Royal St. George's College Cuba Tour Itinerary

You'll learn Cuban music and dance.

Fresh fruit stands ensure good health.

Young musicians in Havana.

Cuban girls, equal to boys, perform.

Girls chorus sings at home and beyond.

You'll be staying on Ancón beach.

Young folk dancers in costume.

Trinidad street ensemble.

Santander pottery family workshop in operation for generations.

Bikes are popular transport everywhere.

Afrocuban players are esteemed.

Museum of the Revolution in Havana.

Friends in Regla outside of Havana.

You'll visit Trinidad's Sugar Mill Valley settled in the 1500s and made productive by African slave labor.

Cienfuegos, founded by French colonists, sports a replica of the Arc de Triomphe.

TIME/TEMP IN HAVANA NOW!

Island-wide annual averages:
Summer temp average: 81F | 27C
Winter temp average: 72F | 22C
Ocean temp average: 78F | 25.5C

ST. GEORGES

St. Georges 2005 Cuba Tour

Looking up at the ceiling of El Museo de la Revolución.

Consider diving and snorkeling in Trinidad.

Cuban kids rank tops in education scores in Latin America.

Cubans come in all colors. Its people proudly describe themselves as AfroCaribbean meaning a mix of European, African, Arab and Asian peoples.

Trinidad school kids at recess.

Animals partners assist rural Cubans in transport and farming thus reducing pollution. The U.S. blockade of Cuba limited fuel and machinery.

Young person staffs local store.

Fresh seafood supplements the Cuba diet and provides valuable export commodity.

The sea surrounding Trinidad has spectacular corals existing nowhere else.

This Cuban frog is world's smallest (shown here at two times life size).

Iznaga tower used in the 1800s to watch over slaves.

Arts, music, dance, history, culture and architecture Sunday 30 January to Sunday 6 February 2005 8 days and 7 nights in safe student-friendly Cuba!

		Route map for this tour

		Go to Day \| 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \|

DAY 1		TORONTO – HAVANA
Welcome to Cuba!
		Morning air flight from Toronto to Havana.

		Afternoon Havana airport welcome by your Cuba Education Tours guide, transfer to Hotel El Bosque, private group check in, brief orientation meeting.

		Free time to get comfortable in your new digs and review Things to Do in Havana.

DAY 2		HAVANA


You'll tour Taller Experimental de Gráfica (Studio of experimental design).		Morning tour of the Scale Model of the city of Havana and presentation by the head of the architectural Group for the Comprehensive Development of the city.

		Bus tour of the most important sites in Modern Havana.

		Guided walking tour of Old Havana, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We'll explore historic plazas and buildings and visit the Museum of Ceramics, the Center for the Development of Visual Arts, the Photo Gallery of Cuba (Fototeca de Cuba) and Art Gallery of La Casona.

		We'll meet with the director of the Taller Experimental de Gráfica in Cathedral Square, a cooperative of artist involved in modern printmaking, and tour their workshop.

		Afternoon visit to the Museum of the Revolution.

		This evening we have a Cuban band playing for us – and a chance to learn to perform and dance to Salsa, Son, Rumba Mambo from bandleader Dulce María.

		Above and left Detail of the Museum of the Revolution and its interior entrance.

DAY 3		HAVANA


		Morning guided tour of Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes by specialists of the Cuban Collection. We'll examine the evolution of Cuba's Visual Arts over the last 300 years. The collection reflects the richness of the island's Spanish, French, Chinese, Arab and African cultural roots.

		We play basketball, football or baseball at Ciudad Deportiva (Sports City) with our Cuban peers.

		Dance classes with Dulce Maria and her dancers musicians.

		This evening we attend a Peña del Chan Chan and hear one of the most popular traditional septeto band playing live in the gardens of Casa de la Amistad. Unique opportunity to practice dancing with Cubans!

		Top and left Dance and music practice, University of Havana.

DAY 4		HAVANA


Regla community with Havana in background. Interior of Regla church with the Black Virgen de Regla Yemayá in the alter. Master artist Antonio Canet.		Morning ferryboat ride across Havana harbor to the municipality of Regla. This Afrocuban community has a long, rich and still active tradition of African-inspired religions.

		Upon arrival we're welcomed by a Regla historian who explains the enclave's Afrocuban heritage. We'll visit the local Church dedicated to the Black Virgen de Regla Yemayá African goddess of the sea in the Yoruba religion and the patron saint of sailors.

		Later we'll tour the Municipal Museum to learn the origins of this unique community and its religions. Then we visit home studio of painter, master printmaker and designer, Antonio Canet.

		We continue our journey to Santa María – Havana's white sand eastern beaches.

		Upon return to Havana we join Dulce Maria and her musicians for further dance instruction.

		After dinner presentation on the origins of the Cuban Film Industry by a Cuban cinema critic, followed by a discussion on the role and influence of Cuban cinematography.

		Flamenco music tonight and a dance performance at Meson de La Flota (optional).

DAY 5		HAVANA – CIENFUEGOS – TRINIDAD DE CUBA


		We leave early this morning for the City of Trinidad (founded in 1514), one of the first settlements in the Americas.

		En route we visit the city known as the Pearl of the South, Cienfuegos, for its wealth late 19th and early 20th century buildings erected by its French founders.

		Seafood lunch at Club Náutico restaurant followed by free time to get to know Cienfuegos!

		We tour the main sights of Cienfuegos including its neoclassical buildings, museums, historic landmarks and galleries.

		Late afternoon departure for Club Costa Sur located on Playa Ancón's warm Caribbean waters.

		Evening is free to explore Trinidad or activities at your resort.

		Panorama Typical of rural agricultural life in Cuba are horse or oxen driven carts. Left Kid plays in ancient ruins. Youth spins decorative pot at the Santander family workshop.

DAY 6		TRINIDAD DE CUBA


Nature around Trinidad: tropical pools and baby sea turtles.		We walk around one of the oldest cities founded by the Spaniards in the West Indies, Trinidad, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

		On the way we stop at a mirador (lookout) over the Sugar Mill Valley, where the sugar barons had their countryside mansions and mills – also an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

		Trinidad is well known for its pottery makers. We meet with a family that has been passing the tradition for generations: the Santanders.

		We visit the homes and studios of local artists such as Abelito, a pioneer of naïve arts in Central Cuba, and Yamisleydis Martínez experimental contemporary artist.

		Free time to wander the streets of historical center or enjoy the beach.

		Popular Cuban music live on steps of Casa de la Música – a great opportunity to dance with Cubans!

DAY 7

TRINIDAD DE CUBA

Free day to enjoy Trinidad's Playa Ancón (Ancón beach) dig nature and kick around with your friends or explore the amazing sights in City of Trinidad with your classmates. Sealife abounds on the beaches as does social life in the city.

DAY 8		TRINIDAD DE CUBA – HAVANA – TORONTO


		Say goodbye to Cuba and hello to Canada! Wakeup early this morning, pack your bags and jump onto your bus for departure to Havana's José Martí International Airport to return to Toronto.
Your new Cubans friends will miss you and look forward to your return. Be sure to keep in touch with them by email! Take plenty of pictures and keep a journal and we'll post them on this website for all to see and read upon your return.