Adventure Guide to Havana Cuba

We travel to grow our Adventure Guides show you how. Experience the places you visit more directly, freshly, intensely than you would otherwise sometimes best done on foot, in a canoe, or through cultural adventures like art courses, cooking classes, learning the language, meeting the people, joining in the festivals and celebrations. This can make your trip life-changing, unforgettable. All of the detailed information you need is here about the hotels, restaurants, shopping, sightseeing. But we also lead you to new discoveries, turning corners you haven't turned before, helping you to interact with the world in new ways. That's what makes our Adventure Guides unique.    Cuba is a country of surprises, where new mixes with old to create a jumble of colors, sounds and smells. It's a destination like no other. And here is the best guide. The author tells you about this amazing land, the people that call it home and their history and culture. Detailed city maps are keyed to show the location of sights, hotels and restaurants. Town and regional maps, color photos.  "These useful guides are highly recommended... " Library Journal.  This signature Hunter series targets travelers eager to explore the destination. Extensively researched and offering the very latest information, Adventure Guides are written by knowledgeable, experienced authors. The focus is on outdoor activities - hiking, biking, rock climbing, horseback riding, downhill skiing, parasailing, scuba diving, backpacking, and waterskiing, among others - and these user-friendly books provide all the details you need, including prices. The best local outfitters are listed, along with contact numbers, addresses and recommendations. A comprehensive introductory section provides background on history, geography, climate, culture, when to go, transportation and planning. These very readable guides then take a region-by-region approach, plunging into the very heart of each area and the adventures offered, giving a full range of accommodations, shopping, restaurants for every budget, and festivals. Cuba is a jewel, a sparkling diamond surrounded by the blue-green waters of the Caribbean. Like all Caribbean Islands, it has palm trees dotting the white coral beaches. It has trade winds cooling the effects of the tropical sun. It has classy hotels and first-rate restaurants. But you can get that anywhere in the tropics. Where Cuba is unique is in its culture. In fact, Cuba is music. You can travel nowhere on the island without hearing the beat of a drum or the strum of a guitar. To accompany the music, locals indulge in the pleasure of dancing from the time they can walk until the time they die. A Cuban without music is like a drunk without booze. Although tourism plays a big role in the economy of Cuba, tourists in the past have been confined to the all-inclusive resorts where contact with the people was restricted. Now, however, visitors can stay in casas particulares, homes that have been inspected by the government so standards are acceptable, and can order meals at paladars, selected homes that are permitted to feed up to 12 customers, including foreigners, at a time. Tourists can travel on public transportation or rent cars so they can visit some of the farther reaches of Cuba. The intermingling of Cuban people and foreigners makes for an interesting vacation. During the day it is fun to sit on a balcony of a casa particular and watch children play on the streets. They will unabashedly entertain you for hours (especially if they know you are watching) playing baseball with a stick and stone covered in string or performing a symphony with imaginary instruments. I watched one group pretend that they were New York fashion models. It was more fun than watching any American sit-com. The kids' script was original. Talking to Cubans is also a treat. One reason is that they are educated. Youngsters know where Belgium or Canada is located and will come up with questions that may stump you. Adults like to exchange information or discuss politics (at the moment, yours not theirs). They love to compare cultures and show off their country. They love to poke fun and laugh. Cuba is music and Havana, with its 2.2 million people, is the center where a traveler could easily spend a month poking around, never seeing the same thing twice and all the while moving to the rhythm of the music. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, Havana has museums, parks, restaurants, concert halls, shops and forts and other restored colonial buildings. Accenting all this is music.