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DAY 1
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CANADA – HAVANA
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Welcome to Cuba!
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Flight departs Vancouver 11:30pm Friday 18 March.
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Air flight from Toronto to Havana.
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Airport welcome by your Cuba Education Tours guide, transfer to Hotel St. Johns, private group check in, brief orientation meeting.
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| Free time to get comfortable and review Things to Do in Havana. |
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DAY 2
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HAVANA
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Guided walking tour of Old Havana, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then onto the Scale Model of Old Havana.
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Visit to the Museum of the Revolution.
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We have a Cuban band playing for us this evening – and a chance to learn to perform and dance to Salsa, Son and Rumba from bandleader Dulce María.
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Photo Ancient Spanish fortress guarded Havana's harbor.
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DAY 3
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HAVANA
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Meeting with our island host the Cuban Movement for Peace (MOVPAZ) for a presentation and discussion on the current social, political, economic and cultural situation in Cuba today. Meeting the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) to discuss Cuban women's work and lives.
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Bus tour of the most important sites in Modern Havana.
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Baseball game (optional).
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Photo Statue of Cuba's national liberation hero José Martí beneath monument to the Revolution in modern Havana.
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DAY 4
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HAVANA
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Callejón de Hamel is a hub of Afrocuban culture.
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Visit to the School of Music at Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) for an exchange with Cuban high school students on culture studies.
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Meeting with members of the National Assembly of the People's Power of Cayo Hueso community to learn about its local projects followed by walking tour of this neighborhood. We'll visit Callejón de Hamel, Casa del Niño y La Niña (community- based children's services program) and a local high school. Return to MOVPAZ to enjoy Cuban music by Grupo Mayohuacán.
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Free time with your tour peers.
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DAY 5
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HAVANA – PINAR DEL RÍO
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CDR party is a tour highlight.
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Departure to Las Terrazas eco-community in Sierra del Rosario mountain range and the rural hamlet of Rancho Curujey for tour and explanation of the area, then a swim in San Juan River cascades and pools. We'll visit the ruins of a French Coffee Plantation built in 1801. Continue on to Hotel La Moka, an ecological building with trees growing up through its balconies and ceilings. We have lunch at a traditional Cuban restaurant by the river (included in cost). Check in to Aguas Claras Resort.
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Evening festivity with a CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) in Pinar del Río.
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DAY 6
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PINAR DEL RÍO
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 A mogote (pin-cushion hill) in Viñales Valley.
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Excursion to Viñales Valley containing the most spectacular scenery in Cuba and some of the most interesting and varied geological formations in the Caribbean. The valley is famed for its dramatic freestanding rock formations called mogotes. Visit Carmen and Caridad Miranda's botanical garden known as Viñales Botanical Garden containing many exotic fruits, orchids, herbs and medicinal plants.
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Free time at Aguas Claras Resort.
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DAY 7
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PINAR DEL RÍO – CIENFUEGOS
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Departure to Cienfuegos, known as the "Pearl of the South" for its wealth of buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Check in to Hotel Pasacaballo.
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Free time at Hotel Pasacaballo.
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Photo Young person sells coconuts at fruit stand. Food is organically grown. Absent are chemical fertilizers, hormones and pesticides that make some North Americans sick.
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DAY 8
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CIENFUEGOS
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Fresh food from sea and field.
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Encounter with high school students in the city of Cienfuegos.
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Guided tour of the city of Cienfuegos. Your guide explains origins of this beautiful cosmopolitan city. Remainder of the afternoon free to explore the city at leisure.
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Evening event at Casa de La Música in the city (entrance fee optional, transportation included).
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DAY 9
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CIENFUEGOS – TRINIDAD
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All day work exchange with high school students in Cienfuegos' countryside.
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Lunch with Cuban students.
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Check in at Club Costa Sur in the city of Trinidad. Free time to enjoy the hotel and its nearby beach.
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Photo Rural Cubans work with horses and cattle to provide essential transportation, field cultivation and other chores because the cruel U.S. blockade and embargo deprives them of petroleum and other items North Americans take for granted. Animals are treated well.
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DAY 10
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TRINIDAD
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Kids are Cuba's future and hope.
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Walking tour one of the oldest cities founded by the Spaniards in the West Indies: Trinidad an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visit its Plaza Mayor, Museum of Architecture, Museum of Romance, the main parish and other interesting sites.
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Meeting at a community clinic and family doctor to learn about the system of Public Health in Cuba.
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Live Cuban popular music on the steps of Casa de la Trova (included).
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DAY 11
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TRINIDAD
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All day work exchange with high school students in Trinidad's countryside.
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Live Cuban popular music on the steps of Casa de la Trova (included).
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Photo Cubans come in all colors, racism hardly exists.
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DAY 12
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TRINIDAD
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All day work exchange with high school students in Trinidad's countryside.
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Afrocuban performance at Las Ruinas (included).
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Photo Cuban secondary student. Education is free through adulthood and room and board is covered. Similarly healthcare is free. The island stakes its future on a healthy well-educated population to improve itself and set an example that a "better world is possible."
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DAY 13
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TRINIDAD – CÁRDENAS – VARADERO
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Plan to snorkel or scuba dive in Varadero.
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Departure to Varadero. On the way we stop in Cárdenas. The Cuban Flag was first raised over Cuban soil in this picturesque and historic city which is hometown to Elián González. We'll visit the Museum of the Battle of Ideas exhibiting the saga of Elián's epic road to freedom.
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Arrival to Varadero, check in at Hotel Acuazul.
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Free time to enjoy Varadero with tour participants.
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DAY 15
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VARADERO – HAVANA – CANADA
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Departure to Havana's José Martí International Airport for return flight to Canada.
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Flight departs Havana in the afternoon, arrives in Toronto early evening and into Vancouver at 10:30pm Saturday 2 April 2005.
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Your new Cubans friends will miss you and look forward to your return. Be sure to keep in touch with them by email! Take pictures and keep a journal and we'll post them on this website for all to see and enjoy upon your return.
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