Cuba: Explore & Color with Colorful Havana

Day 1 Overview (D)

Welcome to Cuba!  After getting through with immigration formalities, baggage collection & customs, our tour representative will greet you. 

Your Colorful Havana adventures begin with an orientation walk, using the coloring book as a guide and for our scavenger hunt!

After checking in at your casa particulares (private accommodation), you'll head out for a welcome dinner at a private paladar.

Accomodation: Casa particulares

Following breakfast, we will journey to Old Havana and meet with actors from the theater program Gigantería and enjoy a short workshop. Since 2000, this community of friends and independent artists have performed in the streets and squares of Havana, exploring the traditions and cultural practices of those who inhabit their community. Perhaps what makes their presentations the most unique is their blend of live music, giant dolls, living statues, juggling, and more.

The morning will also take you to the cooperative La Vidria, a stained-glass restoration business where you'll speak to the young business owners who are dedicated to the elaboration and restoration of stained-glass windows in Havana.

The scavenger hunt continues with a walking tour of Camara Oscura, Plaza Vieja, and Plaza de Armas.    Enjoy a stop for lunch in Centro Havana at a paladar assoicated with the photography Amos Project, a community program that teaches local youth about photography.

In the afternoon, we will visit Arte Continua, a nearby Art Gallery. At each stop along the way, you'll have a chance to reflect on what you've seen in Colorful Havana and even coloring a few pages of the book at the end of the day!

Dinner in Havana at a private paladar.

Accommodations:  Casas particulares

Meals: (B,L,D)

After breakfast, we will visit Las Terrazas, an eco-community and Cuba’s most important reforestation project, which became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1984. Among its thriving natural surroundings and some of the earliest surviving coffee plantations in Cuba, is a thriving art community with open studios and workshops for guests to browse in. We will visit the museum and speak with the museum director about the history of Las Terrazas.

The day continues with a tour of the community, learning about the its' history and a visit to the home of artist Lester Campas before taking a break for lunch. Lunch provides another opportunity to color in Colorful Havana.

In the afternoon, we will tour one of the many old French coffee plantations in the area to learn about the history of coffee cultivation in Cuba before heading back to Havana for dinner at a private paladar.

Accommodations:  Casas particulares

Meals: (B,L,D)

The morning starts with a trip to a local farmers market to see how Cubans purchase their fruits and vegetables, as well as a visit to a ration book store to learn more about the ration book system, where you'll find a scavenger hunt item.

From there, we will venutre into the less-visited Los Pocitos,a community project in an unofficial neighborhood that serves as the center of the Abakúa fraternal society, and our time (and delicious lunch!) with Havana University professor Michél Santor, who coordinates it. The community is an informal settlement unique for its active expressions of Afro-Cuban identities and contentious religious practices.  While rich in culture, the people of Los Pocitos rely on an informal economy to subsist. Michel and his colleagues have committed to a participatory development project in Los Pocitos to help the community build more secure livelihoods by drawing on their strengths.

We will meet with community members working on the Akokán project  (Akokán, translated from Yoruba – an African language used by the community for their religious practices – means “heart.” This heart can be seen in the project’s efforts to improve the locals’ quality of life through community development and promotion of heritage, identity and the environment.  We will also visit to a religious center for the “Abakúa” religion and learn about the spiritual practices of this religion from the community.

After a delicious home-cooked lunch, we will participate in a workshop alongside some of the local children to assist with Akokán Los Pocitos, adding our own bit of heart to the project.

Enjoy a Cuban meal for dinner on your own tonight, or with your new friends in our group.

Accomodation: Casas particulares

Meals: B,L

Today we depart from Havana and make our way to the coastal city of Cienfuegos (roughly 3.5 hours away). The journey provides time to reflect on what you've seen thru the Colorful Havana coloring book and items found in the scavenger hunt. 

Upon arrival, we will enjoy lunch and a short walking tour of the city where the scavenger hunt picks up again. After eating, you'll visit the culture house and learn more about the dance and cultural programs the gathering place offers. 

In the afternoon, you'll visit a printmaking studio and enjoy an activity where you can participate in making your own prints.

Afterwards, you'll check into private homes for the evening followed by dinner in Cienfuegos. 

Accommodations:  Casa particulares, in private bed and breakfasts

Meals: B,L,D

After breakfast, enjoy the one-hour drive to the city of Trinidad, stopping along the way to talk to roadside fruit vendors to learn about the different kinds of fruit they offer.  

Enjoy a walking tour of the pastel-colored streets of Trindad and lunch before visiting the Valley de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills) and the Manaca-Iznaga plantation there.  Valle de los Ingenios was the center of Cuba’s sugar production industry—which was the largest in the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. You can visit the now-dilapidated factories, practice pressing sugar cane, and learn about the role that slave labor played in sustaining this vast enterprise, and Cuba’s process for nationalizing the industry.

We will return to Cienfuegos for dinner. 

Accommodations:  Casa particulares

Meals: B,L,D

After breakfast, we will journey back to Havana, stopping for lunch in the small fisherman's village of Cojimar (where Hemingway used to fish) and visit the La Peche Fisherman project.  Created by members of the Castillo-Perché fishing community, this project displays local fishing gear while encouraging viewers to do their part to protect coastal areas. It also makes an effort to promote the creation, appreciation and conservation of fisheries as a valuable part of the local heritage and space to educate future generations.

After lunch, you'll have the opportunity to walk along the shore of Cojimar and interact with the fisherman.

In the afternoon, you'll visit the La Alegria de Viver  or "Joy of Living" Project, also known as Fusterlandia, started by the ceramic artist José Antonio Rodríguez Fuster.  The work features over 80 homes turned into canvas, including the birthplace of the work,  Jose Fuster's own home where, you will enjoy your final dinner in Cuba. 

Accommodations:  Casa particulares

Meals: B,L,D

The morning allows you to pack and prepare for the journey home and finish last minute explorations using Colorful Hanva, locating any remaining items from your scavenger hunt.

Time to bid farewell to Cuba, with afternoon transfer to the airport to board your respective flights home.

Meals: B

The bustling streets of Havana are a feast for the eyes of all ages. Explorers young and older can reflect on what they see by coloring pages from your own personal copy of Colorful Havana - Explore & Color - a travel guide and coloring book. Each of the book's 30 illustrations include an index with descriptions that are both English and Spanish, so it is great for both native Spanish speakers or those that are learning the language!

Much more than a traditional tour operator, Global Family Travels’ mission is to “Learn, Serve and Immerse” through community-based travel programs.  In partnership with non-profit organizations and schools, we offer family-friendly and sustainable travel experiences in support of education, gender equality, access to clean water, preservation of local cultures, conservation and economic growth, all of which foster cross-cultural understanding and global citizens.  

Our trips include a unique mix of cultural and educational activities, homestays and participation in local service projects aimed at improving the lives of people in the communities we visit.    
 
Expect to expand your family circle when you embark on a Global Family Travels trip!  Visit our website for more information: Global Family Travels

Colorful Cities creates and publishes travel guides and coloring books for vibrant cities around the world in the "Explore & Color" book series.

Our books inspire exploration of cities beyond the famous landmarks - whether out in the world or coloring from home. A navigable city map, location descriptions and whimsical illustrations make itinerary planning a snap. With printing on one side (to reduce nasty marker bleed) and perforation at the top, black and white illustrations easily become colorful artwork.

All our products are 100% created and printed in the USA. Colorful Cities is a bronze winner of the 2016 Independent Publishers Book Award in the travel and guidebook category.

Virtuoso Travel says it best, "Part travel guide, part coloring book = total fun!"

Each day of your trip includes opportunities for your whole family to find items on our Colorful Havana - Scavenger Hunt. With the help of your guide, see if you can spot:

• A Guiro (percussion instrument) being played on the streets of Old Havana
• A taxi which looks like a coconut 
• A plaintain at a farmers market in Trinidad

Fun for the whole family while learning about the history and traditions of the Cuban people!

Since 2000, a community of friends and independent artists have performed in the streets and squares of Havana with the theatre program Giganteria, exploring the traditions and cultural practices of those who inhabit their community. Perhaps what makes their presentations the most unique is their blend of live music, giant dolls, living statues, juggling and more.

Considered to be the first Eco-Museum of Cuba, Las Terrazas is a pioneering ecovillage dating back to a reforestation project which began in 1968. Today it’s a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, as well as the site of the earliest coffee plantations in Cuba. 

The community project Akokán Los Pocitos is the unofficial neighborhood serving as the center of the Abakua culture. "Akokán" translated from Yoruba - an African language used by the community for their religious practices - means "heart". This heart can be seen in the project's efforts to improve the locals' quality of life through community development and promotion of heritage, identity and the environment. (See more in blog post written by client who went traveled with Global Family Travels a few years ago)

A vibrant puzzle of music and culture sitting amidst colonial-era reconstruction takes you back to a time of glamour. It's authenticity and history are set amongst a backdrop of impressive and energizing color.

Visit this art-installation by local artist Jose Fuster and the community project La Alegria de Vivir - Joy of Living. What started as a way for Fuster to bring color to his homes' exterior, has now become a sprawling street-art extravaganza covering several suburban blocks.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site was originally a Spanish colony in the 16th century which profited from the nearby sugar plantations. Its wealth has kept it well-preserved with its cobblestone streets lined with vibrantly colored homes and colonial mansions.

Created by members of the Castillo-Perche fishing community, this project displays local fishing gear while encouraging viewers to do their part to protect coastal areas. It also makes an effort to promote the creation, appreciation and conservation of fisheries as a valuable part of the local heritage and space to educate future generations.

A city on the south-central coast, it rose to prominence as a trading hub for agricultural products - namely sugar cane, coffee and tobacco. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city's French colonial roots and Spanish influence resonate through the architecture. Enjoy a walk through traditional shopping streets leading to the towns' central square where you'll find the Ferrer Palace with a cupola that offers the best views of the city.