Travel tours
Venture Group organises boutique behind the scenes trips to amazing Cuba. In February 2009 a small group spent 4 weeks exploring Cuba. Another trip to Cuba, focusing on organic agriculture, is being planned for January 2011. To indicate your interest in participating in a Cuban trip, email tricia@venturenz.co.nz
2009 trip to Cuba – totally bueno!
10 happy participants on the Venceremos Cuba 2009 tour returned to New Zealand at the end of February 2009, loaded down with cigars, rum, Cuban art, heaps of photos, and innumerable memories of their 18 day, behind the scenes trip.
 The group was co-led by Tricia Cutforth from Venture Group (Cuba work brigade 2005 - 06) and Diana Burns (regular Cuba visitor and Cuban Spanish speaker). They spent their first 10 days based in Havana, and then travelled through Cuba, via a number of towns and cities, to spend a few days in Santiago, before flying back to Havana for a final night.
Staying in Hostal Valencia, a classic mid-grade hotel in Habana Vieja (old Havana), meant the group was right in the centre of music, dance and creativity – and the 25th International Havana Jazz festival was on at the same time as our trip!
Salsa and son bands played in every café and bar, street performances and dance seemed to occur spontaneously, and local art and markets abounded. Even the food was way better than expectations!
As well as having plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere of Havana (including catching the local bus to the beach, attending a performance of the National Ballet meeting the lead ballerina, and going to a major baseball game), the group took day trips to Pinar del Rio (where we bought cigars, honey and coffee beans from the local farmer) and Las Terrazas (an eco-village where we bought more coffee) with other fantastic stops along the way to both.
Heading for Santiago over the next few days, we stopped off for a swim at the Bay of Pigs (site of the failed US invasion in 1962), dropped in on the Che Guevara memorial, had rooftop mochitos in beautiful Cienfuegos, and stayed a night at the World Heritage site of Trinidad.
Santiago provided the opportunity for more visits to music clubs, the beach, and to the Moncada Barracks, the site of the first attack by revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro on July 26 1953 – essentially the beginning of the Cuban revolution.
Outside Havana, the group stayed in casa particulares (Cuban B&Bs), which provided the opportunity to meet and talk to more local people – and eat feasts prepared by their hosts!
Other highlights of the trip included a visit to one of Havana’s urban organic agriculture co-operatives projects; catching rides with the locals in their 1950’s cars and seeing Los VanVan (Cuba’s top band) and Jesús Chucho Valdés live in concert.
Jesus, our local tour guide from Amistur, the national tourism agency, steered a course that gave us a true taste of Cuba. While the country’s systems may sometimes be irritating and irrational (similar to New Zealand’s!) the incredibly friendly, open and well educated people, pulsating nightlife, music and culture, beautiful architecture and stunning scenery makes it a must-see country, whatever your interest.
With Obama’s recent lifting of some travel restrictions from the U.S., our advice is get there fast before the American tourists invade!
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