Pagalpro.Com

You must be aware of some customs regulations before you travel to Cuba, for example: no weapons, explosives or pornographic magazines are allowed in the country; those tourists arriving from the States, either directly or from a third country, are not permitted to bring videocassette players. Tourist are allowed to bring, tax free, two bottles of liquor, one carton of cigarettes, personal belongings and jewels, photographic and video cameras, typewriters, sports and fishing gear. You can bring, duty free, up to 10 kilos of medicines in their original packaging.

Clothing should be light, mainly during summer, so it would be best to wear shorts, cotton and flannel outfits and sandals. As for winter, a light jacket or a fine wool sweater and closed comfortable shoes would do, mainly at night. You should also bring sunglasses, and a bathing-suit and so that you can take a refreshing swim, and don’t forget your sunscreen.

The voltage in most residential and trade areas, offices and hotels is 110 V / 60 HZ, though some facilities already have 220 V / 60 HZ. Wall outlets are for flat plugs.

You should not take urban transportation - like the “camel” -, they are always crowded and unreliable. You should take taxis or tourist buses instead, or walk when it’s short distances. If you want to go on a tour of the island, your best option is to rent a car. There are several car rental offices at the airports, hotels and tourist spots providing high quality cars and services.

You must show your passport and driver’s license in order to rent a car. The driver must be at least 21 years old; the license could be international or from your country but at least a year old. It is not advisable to drive at night. You must also watch out for animals on the road and cyclists in urban areas when you are driving. Park the car in a safe well-lit place and do not leave anything valuable in it. You are liable for traffic fines, failure to pay would mean incurring a debt with the State. We recommend you buy a “Road Guide of Cuba” which is very helpful for finding your way around on the roads.

There is no need to be vaccinated to come to Cuba. Most hotels provide 24-hours health care services with specialists and nurses. There are specialized clinics for tourists in the main cities.

Though tap water is drinkable, we advise you to drink bottled water to avoid tropical illnesses.

Even though Cuba is a safe and has a low crime-rate, you should take some precautions to avoid being caught out by petty thieves, who are just waiting for the chance to grab any belonging such as wallets, photo and video cameras, pieces of luggage, handbags or shopping bags. Public peace is ensured in streets by lots of young police officers always willing to help in case you need them, though they do not speak english. You should take note of the following advice: do not take more money with you than you need; do not be careless with your belongings and purchases; take good care of your wallet and passport in crowded places, we suggest you keep them in your front pocket; check the bill at restaurants; get rid of so-called “tourist guides”, they are not professional and many are not aware of Cuban history and culture, they just pretend to be nice to tourists in order to fool them; keep your jewels and valuables in the room safe.

Most hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, etc., take Visa and Mastercard credit cards, as long as they are not issued by American banks. However, you should have some cash on you just in case the machines are not working.

Soroa is a beautiful site some 70 km (43 miles) west of Havana. It has a rich flora, with many species of trees, shrubs, wild orchids and ferns. Its fauna includes one of the smallest frogs in the world, and around 70 kinds of birds have been reported, many of which are endemic.

Las Terrazas: This ecotourism center is situated in an area of around 5,000 hectares, in which a project of sustainable rural economy is being developed, based on the rational use of its natural resources for tourism. The buildings in the Las Terrazas Community have been designed to blend with their surroundings. The nearby ruins of French coffee plantations from the 19th century are an additional attraction.

In over 25 miles (40 kilometers), the northern coastline of Holguín has 41 beaches. Guardalavaca and Esmeralda are the most popular beaches among foreign tourists. Pesquero Beach has scores of fascinating natural sites, both under and above water; Don Lino Beach combines open areas, architecture and the natural surroundings; and Blanca Beach is very close to Cayo Bariay, where Admiral Christopher Columbus first set foot on Cuban soil, during his first voyage to the New World. Cayo Saetía is northeast of Holguín. This natural spot has 12 virgin beaches.

Located on the northernmost part of the island of Cuba, Varadero Beach runs along the narrow Hicacos Peninsula for 22 Km (over 13.5 miles). It has a wide strip of fine, white sand that slopes gently into the sea, whose warm, clear waters encompass an incomparable range of blues.,

Varadero began to be developed as a summer vacation resort in the 1940s, but it was not until the last ten years that its network of hotels and other facilities was given an unprecedented boost. Its tourist offer was both diversified and upgraded. ,

Its main attraction has always been its marvelous beach, but this is not all it has to offer. You can explore its caves and escarpments, a necklace of virgin keys that are easy to get to and the carefully preserved natural landscape at the northeastern end of the peninsula. In addition, Cárdenas, the nearby city of Matanzas, the Zapata Peninsula and the San Miguel de los Baños Spa offer cultural, historic and natural attractions.,

Varadero’s Plaza America Conference Center has all the facilities needed for conferences and incentive tourism.,

Varadero is a free port and has exceptionally good conditions for scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, yachting and other water sports.,

You can access Cuba’s most visited beach by road. The world-famous resort is 130 kilometers east of Havana. You can also travel by plane, landing at Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport, on the road that links the city of Matanzas with Varadero.,

In addition to traditional sun and beach offers, Varadero has an amphitheater at the entrance to the resort, where major international events have been held.,

Facilities for congresses are complemented by the Plaza America Convention Center. You can also enjoy archeological attractions like Ambrosio’s Cave and the Musulmanes (Muslims) Cave.,

In addition, the Varadero Golf Club, designed by architect Les Furber, chairman of the Canadian company Golf Design Services is located in Peñas de San Bernardino. The golf course combines different styles, including classical, with broad streets limited by trees, and wide and unprotected greens.,

The complement to the golf course is the Club House, where players meet after a golf session. The Xanadu Mansion, as it is called, was designed by architects Cavarrocas and Govantes in 1927. ,

On your way to the beach, on the left bank of the Canímar River, you will find the Tropicana Matanzas Cabaret, a version of the world-famous Tropicana Cabaret in Havana.,

Dozens of restaurants and cafeterias of different categories are available in the resort area, offering a wide range of gastronomic offers, including popular fast food, seafood and delicacies from Cuban and international cuisine.,

Some 14,000 rooms are available for vacationers who visit the resort. They are distributed in two-, three-, four- and five-star hotels, many of which are run by foreign companies.,

One of the newest establishments is the Princesa del Mar Hotel, which is owned by the Cuban chain Gaviota and offers more than 400 rooms equipped with all the amenities demanded by today’s tourism industry.,

Families and couples can stay at the Barceló Solymar Beach Resort, the first hotel run by the Spanish group Barceló in Cuba.,

The oldest logging facility in the world-famous beach resort, the Varadero Internacional Hotel, founded in 1950, is a traditional six-story compact building featuring an architectural design from the 1950s.,

Varadero’s seabed is home to more than 40 kinds of corals, hundreds of species of fish, lobsters, shrimps, crabs and turtles, and more than 70 kinds of mollusks. ,

Marinas such as Chapelin, Dársena de Varadero and Gaviota guarantee excellent conditions and eans to go diving, including appropriate boats, trained personnel, diving centers, hyperbaric hambers and means of transportation in case of an emergency. ,

The main diving site in Varadero is known as Hoyo Azul Ojo del Mégano, a huge 70-meter-wide cave that is famous for its underwater walls, coral reefs and schools of multicolored fish. ,

In addition, the Cayo Piedras del Norte Marine Park, the first and only attraction of its kind, covers an area of nearly two square nautical miles.

Old Havana, which for centuries was inside the walled part of the city, was founded in late 1519 at the port Carenas. Its primary nucleus consists of buildings that were erected around a series of public squares and tiny areas adjoining monasteries and old churches. ,A constant victim of attacks by pirates, corsairs and enemies of the Spanish Crown, the village of San Cristóbal de La Habana had to be fortified with a powerful defense system, some of whose major fortresses, such as the Castle of the Royal Force, the Tres Reyes del Morro Castle and the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña still preserve their original elegance. UNESCO declared Old Havana and its System of Colonial Fortifications Humankind’s Cultural Heritage in 1982.,The magnitude of the restoration works that have been done there since the 1970s makes it advisable for travelers to follow routes so as not to miss any of its attractions. Above all, do not miss the 9 o’clock cannon shot, with its colonial-style ceremony. ,Havana’s historic center covers approximately 142 hectares and contains around 3,500 buildings, one seventh of which are of great value. The restoration of this valuable historic and cultural heritage began in 1976. Two years later, Old Havana was declared a national monument.

There is nowhere in the world like Havana. From the resplendent Spanish colonial architecture of the Old Town, to the spectacular dilapidation of Havana Centro, a city of stalwart survivors and masterful musicians rocks indefatigably to the syncopated beat of the rumba.

Bereft of the consumer-driven trappings of other less colourful metropolises, Havana remains characterful, safe, and packed with a plethora of interesting museums. For history buffs there’s the living breathing essence of UNESCO-sponsered Havana Vieja; for beach bums there’s the sun-splashed tranquility of Playas del Este.

When To Visit
There really isn’t a bad time to visit Havana. The hot, rainy season runs from May to October but winter (December to April) is the island’s peak tourist season, when planeloads of Canadians and Europeans arrive in pursuit of the southern sun. Cubans take their holidays in July and August, crowding local beaches. Christmas, Easter and the period around 26 July, when Cubans celebrate the anniversary of the revolution, are also very busy. New Year’s Eve coincides with the anniversary of Castro’s troops marching into the city, so make hotel reservations early and plan to dance all night.

Weather
Havana, like the rest of Cuba, has two kinds of weather: hot and really, really hot. In July and August most of Havana goes on vacation to escape the sultry heat, which is bolstered by the humidity. The rainy season runs from May to October, overlapping with the hurricane season, which is generally from June to November. Havana can very occasionally be affected by cold winds from the North American interior, causing a day or two of temperatures below the 10°C (50°F) mark. Bring warmer clothes for the evenings if you are visiting at this time of year - it’s colder than you think.

People
60% Spanish descent, 22% mixed-race, 11% African descent, 1% Chinese

A country prodigal in artistic and creative manifestations. It has made contributions to international culture with important names of writers, thinkers, dancers, musicians, painters, poets and singers. Cuban craftwork is interesting, with outstanding works in leather, vegetable fibers, wood, stone, metal and sea products. Cuba’s cultural infrastructure consists of theaters, museums, art galleries and cinemas, where not only samples of the national wealth of all times are shown, but also of world art. It is the seat of important international events such as the Ballet Festival, the biennial of visual arts, popular music festivals and the Festival of the New Latin American Cinema, among others.

Pre 20th Century History
It’s thought that humans first cruised from South America to Cuba around 3500 BC. Primarily fishers and hunter-gatherers, these original inhabitants were later joined by the agriculturalist Taino, a branch of the Arawak Indians. Christopher Columbus sighted Cuba on 27 October 1492, and by 1514, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar had conquered the island for the Spanish crown and founded seven settlements. When captured Taino chief and resistance fighter Hatuey was condemned to die at the stake, he refused baptism, saying that he never wanted to see another Spaniard again, not even in heaven.
Cattle ranching quickly became the mainstay of the Cuban economy. Large estates were established on the island under the encomienda system, enslaving the Indians. By 1542, when the system was abolished, only around 5000 Indians (of an estimated 100,000 half a century before) survived. Undaunted, the Spanish imported African slaves as replacements. Cuba’s African slaves retained their tribal groupings, and certain aspects of their culture endure.
By the 17th century, other European powers had begun to challenge Spain’s grip on the Caribbean. British troops invaded Cuba in June 1762 and occupied Havana for 11 months, importing more slaves and vastly expanding Cuba’s trade links. In 1817, Spain’s long-standing monopoly on tobacco ended, which raised prices, encouraging the crop’s expansion. Sugar had also become a major industry, as American independence in 1783 created new markets, and the 1791 slave uprising in Haiti eliminated Cuba’s biggest sugar-producing competitor. By 1820 Cuba was the world’s largest sugar producer.
Cuba and Puerto Rico were Spain’s last holdings in the Western Hemisphere. Spanish loyalists fled the former colonies and arrived in Cuba in droves. Even they, however, began demanding home rule for the island, albeit under the Spanish flag. Cuba’s First War of Independence was launched in October 1868. After 10 years and 200,000 deaths, the rebels were spent and a pact was signed granting them amnesty. A group of Cuban exiles in the USA began plotting the overthrow of the Spanish colonial government. They landed on Cuba’s east coast in 1895; one of them, the poet Martí, conspicuous on his white horse, was shot and killed in a skirmish with Spanish soldiers. His martyrdom earned him the permanent position of Cuba’s national hero.
Gómez and rebel leader Antonio Maceo pushed westward, burning everything in their path. Spain came down hard, forcing civilians into reconcentración camps and publicly executing rebel sympathisers. These methods effectively reestablished Spanish control, but Cuba’s agriculture-based economy was in ruins. The Spaniards adopted a more conciliatory approach, offering Cuba home rule, but the embittered populace would agree to nothing short of full independence.
José Martí had long warned of US interest in Cuba, and in 1898 he was proved right. After years of reading lurid (and often inaccurate) tabloids tales about Cuba’s Second War for Independence, the American public was fascinated with the island. Although everything was quiet, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst told his illustrator not to come home just yet: ‘You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.’ In February 1898 the US warship Maine, anchored outside Havana harbor, exploded mysteriously. All but two of its officers were off the ship at the time. The Spanish-American war had begun.
Spain, weakened by conflict elsewhere, limped to battle, trying to preserve some dignity in the Caribbean. They nearly beat future US president Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders (though they’d had to leave their horses on the mainland) in the Battle of San Juan Hill. The USA’s vastly superior forces eventually prevailed, however, and on December 12, 1898, a peace treaty ending the war was signed. The Cubans, including General Calixto García, whose largely black army had inflicted dozens of defeats on the Spanish, were not invited.

Modern History
The USA, hobbled by a law requiring its own government to respect Cuban self-determination, could not annex Cuba outright, as it did Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Instead, they installed a governor, General John Brooke, and began a series of public works projects, building schools and improving public health, that further tied Cuba to the USA. US leaders did retain the legal right to intervene militarily in Cuba’s domestic affairs: in 1903, the USA built a naval base at Guantánamo Bay that is still in operation today.
By the 1920s US companies owned two-thirds of Cuba’s farmland, imposing tariffs that crippled Cuba’s own manufacturing industries. Discrimination against blacks was institutionalised. Tourism based on drinking, gambling and prostitution flourished. The hardships of the Great Depression led to civil unrest, which was violently quelled by President Gerado Machado y Morales. In 1933 Morales was overthrown in a coup, and army sergeant Fulgencio Batista seized power. Over the next 20 years Cuba crumbled, and its assets were increasingly placed into foreign hands. On January 1, 1959, Batista’s dictatorship was overthrown after a three-year guerilla campaign led by young lawyer Fidel Castro, flanked by military leaders ‘Che’ Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic, taking with him US$40 million of government funds.
Castro was named prime minister and began reforming the nation’s economy, cutting rents and nationalising landholdings larger than 400 hectares. Relations with the USA, already shaky, deteriorated when he nationalised US-owned petroleum refineries that had refused to process Russian oil. The Americans retaliated by cutting Cuban sugar imports, crippling the Cuban economy, and the CIA began plotting devious ways to overthrow the revolutionary government. Desperate for cash, Castro turned to the Soviet Union, which promptly paid top dollar for Cuba’s sugar surplus.
In 1961, 1400 CIA-trained Cuban expats, mainly upper-middle-class Batista supporters who had fled to Miami after the revolution, attacked the island at the Bay of Pigs. They were promptly captured and ransomed back to the US for medical supplies. The following week, Castro announced the ’socialist nature’ of the revolutionary government, something he’d always denied. The Soviet Union, always eager to help a struggling socialist nation (particularly one so strategically located) sent much-needed food, technical support and, of course, nuclear weapons. The October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is said to be the closest the world has ever come to nuclear conflict.
The missiles were shipped back to the USSR, and the USA, already refusing to import Cuban goods, declared a full embargo. Castro and his Minister of Economics, Che Guevara, began actively supporting guerilla groups in South America and Africa, sending troops and advisers to assist socialist insurgencies in Zaire, Angola, Mozambique, Bolivia (where Guevara was killed) and Ethiopia. The US response was to support dictators in many of those countries. By the 1970s, Cuba had limited itself to sending doctors and technicians abroad; there were problems enough at home. Despite massive Soviet aid, the Cuban command economy was in ruins, and the country’s plight worsened in 1989 when Russia withdrew its aid as Eastern Europe collapsed.
In December 1991, the Cuban Constitution was amended to remove all references to Marxism-Leninism, and economic reforms began. In 1993, laws passed allowing Cubans to own and use US dollars, be self-employed and open farmers’ markets. Taxes on dollar incomes and profits were levied in 1994, and in September 1996 foreign companies were allowed to wholly own and operate businesses and purchase real estate. These measures gradually brought the economy out of its post-Soviet tailspin. The US responded by stiffening its embargo with the Helms-Burton Act, ironically solidifying Castro’s position as defender of Cuba against the ‘evil’ empire.

Recent History
Critics of the Cuban government’s human rights record include the Pope; at least 500 people are ‘prisoners of conscience’. Each year, hundreds of Cubans brave the shark-infested waters separating Cuba from the USA, hoping to make a landfall that guarantees US citizenship and support from the wealthy Cuban exile community in Miami, Florida.
In November 1999, six-year-old Elián González, whose mother died during that dangerous trip, made it to Miami by clinging to an innertube. This prompted an unusual custody battle between the boy’s great uncle in Florida and his father in Cuba. US officials enforced a court order returning Elián to his father.
While there is broad support in the US for a relaxation of sanctions against Cuba, Washington continues to pander to the powerful Florida Cuban community. In May 2002, it accused Cuba of producing biological weapons and added it to its list of ‘axis of evil’ countries, coinciding with an historic goodwill visit by former US president Jimmy Carter. Meanwhile, Cuba’s worsening human rights record drew criticism from all quarters, such as the European Union (which has threatened sanctions), the UN Human Rights Commission, and even old friends such as Mexico and Uruguay (with whom diplomatic ties were suspended in 2002).

Cuba is part of the West Indies and is situated within the Antilles Archipelago. Havana is a mere 170km (105mi) from Florida’s Key West, in the USA, and Pinar del Río Province is 210km (130mi) from Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Cuba’s other close neighbors are Jamaica, the Bahamas and Haiti, 77km (48mi) away across the Windward Passage. Cuba’s main island is the 15th largest island in the world, measuring, 1250km (777mi) long and 191km (9119mi) wide at its widest point. Cuba also lays claim to the Isla de la Juventud and a further 4200-odd coral cays and islets, most of which are low-lying and uninhabited.

Much of Cuba is made up of fertile flatlands, where cattle are grazed and sugarcane, coffee and tobacco are grown. The Oriental, Central and Occidental mountain ranges cover 25% of the country, the highest point being Pico Turquino (1972m). Cuba’s longest river is the 343km (213mi) Río Cauto, although it’s barely navigable, even for small boats. The North American and Caribbean tectonic plates meet in the 7200m/23622ft-deep Cayman Trench between Jamaica and Cuba, and the region is thus prone to earthquakes.

There are no great differences in seasonal temperature in Cuba, its pleasant subtropical climate being augmented by the gentle northeasterly trade winds. The wet summer season is between May and October, and the drier winter season runs from November through April. The average temperature reaches 27°C (81°F) in July and August and 22°C (72°F) in February. An average of 80% humidity exists all year round, with things just a little more sticky in the wet season.