Libraries and Literature

VISIT, EXCHANGES AND PEOPLE TO PEOPLE CONTACTS ORGANIZED FOR LIBRARIANS FROM CANADA AND THE USA

Organized by:
Susan Weber, MLS
And
EduToursToCuba.com

Program

Included

• All breakfasts in hotels
• 5 lunches (Las Terrazas in Cojimar – day 3, Palacio de Valle in Cienfuegos – day 6, lunch provided on the way - day 9, 12 &14)
• 10 dinners
• farewell dinner at the restaurant La Divina Pastora and CDR Party.

Note: Visit to schools to be confirmed.

• First group proceeding from Cancun arrive at the José Martí Airport around lunch-time. Transfer to the Hotel Deauville. Dinner provided in a nearby restaurant.
• Second group from Toronto arrive at the José Martí Airport in the evening. Transfer to the Hotel Deauville.
• Dinner provided in a nearby restaurant.

Day 2. Monday, Havana

• Third group proceeding from Vancouver and Calgary arrive at the Varadero airport (time arrival to be confirmed). Transfer to the Hotel Deauville.
• Visit of the Museo de Regla.
• Dinner provided in a nearby restaurant.

Museo de Regla: Regla came into being in 1687 with the establishment of a little hermitage that was replaced over the course of the 18th Century by Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, a magnificent church built on a little point that juts out into the bay. The Museo de Regla located right near the church is largely devoted to the syncretism that is characteristic of Afro-Cuban religions. Housed in a 19th century house, it also displays objects from the colonial era, but the rooms devoted to the orishas and the santeria religion saints are the most interesting.

• Visit of Havana and the old city Habana Vieja declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1982

Getting to know Hemingway
• Visit of Hemingway’s room in Hotel Ambos Mundos and the Bodeguita del Medio.
• Visit of the Finca la Vigia and Cojimar. Lunch provided at the restaurant Las Terrazas en Cojimar. Return to the hotel early evening. Free time in the evening.

Finca la Vigia: located about 15km from town, it was built in 1887 and is now the Museo Ernest Hemingway. It contains many tastefully furnished, rustic rooms, a library with over 9,000 volumes, including original editions of a few of his novels and an assortment of his hunting trophies. Unfortunately, you can’t go inside the house. However, the doors and windows are left wide open so that visitors can look at various photographs and retrace the life of one of the most famous American storytellers.

Cojimar: no Hemingway visit would be complete without a stop at the little port of Cojimar made famous from Hemingway’s novel “The old Man and the Sea”.

Restaurant Las Terrazas: excellent seafood restaurant, one of Hemingway’s favorite places to eat.

• Visit of the Instituto de Información Científica y Tecnológica (IDICT), Ministerio de Ciencia Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (CITMA).
• Visit of the Library of the Capitolio.
• Visit with the Faculty of the Department of Library and Information Science. Facultad de la Comunicación, Departamento de Bibliotecología y Ciencia de la Información.
• Visit of the Casa de Las Américas a Cultural Centre.
• Visit of the National Medical Library Biblioteca Medica Nacional.
• Visit of the Ministry of Education Information Centre Centro de Información para la Educación.
• Visit of the Ruben Martinez Villena Public Library.

• Teatro Nacional: presents classical music concerts, plays and national and international variety shows. This is where the symphony orchestra performs.
• Casa de la Música, an authentic salsa night spot.
• Café Cantante: one of the hottest salsa places in town.

Capitolio: opened in 1929 by dictator Gerardo Machado, the Capitolio was the seat of the Senate and the House of Representatives until the revolution of 1959. Inspired by the Capitol in Washington, the building is remarkable for its size. Today, the lower and higher floors are used as the National Science and Technology Library, offices and conference halls. The middle floor is opened to the public.

Casa de las Américas: regularly exhibits work by Latin American artists and organizes symposium on subjects related to Cuban and Spanish American culture.

• After breakfast, transfer to Trinidad. Lodging at the Hotel Ancon. Visit and exchanges in Cienfuegos on the way to Trinidad. Lunch provided at the Palacio de Valle in Cienfuegos.
• Dinner provided.

Cienfuegos: was founded in 1819 by a Frenchman named Louis de Cluet, who settled here with about 40 French families from New Orleans and named the village Fernandina de Jagua, jagua being a native word for beauty. The city is still known as the “beauty” or “pearl” of the south.

Trinidad: was founded in 1514 by Diego Velásquez. Trinidad’s architectural heritage is the best preserved of Cuba’s three oldest towns. Recognized in 1980 as a national monument, it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1990. This old town has a fascinating history and architecture. It is best explored on foot.

• Visit of Trinidad.
• Visit of the Linos Perez Public Library
• Visit of the Museo Histórico Municipal, Museo Romántico, Plaza Mayor, local handicrafts, Ceramics Factory.
• Dinner provided

Museo Histórico Municipal: built in the mid-19th, the interior of this former palace is quite magnificent and many original paintings have been preserved intact. Several period objects can be found in the interior courtyard. A stairway leads to a tower from which a superb view of Trinidad and the Escambray mountains can be seen.

Museo Romántico: built in 1740, this colonial mansion is one of the finest in Trinidad. It houses an excellent permanent collection. The interior courtyard is superb.

Plaza Mayor: also called the Antigua Plaza de Trinidad is the focal point of a visit to the town. Restored colonial mansions, sumptuous and brightly colored, surround one of the finest public squares in Cuba and the entire Caribbean.

• Visit Topes de Collantes, exchange with local people + walking & light trekking.
• Dinner provided.

Topes de Collantes: at 800 meters above sea level, in the Escambray Sierra, with an average temperature of 21^oC, Topes de Collantes is a true paradise of the ecologists and all those that in one way or another love nature in the purest state. Many interpretative paths, and for the most specialized, the jungle itself, in its natural stage, allow the observation both of the scenery as well as the various animal and plant species that at Topes live in perfect harmony.

• After breakfast, to Camagüey and lodging at the Gran Hotel. Lunch provided on the way.
• Dinner provided.

Gran Hotel: the most centrally located hotel in Camagüey, it is ideal to visit and exchange with the local citizens, the city streets, squares and churches. The Gran Hotel has a turn-of-the-century charm. It has a beautiful pool on the roof. An ambience of prestige and tradition in its broad rooms that open to galleries around a central patio and in the elegant top floor restaurant. The building was recently restored and renovated, preserving its colonial style. It has been for many years the city's best hotel.

Camagüey: was founded by Diego Velásquez in 1515. Camagüey adopted a labyrinth layout to ward off attacks from pirates who would venture into town and get lost and find themselves caught like mice in a trap. The city is best explored on foot. Camagüey is still like a small European town with winding, pebbled streets and squares reminiscent of Italian or Spanish villages.

• Visit of Camagüey.
• Visit of the Biblioteca Publica Julio Antonio Melia Public Library
• Visit of the University of Camagüey.
• Dinner provided.

• After breakfast, on your way to Santa Clara and lodging at the Hotel Los Caneyes.
• Lunch provided on the way.
• Dinner provided.

Hotel Los Caneyes: is set in a modernized reproduction of a native village and has many huts spread over a large wooded area. It is pleasant to walk among the huts and explore the lush vegetation. The pool is surrounded by a bar and a cafeteria, person-to-person contact with the local people.

Santa Clara: is a pretty village set amid green hills. It was founded in 1689 by people from the neighboring town of Remedios. The well-known Uruguayan poet and historian Eduardo Galeano, whose works include the best-selling book Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina (The Open Veins of Latin America) relates how the inhabitants of Remedios were pressed to leave their town by the local priest, who was also the parish inquisitor. He has extracted from a slave, who was possessed of a demon, the warning that “Remedios would be swallowed up” by the will of the devil. Some followed the priest, but others stayed at Remedios.

• Visit of Santa Clara and person-to-person exchanges
• Visit of museums, of the Tren Blindado and Memorial de Ché.
• Visit of Remedios.
• Dinner provided.

Museo Memorial Nacional Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara: it traces Che’s life from childhood up to his death. One of Cuba’s newest and best designed museum and archival monument.

Monumento del Descarrilamiento, Acción y Toma del Tren Blindado: it recounts the decisive battle led by Che against an armored train carrying Batista’s forces on December 28, 1958. Four of the train’s 22 car can be viewed at the monument.

• Transfer to Havana. Lodging at the Hotel Deauville. Lunch provided on the way.
• Farewell dinner at the restaurant La Divina Pastora in Morro Cabaña in company of the guide, representative of Havanatur, the coach driver and 3 other Cuban guests.

Morro Cabaña: the largest Spanish military construction in the Americas stands on the east coast of the Bahía de La Habana. The Complejo Militar-historica Morro-Cabaña consists of three fortifications, two of which are open to the public. The most important one is the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro erected in 1589 to protect the city from an invasion. In 1762, the Fortaleza San Carlos de la Cabaña was built on this strategic site at the entrance to the city. Political prisoners were incarcerated here under the Republic. On January 3, 1959, Che Guevara took over the fortress. He encountered no opposition, and remained here for three months, but had to leave because the damp air aggravated his asthma. Today, you can see his office in what is now the Museo de la Comandancia del Che. Every evening at 9pm you will hear a cannon shot, which, in keeping with tradition, is fired by men dressed in the colours of the Spanish colonial army.

• Transfer to the José Martí airport (flights to Toronto and Cancun)
• Visit of Callejón Hamel in the afternoon for those leaving Monday.

Callejón de Hamel: This little street is a real temple to Afro-Cuban culture. Since 1990, people have been painting vast murals on the walls of the surrounding houses and decorating them with sculptures that are almost animist. There is even a little shrine to the santería religion. Every Sunday afternoon musicians and dancers liven up the alley.

• Transfer to the Varadero Airport (flight to Calgary and Vancouver).