Though one of the most successful contemporary artists in Cuba, his home/studio by design is modest and like a small museum filled with artworks by himself and other Cuban artists and artisans. He is an open and generous man, and very focused about his art,  commitment to Cuban culture, and how he can help younger artists. Unlike other accomplished Cuban men we've met, he is very low-key. He holds Fidel Castro and Ché Guevara as folk heros and is clear that their legacies will be eternal. During the course of our conversation he points out that perhaps we've already noticed that throughout Cuba are many statues memorializing military heros (Maceo, de Cespedes, Ché) and revolutionary thinkers such as poet Jose Marti, however, there are no statues of Castro. He shares that this was by decree, which helps Castro maintain a public persona as a man of the people; not better or worse.

When Lescay won the commission to build the Maceo monument in Santiago de Cuba, it came with a substantial cash award. He declined the prize money, asking instead that the government fund a foundation — Foundacion Caguayo para Las Artes Monumentales y Aplicadas (Caguayo Foundation for Monumental and Applied Arts) — he had dreamed of creating to pass along skills he developed. When he began the project in the 1980s, there was only one artist who knew the techniques needed to create such vast quantities of bronze, and he was over 80 at the time. That's when Lescay realized that to create the Maceo monument, Cuba needed to create a school as many of the earlier generation of artists were dying off, and fewer young Cubans were being groomed to take their places. The monument took nine years and a team of almost 100 additional artists. They melted over 100 tons of bronze.

Additionally, Lescay creates bold abstract paintings, and helped establish and continues to support the Galeria Rene Valdes, a space for artists to exhibit works and interact as part of the city's vibrant cultural community. ​

One more stop before  heading to the Hotel Meliá Santiago is to a war memorial commemorating the 1898 victory known as the Spanish-American War. The monument acknowledges and celebrates the decisive support given to Cuba by the U.S. Army.

This afternoon we head back to Santiago de Cuba for some very interesting and stimulating culture . . . stay tuned!

​which we are told were a major base of Castro’s guerrilla army. Our 4 hour journey to Bayamo takes us through more agricultural and ranching areas, and through the small cities and villages. We also see the Sierra Crital and Sierra Purial mountains that contain a wilderness mountain rainforest — too bad we won’t be spending time in the mountains!

Our first visit is to Casa de la Nacionalidad Cubana (House of Cuban Nationality — CNC), which was founded in 1991 as a research center on the historical, social and cultural roots of of the country. The Center was founded by Onoria Céspedes Argote, who was also the first woman designated as a city historian in Cuba.

​We meet with and learn more about the history of Cuba with a local historian who shares that education was conceived as the fulcrum around which the Cuban Revolution’s economic, political, social and cultural programs would turn. On January 1, 1961, a National Literacy Campaign was launched sending 235,000 volunteers throughout the country. In just one-year they reduced the country’s illiteracy rate from 25% to 3.9%. Wanting to capitalize upon this wave of popular mobilization and eduction, Fidel and Ché launched the idea for art schools that would serve Cubans as a center for the education of artists and instructors and from which cultural literacy could be disseminated. Because of Ché’s international interests, the program drew students from Africa, Asia and Latin America in service of the creation of a “new culture” for the “new man.” In this way, the art schools would have the political objective to educate those artists who give socialism in both Cuba and the Third World its aesthetic representation.. They would also be experimental centers for intercultural educate and exchange.

Here, we also are treated to the beautiful voices of a local choir that has performed throughout Cuba and abroad.

​Enroute, we stop at El Cobre, the most important shrine for Cubans and most famous church in the country. The spectacular triple-domed church with the mouthful name of El Sanctuario de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre was built in 1927. It rises on Maboa hill in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra near old copper mines that give it its name.

The faithful come from across Cuba on pilgrimages to pay their respects to, and ask for protection from, a black Madonna — the Virgen de la Caridad (Virgin of Charity). She is nothing less than the protectress of Cuba, and her image, cloaked in a glittering gold robe can be seen throughout the country. According to legend, Cuba's patron saint was rescued bobbing in the Bay of Nipe in 1611 by three young fishermen (or miners, depending on who's telling the story) about to capsize in a storm. The Madonna wore a sign that read: "Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad"  (I am the Virgin of Charity). With the wooden statue in their grasp, they miraculously made it to shore. Pilgrims, who often make the last section of the trek on their knees, pray to her image and place mementos (votos) and offerings of thanks for her miracles; among them are small boats and prayers for those who have tried to make it to Florida on rafts. Ernest Hemingway, whose fisherman in The Old Man and the Sea made a promise to visit the shrine if he could only land his marlin, donated his Nobel Prize for Literature to the shrine, but it was stolen (and later recovered, but never again exhibited here). 

Her parallel figure in Afro-Cuban worship is Ochún, goddess of love and femininity, who is also dark-skinned and dressed in bright yellow garments. In 1998 the Pope visited and blessed the shrine, calling the Virgin "La Reina de los Cubanos" (Queen of Cubans), and donated a rosary and crown.

The Virgen sits on the second floor, up the back stairs, encased in glass. When Mass is said, the push of a button turns the Virgin around to face the congregation. The annual pilgrimage is September 12, and the patron saint's feast day is July 25.

This morning are walking, after breakfast to our various destinations . . . it is a quiet Sunday morning as many Cubans are at church. A perfect opportunity to photograph the incredible window displays and murals on the pedestrian street outside our Gran Hotel. I wonder whether it is because grocery and clothing stores and pharmacies do not have the quantity of goods to sell, but whatever the reason, the store owners create wonderful displays of products they offer.

Our first destination is Teatrino Temporada Teatral to visit with a local children's community dance project. Because there is government funding for the arts and artists, children who show promise take dance classes after school and all-day Saturdays and Sundays with the hope they will be selected for further dance education and ideally a place in a dance company and opportunities to travel throughout their country and abroad. It never ceases to amaze me how little most Cubans have seen of their own beautiful country.

​The attention and discipline of these young people is truly impressive, and several already are developing dance and performance skills that are riveting!

The next stop along our walking tour is the Galeria Larios, which is actually a cultural center. We are met by painter Orestes Larios Zaak, who is also the head of this project. He is considered on the the most important champions of the plastic arts in Camagüey as well as protector of the the Cuban environment. The front of the building has three permanent gallery exhibition areas, and the back of the building serves as a workshop for glasses in the plastic arts (painting and sculpture). There are three artists on permanent view: Orestes Larios Zaak (painter), Rodrick Dixon Gently (painter),  and Gregorio Pérez Escobar (sculptor). 

​Pérez and Larios share global sensibilities with a naturalist slant. Gregorio Pérez Escobar creates sensual wooden objets that tackle what he describes as universal paradoxes that thematically range from the environment to psychology. For example, a brain impaled on the shaft of a hand-crank motor or a denuded tree stuck in a pencil sharpener. Larios, on the other hand, uses oil on canvas and sometimes acrylics on cardboard to create paintings that are meditative. Trained in photography and influenced by European and US hyperrealisits, he creates images of plants and insects that are almost Buddhist in their elegant simplicity.  He tells us, "We live in an aggressive world, where nature and human beings are constantly assaulted. When I sit down to paint, I feel a spiritual peace that isolates me from that violence." Rodrick Dixon is a Cuban-Jamaican artist and graduate of the School of Plastic Arts in Camagüey, whose paintings explore the intersection of his dream/fantasy world and daily reality living in a Cuban-Caribbean world.

Various state offices have been working with Larios on restoring the building, which is located two blocks from Plaza de Areas in the historic sector of the city that has been proposed for World Heritage status.

Our next stop is the atelier-home of  Joel Jover Llenderroso and Ileana Sanchez Hing, two of Cuba's most creative and prodigious contemporary painters, which is located on the Plaza Agramonte. They also have the Studio-Galería Jover in Plaza San Juan de Dios.

Ileana toured us around their home that functions also as a gallery and a piece of art in that every surface is covered with their work salon style! Married in 1971, there home is full of collected antiques that ranging from vintage toys to bits and pieces picket up here and there. Joel graduated from the Camagüey Professional School of Art (1970) and his work addresses aspects of religiosity and spirituality blending undertones of Catholic and Afro-Cuban cults and imagery in a palette predominantly of red, white and black. He has been awarded numerous national prizes, and is a member of  the Union Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC — National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba). In contrast, Ileana's work is a celebration of color, glitter and mixed-media. She received her professional arts degree in 1983. I regret not having purchased one of Ileana's large collage works — The Bride — from a series of women's portraits that incorporated a vintage wedding dress.

Our last atelier-home visit is to José Daniel (Pepe) Gutierrez Cabrera, who began carving leather in 1980. Although he received art training in design and art history, he is a self-taught artist and founder of the Cuban Association of Artisans and Artists (ACAA). His work has been characterized by a constant search in using leather in non-utilitarian ways. One familiar motif incorporated in his work is that of the tobacco leaf. Having never seen anything quite like Pepe's work, I purchased one of his mid-size sculptures — I offered to buy one of his full torso sculptures, but he wasn't ready to part with them in hopes of an upcoming major exhibition. His work has been included in numerous group shows and solo exhibitions both within Cuba and elsewhere. ​

My respect for Cuban artists keeps growing as does my appreciation for the support artists have from the Castro government. Most artists belong to UNEAC, which has headquarters in every region of the country and pays host to free arts events, talks and exhibitions, and often a bar that serves as a meeting place for the local arts community. Many of these artists have shown at galleries in England, Canada, China, South America, Europe and the US, as well as having had government-financed extended artists residencies in these countries. Hear that USA?

Famished, we head to Campana de Toledo on the Plaza San Juan de Dios for lunch. A state-owns restaurant in a beautiful former residence, the food was OK though the service was outstanding!

Satiated for now, as we make our way back to the Gran Hotel, we come upon a music and dance happening. It's Sunday afternoon, so what better time than to be outside listening and dancing to music that makes me wanna dance!

While getting up the nerve to hit the dance floor, I become entranced with Lola . . . at least that is the name I give her . . . who is carefree and sensuous in her zest for life. Yes, someday when I grow up I want to be like Lola!  

Back at the Gran Hotel de Camagüey, we learn there is a rooftop bar and pool, where in the evening there is a show of synchronized swimming featuring dancers from the local university. We also hear about and make reservations for a wonderful paladar _ Meson del Principe — not far from where we had lunch. How cool is that!

But for now ... up to the rooftop for a drink and views ... and watch dark clouds roll in ...

Having told several others in our group that we were going our own way for dinner tonight, we are now a party of six.  What a find ... and delight ... the Meson del Principe serves really good food with huge portions so it is easy to share dishes amongst us. Lucky, too, that are party expanded as we are the only ones at the restaurant.

No sooner are we seated by the owner and drink orders given, than our host steps outside to yell out for a local musician to come and entertain us with traditional songs and a few Beatle songs — a very good guitarist and singer. As the evening wore on the sky turned very dark and rain fell by the bucketfuls. When the sky cleared, we were treated with a beautiful golden light that bathed the sky.

Once back at the Gran Hotel de Camagüey, we headed for the rooftop to see the synchronized swimming show. Regretably, I cannot find my photos taken, which probably wouldn't have been very good . . . so suffice it to say that the show was wonderful! There was a boy/girl storyline to the performance and the swimming, diving and dancing were all terrific. Great way to end a wonderful stay in Camagüey

​Camagüey is recognized as Cuba's ceramics capital. The city is a maze of twisting streets — many with original cobblestones — that we are told was done deliberately to foil attacking pirates. Our first stop is our hotel — Gran Hotel de Camagüey — located on a pedestrian-only street in the historic section of the city. Dating back to 1939, the hotel is of colonial style that combines beautiful woodwork with plaster decorations. Ernest Hemingway, it is said, stayed here during visits. ​Because the hotel is situated on a pedestrian-only street, we must wait for hotel staff to meet us and transport our bags  by hand-cart. My hope is that this will ensures no traffic sounds through the night.

After checking in and settling in our room, we are off to the Plaza del Carmen at the heart of the historical City Center. Our guide Héctor tells us that not long ago the Plaza was a ruin, but is now restored to a state better than the original. The cobbled plaza has been decorated with giant tinajones (clay pots), nice lighting. At one end is Iglesia del Carmen church with its pale pink facade and twin bell towers dating from 1825. It is a gorgeous church inside though the lighting was too dim to get any good images, except for a side chapel. 

​In the center of the plaza are a number of life-size ceramic figures of locals depicting their daily pursuits . . .  a man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper; a pair of lovers in an embrace; three women gossiping over coffee . Some of the locals like to "hang out" with their sculptural twins, which is quite wonderful to behold!​

We immediately bee-line to Restaurant El Ovejito ("the lamb") for lunch. We learn the name references the restaurant's specialty. Furnished with wooden tables and leather stools, the walls of are covered with ceramic murals made by renowned artist Oscar Rodríguez Lasseria. There are ceramic vases made by Navario Jimenez Salazar, another prestigious local artist. The restaurant is managed by the office of the Camagüey City Historian. Many of us pt for the house specialty: stuffed lamb blade, prepared boned and larded with carrots and bacon, rolled and toasted, then sliced and served with mojo (garlic sauce) and tomato salsa. My apologies for being so hungry that I didn't take one photograph of the restaurant or the food. Suffice it to say lunch was yummy!

Refreshed, we walk to the old theater that now houses the Contemporary Ballet of Camagüey for a cultural exchange. Housed in an old theater, the dancers practice on an uneven wooden floor with only natural light — the cost of electricity being too dear to use daily. The seats in the theater are long since gone, so instead we sit on the floor risers. While their "home" is spartan, their dancing is magnificent. How they don't injure themselves is a miracle. The company was founded in 2002 and is under the direction of artistic director and choreographer Tania Vergara Perez.

The technical base of the dancers training, we learn, is classical and supplemented with modern dance training and experimental and improvisational exercises. The company performs throughout Cuba and internationally in competitions. The company's aesthetic is to transmit through dance symbolic visual messages that express the spirituality that drives all humans to find themselves. From time to time, the company has invited international choreographers to enrich the company's repertoire and their artistic and aesthetic sensibilities. 

During a question/answer period with Tania Vergara Perez and company, I am astounded by some in our group who are unable to appreciate and experience this company without bringing up US comparisons, as if everything in America is superior. This dance company is phenomenal! Besides, Cuba and its government, quite unlike the US, actually fund the arts, provides space and financial support to its artists with education and wages. In its support of the arts, Cuba has thus far demonstrated its superiority to the US.

Our next stop is to view the urban planning that is occurring in Camagüey. There is considerable pride in the vision and strategic execution they city has developed for itself. Being from a small town that began such an undertaking, but has thus far been unsuccessful in prioritizing and marshaling resources to accomplish the community's vision, I am much impressed. Their model of Camagüey with attention to its historic core/business district and green spaces is also extremely impressive.

After returning to our hotel and freshening up, we head to Restaurant 1800, a paladar on the corner of Camagüey's cobbled Plaza San Juan del Dios surrounded by other ventures old buildings. Outside of Havana, paladares highlight the best of Cuban cuisine and local fresh ingredients, rather than chase global ambitions.

Restaurant 1800 is located in a circa 1800s building (as are the furnishings) and the food is by far the best we've had thus far on this trip — locally sourced! Besides its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which provides it excellent lobster, shrimp and fish, we learn that Camagëy is known for its dairy production and the churned butter and homemade cheeses don't disappoint. In fact, their thick natural yogurt is served along side a bowl of sugar so you can decide for yourself how sweet you want it!

After selecting our rum cocktails and entree, we are directed to a buffet for our starters,  side dishes, and eventually, dessert. After dinner, we tour their impressive wine cellar before saying good-night to the chef and heading back to the Gran Hotel for a much anticipated night sleep!

 Remedios appears to be a brightly-colored building ghost town with virtually nobody on the street. It is a photographers dream in this way. Our first stop on the eastern side of the square is San Juan Bautista Church, which was built in 1545 and later rebuilt in 1939 after an earthquake. Known locally as "Iglesia Mayor," the church contains 13 beautiful gold altars, a polychrome coffered ceiling as well as religious statuary and relics. The main church was declared a National Monument in 1949 and the same designation was extended to the entire town of Remedios in 1980.

Remedios is the only town in Cuba with two churches on its main square. Across from "Iglesia Mayor" on the north side of the Central Plaza is Iglesia del Buen Viaje, which has been abandoned until repairs are authorized by the government. 

Thirsty, we stop across the street to a café that is crowded with men and decorated with old advertisement murals and newspaper clippings adhered to the walls and ceiling, respectively . . . very fun!

As a way to see and experience Remedios, we hop into bici-taxis for what turns out to be a fun and competitive sight-seeing tour . . . hold on tight!

Our first stop along this portion of our Remedios adventure is to the Museum of Parrandas where memories of past celebrations can be found in photographs, documents and hand-made objects, including a photo exhibit of last year's festivities.

Possibly the Caribbean's largest and oldest traditional festival — Las Parrandas de Remedios -- is held between December 16-26. Its origins are with Father Francisco Vigil de Quiñones, who was a priest at the "Iglesia Mayor."  He encouraged a group of youngsters to go out and make a racket in the streets to wake up residents using whistles, horns and tin cans so they would attend the "Misa de Gallo" (midnight mass). The following year, the residents got their revenge with noise even more deafening. In the late 1800s, the "parrandas" adopted the festival structure that continues today.

According to tradition, when the bells toll at 9PM on December 24, two neighborhoods — San Salvador and El Carmen — meet up in Parque José Marti, accompanied by floats, costumes and banners. Since the Revolution, the Parrandas begins on the Saturday before December 26, the day on which the town was liberated by Che's troops and ends in a grand finale on December 24.

​The San Salvador neighborhood is represented by the colors red and blue as well as the symbol of a rooster. The El Carmen neighborhood uses the color brown and the symbol of an Eagle. ​Each of the rival neighborhood floats features light bulbs that are collected door by door by team members who fan out across their neighborhoods. The two teams loudly confront each other, making public their year-long secret creativeness and efforts, in a fierce competition until dawn using musical instruments, noise makers and fireworks. The head of the losing team is thrown a fake funeral on the last day, which the entire town attends.

Our next bici-taxi stop was to the Parrandas workshop of El Carmen where this team designs and fabricates their festival float. There we met with several of the artists including the lead artist for the El Carmen team. Go, El Carmen!

Back in our bici-taxis, we head to lunch at the Encanto Mascotte, a small, brightly painted hotel in the colonial style right on the Central Square. With a high-ceiling lobby and pretty courtyard, the food was typical thus far on our trip — rather bland and salty. There was though live music performed by three young Cuban men, which was quite wonderful!

A few minutes to spare before meeting our bus, I walk around the Central Square for last pictures.

Boarding our bus, we drive a short distance to meet with a local printer who still sets type by hand. Next, we head to the fishing village of Caibarién. It's entrance is marked by a giant sculpture of a crab. From this port a long dike (pedraplén) crosses the water. The roadway crosses about 40 bridges that allow tidal movements and lead to a series of small and unspoiled islands belonging to the Sabana archipelago. 

The reason for our visit to Caibarién is to meet with members of an artist collective who have transformed a portion of a house into an exhibit space to sell their works. 

The wind picks up on our drive back to Hotel Meliá. Tonight we are on our own for dinner. With anticipation of a cuisine not including beans and rice, we head to the hotel's Hibachi restaurant . . . We are seated at one of many hibachi stations with 6 others. After ordering drinks, we are asked to order our individually prepared meals — fish, chicken, port . . . rice . . . veggies. It is fun to watch the chef prepare our meals and it soon becomes clear that unless we say "no salt" the large canister shaker will inundate our food with it. Afterwards, we head to the entertainment pavilion for the end of a dance revue. Speaking with one of the hotel staff members, we learn that music and dance students from the nearby universities are hired each year to entertain guests. The quality of the show is surprisingly good, though campy. What's more . . . each of the entertainers look like they are having a ball . . . Too bad our local resorts don't do something similar to hire performance artists!

​Santa Clara was the site of the last battle in the Cuban Revolution in late 1958 — nd as a result it is recognized as the "city of the heroic guerrilla." Additionally, it is an industrial and university town. Our first stop is Ché Gueara's Monument and Mausoleum.

After a huge and delicious lunch of lobster and fresh vegetables, salad and homemade bread, we're off to an educational cultural exchange with the last remaining Piquetes band — the Piquete Melodias Antilanas. Many of the musicians are quite old and are taking on younger musicians to carry on the tradition. We are told that some of the instruments being played databank to the 1800s. Quite a number of older Santa Clara citizens come out daily to hear the musicians and dance to their music. After demonstrating a number of dance steps for us, we were invited to join in their fun — what a great way to spend an afternoon!!!

It's been a long day . . . we board our bus once more to drive to Cayo Santa Maria to check into the Hotel Meliá Cayo Santa María where we will also have dinner tonight.

The drive to the hotel is picturesque with horse-drawn carts and farming operations. A major turn-off of the Central Highway takes us to the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean Sea dotted with mangrove islands. Cuba, I learn, is an archipelago of more than 4,000 islands filled with coral reefs and some of the world's best white-powder beaches and crystal-clear water. It would fun to come back someday to explore the country's underwater beauty!

Hotel Meliá is a 50s modern-style resort with a large central area with pools, a swim-up bar, and lots of chaises for lounging. Around this are buildings housing a variety of international cuisine restaurants, guest rooms, and a large entertainment pavilion. Liv's and my room is spacious and very clean with sliding glass doors that open onto a small balcony and a garden view.

After unpacking, we order drinks and nibbles — still feeling marvelously full from lunch — at a small café at the resort, followed by a stroll around the grounds before settling in for the evening. A wooden pathway outside the our second floor guest room, we discover,  leads down to the pristine white sand beach. There are cabanas, stacks of lounge chairs with umbrellas, and a volleyball court — but no one is there. Instead, all of the Canadian and European guests are still hanging out at the pool . . . go figure! 

Gorgeous morning . . . but my face is more swollen and red than yesterday. Bothersome really and the hydrocortisone cream isn't helping. I'm now thinking it is an allergic reaction to the pillowcase and towels, which I found out are washed with lots of bleach to kill all bacteria and germs. Yikes! Last night I wrapped some clothing around the pillow, but that is most likely not enough.

Casa de las Américas House is also a forum for dialogue about innovative ideas and exchanges with institutions from all over the world, an art gallery and bookshop. The organization is led by poet and essayist Roberto Fernández Retamar, who was an early close confidant of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. A selection of the artwork I especially liked and found inspiring is included below.

Next, our tour takes us to the Museo de la Revolución (Museum of the Revolution," which is used in what was the Presidential Palace up until Fulgencio Batista was overthrown in 1959. The building itself is exquisite with Neo-Classical elements and was decorated by Tiffany Studios of New York City. 

The museum's exhibits are mostly of the period of the revolutionary war of the 1950s and Cuba's post-1959 history. Behind the museum is the Granma Memorial, a large glass enclosure that houses the Granma, the yacht that took Che Guevara, Fidel and Raúl Castro and dozens more revolutionaries from Mexico to Cuba for the revolution. There is also a SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile like the one that shot down a US spy plane during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and various vehicles and tanks used during the revolution.

Of great amusement is a caricature of anti-revolutionists that includes Ronald Reagan and George Bush (the senior)!

Because we are ahead of our tour schedule, Liv and I ask permission to leave the group and instead head to the famed Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón, which dates back to 1876, and is considered one of the great historical cemeteries of the world. Named for Christopher Columbus, the cemetery is 140 acres of many elaborately sculpted memorials, mausoleums, chapels and family crypts.

The cemetery is a virtual sea of endless tombs and one in particular is mesmerizing to me . . . "La Milagrosa," which dates back to the early 20th century. The tomb belongs to Amelia Goyri, known as "La Milagrosa," who died in childbirth at the age of 23. Her small tomb is always covered with fresh flowers and taken care with love and respect by man people. According to the legend, the baby did not survive either and both — mother and son — were buried in the tomb, which the widower, José Vincent Adot y Rabell visited daily. For many years, Adot faithfully visited the tomb each day believing that Amelia was asleep, so he used to wake her up with three knocks on the tomb as a excreted signal of complicity between the two. The day the remains were to be exhumed, witnesses saw that the bodies were intact and , in a symbol of maternal love that Amelia was holding her son in her arms, so the tomb was resealed and has remained like that since. The legend inspired Cuban sculptor José Villa Saavedra to make the beautiful life-size Carrara marble statue that represents a young woman looking up in a gesture of faith. In the statue's left arm is a baby. As the legend spead throughout Havana, residents turned Amelia's resting place into a shrine where they ask for protection for their children, childbirth without complications, or for couples who aren't able to conceive to be blessed with children. All of the stone shards with hopes, prayers and thanksgivings have been added to over the many decades.

The insides of some of the crypts are also fascinating. Many are crumbling, yet hold powerful energies of their occupants and loved ones who have visited over time. While walking amongst the memorials and tombs, I found a piece of corrugated cardboard, which my own recently deceased artist husband used as a primary material in some of his last artworks — it was a sign to me that he, too, was with me on my first trip out of the U.S. It was both exhilarating and comforting to experience in this very sacred surrounding.

Rather than have dinner with our group, Liv and I opted to head to the Tropicana for an evening of nostalgic Cuban entertainment. Upon arriving we were seated in the dining area. Dinner was typical fish, fries and rice. Afterwards, we were directed outside to where the performance was held — the show was fun and entertaining.

Unlike the 50s, when my in-laws had gone to the Tropicana, many of the women wore bodysuits or pantyhose under their skimpy and flamboyant costumes — too bad for those of us up close as it was a distraction for me. Though to be fair, some of the performers didn't, so the experience seemed more authentic.

Two negatives of the evening were not being able to order a wonderful fruity rum cocktail — one glass of wine or beer was served — and sitting across the narrow community table from us were two college students who had escaped their own tour . . . and arrived drunk and proceeded to be obnoxious. They were eventually escorted out during the show after one threw up. Pretty funny . . .

A taxi ride back to the Hotel Presidente, nightcap in the lobby and bed . . . a fun-packed  day!

With time to spare before our group heads off on today's adventure, Liv and I walk around the hotel's neighborhood in the Vedado section of Havana.

Today's itinerary calls for a visit to the Martin Luther King Center, which we learn is at the forefront of promoting Christian social responsibility and progressive change throughout the region. The drive there takes us past remnants of the gorgeous architecture that once graced Havana and juxtaposed with more modern Russian-influenced utilitarian box-shaped designed buildings — unfortunately much is in various states of decay. It is trippy to see 50's cars alongside pedal carts and lots of bicycles. And, it is refreshing to see public art as we drive through various neighborhoods.

The MLK Center is involved with distributing medicines, presenting HIV prevention programs, and housing projects. It also runs training workshops to empower social involvement. The Center is founded on three organizing principles (or pillars): the Cuban Ecumenical Movement, Popular Education, and International Solidarity.  

Next we headed to the Plaza de Armas to get a better feel of Old Havana as well as lunch at La Mina, which is located across from the Plaza. Our drive is along the Malecón, which is a broad roadway that hugs the Caribbean Sea from the Vedado neighborhood that includes our hotel to the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana where we are heading. It is lined along the north side by a seawall that is continually bombarded by waves that often break onto the roadway. Very dramatic!

We pass the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a 1930s hotel designed in an odd mixture of architectural styles including Sevillian, Roman, Moorish and Art Deco. Originally it was operated by the American managers of the Plaza Hotel. Over the hotel's history it has had many political and celebrity guests from the U.S., Canada, Europe and the USSR. I even have photographs of my in-laws holidaying here in the 1950s and sipping rum drinks on the terrace!

After walking around Old Havana photographing and peering into shops, Liv and I head to La Mina for lunch. The restaurant is housed in what was a former bishops residence in the 16th and 17th centuries. It's menu is Creole-influenced and caters to tourists.

After lunch, across the street we watch a troupe of musicians, magicians and mime stilt walkers performing. The arts flourish here — dance, theater, visual arts, literature. It is so refreshing to see arts and culture celebrated!

For our last people-to-people commitment today, we drove the Central Havana neighborhood of Los Sites, and more specifically the street Calle Maloja, to the Cabildo Quisicuaba Community Project. This project employs the arts as interventions for social change in the communities plagued by poverty, social and health problems like domestic violence and AIDS. As a result of the Quisicuaba's partnership with the community, the street has transformed itself from one of ill-repute to a one that is known as the major artistic and supportive nerve center for the surrounding community. Calle Maloja boasts a museum, artist galleries and dance studios, and hosts monthly community talent shows.

One of the experiences I hoped to have was to visit a house where the Santeria, an Afro-Cuban spiritual religion, is celebrated, I had no idea that this stop would bring me that much closer. While Quisicuaba is both nonprofit and non-prosyletizing, it is forthcoming about the fact that it is highly attuned to its community's spiritual needs, in addition to its cultural and materials needs. In fact, the structure and function of the organization is based on respect for personal identity and its moral code is derived from Santeria. With roots in Yoruba believes transplanted by Africans who were brought to Cuba, mostly as slaves, the code has 16 commandments including: "don't say what you don't know; be humble and to egocentric; don't deceive your fellow human beings; always respect the weak and teat them with much respect."

Santeros are practitioners who with varying job descriptions such as priests, healers, and diviners. Her entire home is a shrine to the many Orishas (deities) of Santeria, who mediate between humans and the supreme god, Olorún. Many orishas are avatars of Catholic saints, and similar to the Andean apus (mountain spirits) have specific job descriptions and abilities that they share with those whom they call to be in relationship with them.

A long day, we head back to our hotel via the Malecon to rest and freshen up before heading to dinner at El Templete. After dinner Liv, I and a few others opt out of the canon blast ceremony  at the Castillo de la Real Fuerza. Instead, we arrange a taxi to take us to the Hotel Nacional for a nightcap. Cheers to a very full and interesting day!

No longer will we enjoy "Cuba's best chicken and secret sauce" at El Aljibe. Instead, we munch on trailmix and debate whether to have our luggage celephane wrapped or not . . . oh, why not!

​​During the time we should be experiencing an educational and culural exchange with Cuban dance students and the director of the Pro Danza dance company, our flight is finally called. Whereas it's been almost 5 hours of waiting around, our flight takes just under an hour.

Gathering up our bags at the José Martí International Airport, we meet our tour leader Jeff Phillippe, a young American who has spent a couple of years living in various parts of Cuba learning to dance. This will prove to be a really fun aspect of our trip . . . He also has an undergraduate degree in geography and master's in water resource geography; has traveled and lived in all 20 countries in Latin America; and led Outward Bound experiditions in the US for 13 years — and he's young! We also meet our Cuban guide, Héctor Gonzáles Pérez, who was educated to become a high school teacher, but due to the needs of the country was reassigned to the tourism industry. He is articulate and passionate about his country . . . which will prove to add a really fascinating dimension to our adventure.

​I am in love with Cuba as we drive through neighborhoods with shabby chic Spanish colonial architecture, and see countless street art murals and sculptures depicting Che Guevara. Our welcome dinner is at El Patio restaurant, an old mansion built in the 17th-century as the Casa del Marques de Aguas Claras. It is located in the old colonial section of the city at the Cathedral plaza. My first taste of food in Cuba was telling . . . though the vegetables are fresh (and most likely organic as fertilizer is too costly), the food is overcooked and bland (except for salt which is used very, very generously) as spices are too expensive.

It's been a long day — mostly waiting for our flight. An early evening to bed . . . sweet dreams!