(COURTESY OF CUBA TOURS AND TRAVEL)

Transcription

1 PEOPLE TO PEOPLE TRIP ITINERARY TO HAVANA, CUBA (COURTESY OF CUBA TOURS AND TRAVEL) $ pp Price Includes: Meet and Greet at Miami Airport Round Trip Air from Miami International Airport to Havana, Cuba Departure Tax in Havana Medical Insurance in Cuba Round Trip Ground Transfers in Havana to/from airport 7 nights at a 4 star hotel All in country ground transportation 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches, and 4 dinners Bilingual Cuban tour guide Organized people to people activities and entry fees Award winning Cuba travel tips guide Ground management throughout your trip Not included: Cost of US domestic airfare to/from Miami International Airport Cuban visa Any baggage fees Tips Add $400 for single supplement rate What is People to People Travel? In 2012, President Obama reinstated people to people educational travel to Cuba. This allows Americans to travel to Cuba via a specific license issued by the US Department of the Treasury s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). All programs under this license include a full time schedule of educational exchange activities designed to promote meaningful interactions between Americans and the people of Cuba. People to People travel is not tourist oriented or self directed, but is both rewarding and unique. People to People travel allows participants to visit a wide scope of organizations, institutions, and community projects that provide a deeper understanding of Cuba, its people, and its culture. 1

2 ITINERARY: CUBA TOURS AND TRAVEL June 27 July 4, 2013 or October 17 24, 2013 Day 1: Miami to Havana After your arrival, your local guide will accompany you to your hotel located in the heart of Havana. For your first taste of Cuba, you will get a brief orientation of the hotel and the surrounding area. Following your hotel check in, you will be taken to your welcome dinner at Restaurant Santo Angel where you will enjoy traditional Cuban music and the best lobster skewers you ve ever tasted! Day 2: Havana Old Havana Four Plazas After breakfast at your hotel, your tour guide will escort you on a discovery walk of Old Havana. Here you will visit the four main plazas that comprise Cuba s first UNESCO World Heritage site. Your first stop will be the Plaza de Armas which is the site of the oldest Spanish fortress in the Americas and the location of the first mass in Cuba. You then head to the Plaza de San Francisco de Assis and Plaza Vieja where you will visit local art galleries and historic buildings. After winding through streets that span five centuries of heritage architecture, you will end at the Plaza de la Cathedral where you will visit the Baroque Cathedral. After lunch at Hotel Florida, you ll continue your discovery walk to visit local art galleries and historic buildings that give you a true sense of this colonial city. After you return to your hotel, dinner is on your own for this evening, but we recommend that you have dinner at Restaurant Vistamar. Your tour guide will make reservations for you. Our English speaking tour guides have been specially chosen not only for their knowledge, but also for the passion they have for this country they call home. And with our behind the scenes management team, we ensure that your trip not only meets your expectations, but exceeds it. 2

3 Day 3: Havana Capitolio, Central Park, and Prado After breakfast at your hotel, your tour guide will escort you to the border of Old Havana and Centro Havana municipalities. Here you will explore numerous architecturally and historically significant buildings that exemplify a mid 19th century urban center. After, you will visit the Museo de Bellas Artes Cuban Museum, giving you a chance to see the Cuban collections homed in this strikingly modern mid century building which was completed in This Palace of Fine Arts houses a collection that spans 4 centuries. On this day, lunch is on your own. Make sure to ask your tour guide to recommend one of the great paladars nearby. After lunch, you will head to the municipality of Marianao to experience a local cultural project by Okan Tomi. Music is the heart and soul of the people in Cuba. Here you will enjoy a Cuban performance of Folkloric music by a company formed by children, teenagers, and adults. As part of their program, they do an integration of Cuban rhythms that include the cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, rumba, and many more local music styles. After returning to your hotel, dinner this evening will be at the Restaurant La Barraca. Located in the back garden of the Hotel Nacional, this restaurant serves more of the best Cuban food the city has to offer. Day 4: Havana Vedado and Havana Modern District After breakfast at your hotel, your tour guide will meet you and escort you to your first stop of the day at the Plaza de la Revolucion (Revolution Square). Following your first stop, you will then head to the Vedado District which is highlighted by the architecture of the modern area. Your visits this morning will also include a drive by the Maine Monument, the Malecon, Copelia Park, the Havana Libre Hotel, Rampa District, and then a neighborhood farmers market where you will have a chance to interact with the local Cuban people. After your visit to the market, your guide will escort you to lunch. Following lunch, you will head to Callejon de Hamel. This alley is located in the working class Cayo Hueso quarter that serves as an open air Afro Cuban Religion Sanctuary. Here you will be able to see murals that evocate the religion of Santeria by local artist Salvador Gonzalez. 3

4 Your guide will then escort you back to your hotel where s/he can recommend a great paladar for you to enjoy dinner on your own. Please ask your guide to make reservations for you. Day 5: Havana Havana Bay and Ernest Hemingway Your guide will meet you after breakfast at your hotel where s/he will escort you to the ferry where you will enjoy a ride across Havana Bay for a visit to the historic city of Regla. Here your bus will be waiting to take you to the town of Guanabacoa where you will visit the Santeria Museum. You will then continue your journey to Ernest Hemingway s Finca La Vigia Museum located southeast of Havana in the rural fishing village of San Francisco de Paula. The home has recently been under massive preservation efforts spearheaded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Finca Vigia estate and fishing village of Cojimar are considered the most significant locations for those interested in Hemingway s history. Lunch on this day will be in the town of Guanabacoa at Mangle Rojo. Following lunch, your journey will take you to the Organiponico of Alamar. Here you will learn all about agriculture efforts in Cuba. After returning to your hotel, dinner this evening is going to be at Cafe del Oriente. This luxurious restaurant serves the finest Cuban food in Havana while you also enjoy traditional Cuban music. Day 6: Day Trip to Las Terrazas After breakfast at your hotel, your tour guide will meet you and escort you on a day trip to Las Terrazas. Here you will learn about the history of this nature preserve which is located west of Havana in the province of Pinar del Rio. You will also visit the Buena Vista Coffee Plantation where you will learn about coffee production in Cuba. The plantation has been around since the 16th century. Lunch on this day will be at Casa de Campesino. This typical rural home will prepare delicacies for you in a wood burning stove. Following lunch, you will have a chance to visit the communities of Las Terrazas where you 4

5 will meet local artisans and many world class artists. You will then finish your discovery for the day by visiting the San Juan River. Here you will get to enjoy some time to swim in this beautiful river and the surrounding nature preserve. Be sure to bring your swim suit today! Dinner on this night is on your own, but we highly recommend that you try Paladar San Cristobal. Ask your guide to make reservations for you. Day 7: Miramar After breakfast at your hotel, your tour guide will meet you and escort you to visit Miramar. Here you will enjoy visits to local artist s studios. After you have had your fill of all the art you can handle, you will be able to enjoy lunch on your own. Your tour guide will be able to recommend a wonderful paladar nearby. So please ask them. After lunch, you will have a chance to enjoy your last afternoon on your own. But make sure you re back to your hotel to be picked up for your farewell dinner at the Kadir Lopez Studio. This dinner will give you a chance to say your goodbyes to many of the local artists and people you met on your trip. Day 8: Check out and return to Miami from Havana. After breakfast and check out from your hotel, your tour guide will meet you and escort you back to the Havana Airport for your flight back to Miami International Airport. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PAYMENT AND SIGN UP: For availability and booking, please contact ReynoldsWolfe (info@reynoldswolfe.com). PAYMENT SCHEDULE: A $500 deposit is due at the time of booking. Final payment of the balance is due 45 days prior to departure. 5

6 CANCELLATION: $200 of the deposit is refundable up to 6 weeks prior to departure. $300 of the deposit is non refundable.any changes or cancellation 30 days prior to departure will be refunded based on the refund policy found in the terms and conditions. INSURANCE INFORMATION AND MEDICAL EVACUATION: Cuba Tours and Travel provides health insurance in Cuba as part of the program cost through the Cuban visitor s health insurance agency, Assistour. We will also offer each traveler the option to purchase Trip Interruption Insurance with our travel insurance partner, Access America Alliance Travel Insurance, at an additional cost. LICENSING DESCRIPTION BENEVOLENT HANDS holds the specific license that allows a US Cuba educational exchange program (not involving academic study) with people to people contact. Such exchanges are designed to encourage meaningful interaction through exposure into everyday Cubans and their situations; in turn, travelers may share the history and future of the United States with Cubans. CUBA TOURS AND TRAVEL will make all travel arrangements described in this brochure once the travelers are approved through Benevolent Hands Travel Program. Cuba Tours and Travel is a full service Destination Management Company and Travel Service Provider, designated and licensed by the US Treasury Department (TSP No. CU b) devoted primarily to assist the travel program license holder. Cuba Tours and Travel looks forward to implementing this program and ensuring that it is followed throughout the traveler s experience. (CST No ). For more information on OFAC licensing, please visit the following: OFAC Cuba Licensing 6

7 ABOUT YOUR PROVIDERS: Cuba Tours and Travel, LLC Cuba Tours and Travel is a full service Travel Service Provider, Destination Management Company, and Tour Wholesale Agency licensed by the US Treasury Department (TSP # CU b) to provide travel services to Cuba. We are fully licensed to do business in Cuba and have contracts with all the leading tour operators in Havana and with many hotels and restaurants. We offer our services nationally in the United States. Founded in 1990, we are managed by Cuban American partners with longstanding connections to the island s cultural institutions and its professionals. Cuba Tours and Travel has over 12 years of experience offering cultural travel to Cuba for Educational and American Religious Institutions. Our management and program design teams, working together with our team of superb Cuban travel associates in both Havana and Miami, are uniquely suited to offer you the finest in depth travel program to Cuba. We hold liability insurance with Zurich International and we subscribe to the professional standards held by members of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) U.S (CST no ). Benevolent Hands Benevolent Hands believes that many people acting in concert, taking even small actions, can make a huge difference in the lives of countless many. Our volunteers and founder share a common goal: to improve the flow and delivery of supplies from the first world (the United States) to the third world and developing countries of Latin America. We desire to help the people of the Latin American/Caribbean region so that they can enjoy improved physical and mental health and have a fighting chance to secure gainful employment. And in a global marketplace, this not only helps their country, but ours and other countries as well. We believe in true cultural exchange. Recognizing that our host countries have gifts to offer in the form of cultural understandings, artisanry, expanded intercultural knowledge, and enhanced world view, when we return from a partner country, we are sure to pass on the knowledge and depth of understanding we obtain to communities in the US, enriching the lives of Americans. Benevolent Hands has taken part in projects to send humanitarian aid to Haiti, Nicaraugua, and Cuba, and has plans to expand to the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. Our Board 7

8 Members, staff, and volunteers continuously assess the needs of vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are here to help! For questions or concerns regarding this trip or any other travel dates you are interested in, please feel free to contact Lisa Wolfe at 8