CUBA | Passport to Folk Art 2017 THE EASTERN PROVINCES AND HAVANA THE TIME TO VISIT CUBA IS NOW! January 6-16, 2017 Trip Highlights - the road less traveled of Eastern Cuba: • 3 days in Santiago de Cuba, a city rich in history from its founder Diego Velazquez, to Hernan Cortez, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, and Cuba’s national hero, Jose Marti. We will be immersed in the art and music for which this area is so famous. • 3 days in the beautiful seaside town of Baracoa, where Columbus landed in 1492 and proclaimed it to be “the most beautiful land eyes have ever seen.” Due to its relative isolation over the past four centuries, Baracoa is steeped in traditions which include a cuisine unique to the area. • Spend the last 4 days in Havana with all that this dynamic city has to offer including museums, concerts, dance performances and visits with our Folk Art Market friends from years past and present. For more information and registration please contact: Peggy Gaustad – IFAA Board Member and Cuba Travel Specialist Email: [email protected] Phone: 505.310.1356 Trip Cost: $5,495 - per person, double occupancy - includes a $500 donation to IFAA and RT airfare Miami/Cuba $550 - single room supplement Price Includes: • Airfare from Miami to Santiago de Cuba and return flight from Havana to Miami. Also includes internal flight from Baracoa to Havana • All accommodations, 10 nights, 11 days • All meals, gratuities at meals • All transfers, excursions and transportation (by modern air conditioned bus) • Entrance fees to museums, historic sites and performances as per itinerary • Full time escort and local guides • $500 deposit to the International Folk Art Alliance • Cuban visa and health insurance while in Cuba • Compliance with US Treasury Department (OFAC) regulations – People to People cultural exchange under a General License category pursuant to 31 CFR §515.565(b) Price Does Not Include: • Domestic airfare to/from Miami and overnight in Miami (Jan. 5) prior to departure • Trip cancelation insurance, strongly recommended • Airline baggage fees, Miami to Havana • Tips for local bus driver and guide • Personal expenses such as laundry, phone, internet service, mini bar, after hours entertainment Itinerary: This trip will focus on the art and culture of Cuba with a particular emphasis on the folk art of Cuba. We will be flying directly from Miami to historically rich Santiago de Cuba where the seeds were sown for both Cuba’s War of Independence from Spain as well as the Cuban Revolution. While there, we will travel to the town of Mella, made famous by the group of folk art painters known as El Grupo Bayate, who recently participated in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Santa Fe Folk Art Markets. We will also see the new center that El Grupo Bayate has created in Santiago to exhibit and preserve the Folk Art of the region. In Santiago we will experience the abundance of musical talent for which the city is so famous. From Santiago we travel to Baracoa on the breathtaking La Farola highway, built in 1964, connecting Baracoa, for the first time, to the rest of Cuba. This lovely town is the oldest colonial city in the Americas and is known for its coffee and cacao production. Surrounded by mountains, rivers and the sea, Baracoa has remained relatively isolated where one of the main modes of transportation is still the horse drawn wagon. We will have an opportunity to visit a nearby village where the inhabitants, descendents of the native Taino population, preserve the music and dance of the region. From Baracoa we will fly directly to Havana for four full days of activities including museums, dance performances, lectures, concerts and visits with the artists and musicians from the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Markets. We will be dining in the finest of Havana’s ever growing culinary gems. Our journey to Cuba will end here, in the capital city of this very colorful, complex and rapidly changing country. This trip will mark the 14th International Folk Art Alliance trip to Cuba, led by Alliance Board member, Peggy Gaustad. As one recent traveler wrote to Peggy: “I have been thinking about our trip pretty much non-stop since we got back, and more and more I realize what a remarkable trip it was. You gave us such an incredible experience by introducing us to so many facets of Cuban life and art. It was many-textured on numerous levels and I doubt that most travelers would have access to the experiences we did. The love you feel for Cuba and its people was palatable and they return it to you tenfold. I can’t thank you enough for opening our hearts and minds to that glorious and generous country.” Anne Battle .