the family doctor, community store, and even a visit to the community disco.
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Day 4
Today we will have a discussion on the arts in Cuba. We will have the director of ISA (Instuto superior del arte) discuss with us the history and reality of the Cuba art experience. We will visit the campus and have an opportunity to see the students in action and discuss with them art. At this level the art students are already considered professional. Lunch and then we will visit and intermingle with two famous Cuban artists one named Fuster who has created a unique style of fresco/sculpturing in which his entire neighborhood has embraced. The other artist is named Salvador Gonzalez who has focused on Santeria murals.
Day 5
Today we will have an opportunity to visit Matanzas city where we will visit with art galleries in the city and we will also push on to a unique community that combines organic farming and clay spinning with a pottery studio. We will have lunch there. This unique setting combines the passions of an unforgettable husband wife team. We will then head back to Havana.
Day 6
Breakfast in the hotel. Then we will depart for numerous galleries in Havana to meet with successful artists in Havana, discuss their styles, have interaction with the artists and how they work and live in their spaces. We will have lunch in one of the artist home studios and in the afternoon we will meet with more artists.
Day 7
Breakfast in the hotel. Visit Gallery of Contemporary Art. Lunch. Shopping in San Jose craft market. Return to Havana. We will end the trip with a farewell dinner.
Day 8
Depart for home
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