https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019 April, 15 to April, 19, 2019 en-us 2019-04-21 20:25:59 UTC 2024-10-14 07:30:22 UTC hello@padlet.com kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944171 American citizens are banned from staying in hotels which are owned by the Cuban government.  Therefore, throughout our journey in Cuba we showed "support for the Cuban people" by renting  "casas particulares" which are actual homes of Cuban people. ]]> 2019-04-21 20:29:47 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944171 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944183 2019-04-21 20:30:00 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944183 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944260 Infrastructure in Old Havana is not developed. Citizens often relay on the delivery of water to their neighborhoods. ]]> 2019-04-21 20:31:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944260 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944310 This is a government run store where locals pickup their monthly ration of supplies. ]]> 2019-04-21 20:32:34 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352944310 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352948456 Below is a page from a Cuban ration booklet which includes which products each family can pick up from a government store each month. Food has been rationed since the Cuban Revolution (1959). ]]> 2019-04-21 21:49:57 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352948456 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352949506 Pictured below is memorial dedicated to Jose Martí at the plaza de la revolución.  The government was preparing for the annual celebration in May.  We were told that  Fidel Castro delivered speeches here  that lasted several hours. ]]> 2019-04-21 22:12:52 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352949506 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352950451 The United States and Cuba do not have normal relations.  The United States government has an embargo on Cuba which results in no commercial or financial transactions between the United States and Cuban governments or private companies. American citizens are barred from traveling to Cuba as tourists.  Though the United States Congress would have to pass a law to end the embargo (the Cubans refer to the Embargo as the "blockade"), each US President has given executive orders that loosen or restrict travel to Cuba.  President Obama loosened travel restrictions in 2016, reopened the US Embassy in Havana, and visited the island.  Recently President Trump has restricted travel.  The license we had to visit Cuba is known as the "Support for the Cuban people" license.  Cuba is adorned with cars from the 1950s which is the  last time the United States and Cuba had an economic relationship. ]]> 2019-04-21 22:29:25 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352950451 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352951015 Our tour guide was trained as an information technology specialist, but instead works as a guide giving one or two tours each month in order to make ends meet. Since the Cuban economy does not meet the needs of the people often Cubans have training in a certain career path, but also utilize the black market to buy and sell much needed goods and services.  Our guide is holding tuKola which is the Cuban version of Coca-Cola. ]]> 2019-04-21 22:38:42 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352951015 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352958092 American author, Ernest Hemingway, had an affinity for Cuba and owned a home which he left for the Cuban people when he died. ]]> 2019-04-22 00:25:05 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352958092 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352958448 In the past two or three years WI-FI access has increased in Cuba.      In order to access WI-FI people must purchase internet cards (like calling cards) for one to three CUCS (dollars) for an hour of internet time and then find a designated hot spot.   Most hotels have hotspots.  Recently, Cuban citizens have been able to acquire internet access the island on their cells phones. ]]> 2019-04-22 00:28:12 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352958448 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352959002 The town of Viñales is a two and a half hour drive west from Havana and located in the Pinar del Rio province. This region's economy is based on European tourism and tobacco cultivation. ]]> 2019-04-22 00:33:24 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352959002 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352959552 The Hotel Nacional is the most historic hotel in Havana.  The hotel overlooks the ocean and was a known hangout  for organized crime units from the United States. Organized Crime from the United States initially made its way to Cuba during the 1920s during the Prohibition Era. When Fidel Castro took over in 1959 gambling was outlawed in Cuba.  Organized crime leadership met in the hotel in 1946 to discuss the organization of the gambling business (indirectly referenced along with the Cuban Revolution in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II).  ]]> 2019-04-22 00:38:17 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352959552 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352960764 Cuba is home to amazing beaches and resorts that are frequented by Canadian and European tourists. Playa Jibacoa is located an hour east of Havana. ]]> 2019-04-22 00:49:54 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352960764 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352964510 Prior to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the United States supported the dictator who controlled Cuba.  When Cuban Revolutionary Fidel Castro took Control in the early 1960s and the Cold War was in full swing,  relations between the United States and Cuba regressed.  In 1961, the United States implemented a covert operation to re-take control of Cuba from Castro (Bay of Pigs Invasion).  When the the invasion failed, Cuba developed an alliance with the Soviet Union which included the Soviets placing operational nuclear missiles on Cuba that could destroy the United States (Cuban Missile Crisis-1962).  
Pictured below is a part of a United States aircraft currently on display at the Museum of the Revolution.  The aircraft that this  fragment comes from  was shot down during The Bay of Pigs Invasion. ]]> 2019-04-22 01:21:02 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/352964510 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/354680658 The town of VIñales featured a typical town square with a church and a space for entertainment. Below is a video of children's event that took place on the evening of April 16, 2019. ]]> 2019-04-27 15:11:10 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/354680658 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/354681719 The making of Guarapo. ]]> 2019-04-27 15:22:08 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/354681719 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357144184 An American journalist documents Cuban families over the course of four decades (approximately 2 hours). ]]> 2019-05-06 12:31:43 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357144184 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357145888 2019-05-06 12:36:13 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357145888 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357155626 (Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine)]]> 2019-05-06 12:57:44 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/357155626 kenduckms https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/360325128 Image of Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara in the Revolutionary Plaza. ]]> 2019-05-15 13:24:57 UTC https://padlet.com/kenduckms/Cuba2019/wish/360325128