Download Report

PEOPLE, HISTORY & CULTURE
E XPERIENCE J EWISH C UBA
5 D AYS , 4 NIGHTS - M AY 14-18, 2015
INCLUDED: FLIGHTS TO AND FROM CUBA, HOTELS, MOST MEALS, IN-COUNTRY
TRANSPORTATION
, ALL LICENSES, VISAS, ENGLISH SPEAKING GUIDES AND MORE…
!
SPACE IS LIMITED
CONTACT US NOW
TO MAKE YOUR
RESERVATION!
888-978-5215
JASON @CULTURAL CONTRAST. ORG
WWW .C ULTURAL C ONTRAST . ORG
This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba. E XP E R I E N C E J E W I S H C U BA
!
P R I C I N G S TA RT S AT $2999 P E R P E R S O N - S I N G L E S U P P L E M E N T $300
!
(FINAL PRICE AND ITINERARY ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS AND HOTEL AVAILABILITY)
YOUR
TRIP INCLUDES:
• 5 days/4 nights in and around Cuba • Round trip airfare via chartered commercial airline -‐ Miami–Havana-‐Miami • Hotel accommoda@ons in Cuba • Gratui@es to wait staﬀ at included meals and hotel bellboys while in Cuba • Included meals: 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 2 dinners. Some special dietary needs can be accommodated. Call for info. • Opportuni@es to explore some of Havana’s Paladares (privately owned restaurants) and sample some of the best cuisine in Cuba. • Ground transporta@on in Cuba will be provided on a luxury coach with a professional driver. • Your group will have an experienced, English speaking professional guide who is knowledgeable on Cuban history, poli@cs, educa@on, medical system, arts, economics and more. E L P AT R O N AT O - S E AT O F T H E C U B A N
JEWISH COMMUNITY
• Entrance fees to the important cultural and historic sites • Medical insurance while in Cuba – This does not cover preexis@ng condi@ons. • All US airport and airline taxes • Cuban visa fee (if Cuban born, addi@onal fees apply) "T R AV E L I N G T O C U B A W I T H C U LT U R A L
C O N T R A S T WA S Q U I T E A N A M A Z I N G E X P E R I E N C E .
O U R T R I P WA S W E L L - O R G A N I Z E D A N D P R OV I D E D
Many extra surprises and unique opportuni1es – too many to detail! A MEANINGFUL EXCHANGE WITH THE PEOPLE OF
NOT
T H I S N E I G H B O R I N G I S L A N D N AT I O N ."
INCLUDED:
• We recommend that each par@cipant purchase trip cancella@on insurance. Cancella@ons prior to departure without insurance could cause par@cipants to forfeit their payment. - L AW R E N C E K O L I N , E S Q .
PAST EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER ORLANDO
• A gratuity to your Cuban hosts is common. We suggest you plan to bring a total of $160 for gratui@es, which would allow you to provide $100 for your guide, $50 for your driver, and $10 for your hotel a[endant. • Departure tax from Cuba -‐ $30. • Miami lodging. Our trip originates and terminates in Miami. If you do not live in Miami, you may wish to book a hotel in Miami the night before departure. An op@onal group hotel room at the Miami Interna@onal Airport will be oﬀered for an addi@onal but reduced fee, if requested. • Upon check-‐in in Miami, baggage fees are common and are the responsibility of each passenger. • Each par@cipant will be asked to make a ﬁnancial dona1on to the Jewish Community of Cuba; we suggest $100/person. Each person will also be asked to collect and bring items to donate to the Jewish Community of Cuba, such as medical This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba. E XP E R I E N C E J E W I S H C U BA
DAY 1 (THURSDAY - MAY 14)
• Group to meet at Miami International Airport at 08:30 AM for group check-‐in (departure time subject to change by the airlines) “B E I N G I N C U B A F E E L S L I K E
T R AV E L I N G 50 Y E A R S B A C K I N T I M E ”
• American Airlines flight -‐ Departs Miami at approximately 09:00 AM and arrives Havana 10:00 AM • Upon arrival in Havana, retrieve luggage and meet your professional English speaking Cuban tour guide, bus transfer to the Hotel Nacional in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana • Lunch and a welcome cocktail are included at La Barraca, an open-‐air restaurant in the gardens of the Hotel Nacional • Check-‐in to hotel. You will be staying on the Executive Floors of this iconic Breakers style hotel. Upon arrival, exchange money and settle into your room. • Afternoon: ‘Havana -‐ past, present and future’. An interactive presentation with Miguel Coyula, advisor to the former city planner of Havana. He will cover the history and architecture of Havana and facilitate a discussion about Cuba’s future • Group dinner at a ‘paladar’ – La Fontana – Havana’s most famous private restaurant located in a classic 1950’s Miramar home !
DAY 2 (FRIDAY - MAY 15)
• Breakfast included in the Aguilar banquet room • Morning: Professionally led guided tour of Old Havana • Explore the 5 plazas of Old Havana, including Plaza Arpas, Capitanes Generales, Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza Vieja, and Plaza San Francisco P L A Z A S A N F R A N C I S C O - O L D H AVA N A
• Visit the historic La Bodeguita del Medio – home of the Mojito! • Lunch included at El Templeté – a beautiful port-‐side restaurant overlooking the harbor of Havana • Afternoon: Guided tour of the Cuban Museum of the Revolution • After the museum, your bus will take you back to the Vedado neighborhood of Havana where we will visit the Patronato, the seat of the Jewish Community for all of Cuba; You will meet with Sra. Adela Dworin, the President of the Jewish Community, and present her with donations from the group. • You may return to the hotel or attend Friday night services at Temple Beth Shalom, Havana’s largest synagogue. • Group dinner at El Aljibe, Havana’s most famous and historic chicken and rice restaurant with a secret family marinade recipe !
DAY 3 (SATURDAY - MAY 16)
• Following breakfast included at the hotel, you will depart for a bus ride to the western province of Pinar Del Rio, home of Cuba’s most lush landscapes and agriculture • Visit the quaint village of Viñales, including a visit to a farmer’s home and tobacco plantation. Learn the art and science of tobacco growing – and you can even try to roll a cigar! • Explore some of Cuba’s natural historic caves on a unique walking and boat tour inside an ancient cave views overlooking the entire Viñales valley region.
C L A S S I C 1950’ S A M E R I C A N C A R
This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba. E XP E R I E N C E J E W I S H C U BA
DAY 3 CONTINUED… (SATURDAY - MAY 16)
• Following the cave tour, you will visit an organic farm where the owners will host a true farm-‐to-‐table organic lunch! • Return to Havana by bus in the afternoon, and dinner will be at your leisure. Your group leader and guide will assist you with suggestions and in making reservations for dinner. Consider dining at a ‘Paladar’ – a privately owned and operated restaurant in Havana. Some Paladars are as small as a private family’s own dining room, some are elegant, world-‐
class restaurants. The ‘Paladar’ is a relatively new concept in Cuba and has only recently legalized. !
DAY 4 (SUNDAY - MAY 17)
• Breakfast included in the Aguilar banquet room • Morning: After meeting in the hotel lobby, your bus will take you to Finca Vigia, the estate-‐home of Ernest Hemingway in the San Francisco neighborhood overlooking Havana. This UNESCO site is part of the Hemingway Foundation, and has been preserved in the exact condition it was in when he died. NEIGHBORHOOD MOSAIC PROJECT
B Y A RT I S T J O S É
FUSTER
• Lunch included at the serene Terrazas Cohimar restaurant – where Hemingway himself dined daily with his boat captain • Walking tour of the Beth Shalom Jewish Cemetery in the rural town of Guanabacoa, Cuba. This cemetery tells the story of the history of the Jews of Cuba. It features the single oldest memorial to the Holocaust in North America. • You will then drive to the small fishing village of Jaimanitas on the western outskirts of Havana and visit the Gaudi-‐inspired mosaic tile neighborhood project of world-‐renowned artist ‘Fuster.’ He has been featured on A&E and Discovery, and you will visit his private home and studio. This is an excellent opportunity to view and even buy art directly from the artist at his studio/home. • A ‘farewell’ dinner tonight is included at Havana’s single finest restaurant – Café del Orienté. The 1920’s bar downstairs is a great place to start with a cocktail or wine, before we move upstairs for the best dining in the city. !
DAY 5 (MONDAY - MAY 18)
• Breakfast included in the Aguilar banquet room • You will check-‐out of the hotel and the porters will bring your luggage to the bus for you. • A stop at the historic Plaza de la Revoluçión – the location of many of Cuba’s most important events – and recently the site of the Pope’s mass in Cuba • Transfer to the airport – you will check in as a group, pay the Cuban departure tax, and board our flight LIVE MUSIC
IS
E V E RY W H E R E
IN
C U B A . E N J OY !
• American Airlines flight -‐ Departs Havana at approximately 1:30 PM, arrives Miami 2:30 PM (departure time subject to change by the airlines) This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba. E XP E R I E N C E J E W I S H C U BA
HOTEL NACIONAL – AN ICON FROM THE PAST
The Hotel Nacional sits on a bluﬀ known in the early centuries of the colonial @me as Monte Vedado (vedado = prohibited) because of a Spanish government decree banning the crea@on of paths to the beach in that area. The constant a[acks by privateers and pirates, followed by the capture of Havana by the English, prompted the construc@on of various for@ﬁca@ons, including the Santa Clara cannon ba[ery which is now the hotel gardens. Together with Old Havana, the site was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. The decision to build a luxury hotel was made in the late 1920s. The American ﬁrms McKim, Mead & White and Purdy & Henderson Co., tasked with the planning and construc@on, completed the pala@al ediﬁce in 14 months. The hotel exhibits an eclec@c architectural style, reﬂec@ng Art Deco, Arabic references, features of Hispano-‐Moorish architecture, and both neo-‐
classical and neo-‐colonial elements. There are even details from the centuries-‐old Californian style. The resul@ng unique example of so many schools of architecture is the most unusual and interes@ng hotel in the Caribbean region. The Hotel Nacional was ﬁrst opened on the night of Dec. 30, 1930. A grand ball was held that night to celebrate, and it was a[ended by a variety of famous guests. Baker and Nat King Cole, on racist grounds, but in 1957 relented in the case of the la[er, who gave some unforge[able performances during his stay. Other guests and visitors during this period included: Nelson Rockefeller, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gadner, Sir Alexander Fleming, Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Leopold and Baudouin of Belgium, and Walt Disney. In 1956, Eartha Ki[ inaugurated the hotel's Cabaret Parisien, where the famous voices that charmed the guests included those of Vic Damone, Nat King Cole, and, more recently, Compay Segundo and Alberto Herrero, among so many who have enlivened nights at the Hotel Nacional. 1930s: The hotel was bombarded following the sta@oning of oﬃcers of the army elite of the deposed president Gerardo Machado, in a revolt by lower-‐raking oﬃcers -‐ Ba@sta among them -‐ in protest at the privileges of high oﬃce. Guests of the hotel in this decade included: Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan), Edward VIII (prince of Wales), Jack Dempsey, Tom Mix, Buster Keaton, Errol Flynn, and the mobsters Santos Traﬁcante (father) and Meyer Lansky. Mr. Lansky secured the future of the casino business with Ba@sta during mee@ngs at the hotel. The hotel was the se|ng for the forma@on of the '26th July Movement' (M-‐26-‐7) revolu@onary group led by Fidel Castro. On the triumph of the Cuban Revolu@on on January 1st 1959, the representa@ves of the American company that operated the hotel departed, and the hotel staﬀ took over the management. October 1962 was the month of the Missile Crisis. An@aircra{ emplacements were installed on the hotel's bluﬀ, and walled trenches were excavated below the gardens -‐ a large scale engineering feat. The world's ﬁrst cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, stayed at the hotel. Other guests during this period included Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Josephine Baker and, appearing in cabaret, Bola de Nieve, Esther Borja, among others. 1940s: In 1945, the hotel was host to the interna@onal air transport conference, a[ended by delegates from the world's airlines, which founded IATA, the Interna@onal Air Transport Associa@on. In February 1946, Sir Winston Churchill visited Cuba, staying in the hotel's Republica Suite, and was accorded diploma@c privileges by the Cuban government. In December 1946, the hotel was the venue for a major gathering of the Maﬁa, closing its doors to the public while accommoda@ng the heads of the most notorious (American) Cosa Nostra families. For over 12 years, the hotel was home to steel magnate Barón Thyssen Bornemicza. The avalanche of celebri@es con@nued unabated: George Ra{, Be[y Grable, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Carol II of Rumania, Tyrone Power, Lucky Luciano, Rita Hayworth, Ernest Hemingway, Fred Astaire, the Los Panchos trio, César Romero and Gary Cooper. 1950s: These were the halcyon days of tourism for the hotel. Its American management refused accommoda@on to both Josephine 1970s: A revival of interna@onal tourism began in 1974. In December 1979, the hotel hosted the ﬁrst La@n American New-‐Film Fes@val, and has remained as the fes@val's venue ever since. 1980s and '90s: The hotel was architecturally and historically restored, achieving the status of ﬂagship of the Cuban hotel industry. It was reopened in 1992. Visitors included Geraldine Chaplin, Danielle Mi[errand, Harry Belafonte, Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Michel Legrand, Robert de Niro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Diego Armando Maradona, Alicia Alonso, Ana Belén, Francis Ford Coppola, Muhammad Ali, Henry Aaron, and Danny Glover. In 1994, the hotel a[ained recogni@on as the ﬂagship of the Gran Caribe hotel group. In 1998, the ﬁrst historic rooms were inaugurated, namely those that had been occupied by Maria Felix, Ava Gardner, Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), and Jorge Negrete. The year's guests included Alejandro Vargas, son of the famed singer Pedro Vargas, top models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. The hotel hosted the 1999 ninth La@n American summit. 21st century: Guests recently have included many important ﬁgures (heads of state, heads of government, other poli@cal and social leaders, dis@nguished ﬁlmmakers, Nobel laureates, scien@sts, ar@sts, sportsmen and sportswomen). This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba. E XP E R I E N C E J E W I S H C U BA
INITIAL REGISTRATION FORM
!
A registration form for each participant is required. Additional required documents will be distributed to each participant who registers for this incredible once-‐in-‐a-‐lifetime trip. All documentation must be submitted by US Mail. !
The $3,299/person trip cost Includes: Airfare from Miami, hotels, guide, and all items/events as detailed in this itinerary (subject to changes). !
FULL LEGAL NAME (AS
S H O W N O N PA S S P O RT ):__________________________________________
PLACE
S TAT E A N D C O U N T RY ):__________________________________________
D AT E
OF
OF
B I RT H ( C I T Y ,
B I RT H :____________________________C I T I Z E N S H I P :________________________
M O T H E R ’ S M A I D E N N A M E :______________________________________________________
Y O U R C O U N T RY
HOME
OF
R E S I D E N C E :___________________________________________________
A D D R E S S ( S T R E E T ):______________________________________________________
C I T Y / S TAT E / Z I P :__________________________________________________________
D AY T I M E T E L E P H O N E :___________________M O B I L E P H O N E :_____________________________
E- M A I L A D D R E S S :___________________________________________________________
SINGLE
OR
D O U B L E O C C U PA N C Y :___________________________________________________
I F D O U B L E O C C U PA N C Y , N A M E
I F D O U B L E O C C U PA N C Y , D O
OF
R O O M M AT E :___________________________________________
Y O U WA N T
ONE LARGE BED
OR TWO TWIN
B E D S :__________________________
E M E R G E N C Y C O N TA C T P E R S O N :____________________ P H O N E :___________________________
!
!
REGISTRATION / PAYMENT INFORMATION:
This trip is ﬁrst-‐come, ﬁrst-‐reserved and our experience tells us that the trip WILL SELL OUT QUICKLY. A $500/person deposit is due with this ini@al registra@on form. You may also pay in full when you submit this form. Your payment is fully refundable un@l 2/15/2015. It becomes non-‐refundable on 2/15/2015 and the balance of your trip payment is due on or before 2/15/2015 and becomes non-‐refundable once received, with the only excep@on being if the trip is cancelled due to insuﬃcient par@cipa@on. In this case, your payments will be 100% refunded. For this reason, we strongly recommend trip insurance. !
Click this link to review one op1on for purchasing trip cancella1on insurance: h[p://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/AA/integra@on_start.aspx?accamnum=F202668&Start_Page=Classic&referrer=emaillink !
!
!
Please send this form by US mail along with the following informa1on: Two very clear and legible color copies of the photo page of your US passport, a $500 Refundable deposit Please make your check payable to Cultural Contrast, LLC; Refundable un@l 2/15/2014. Final payments are due no later than 2/15/14 and both payments become non-‐refundable on 2/15/2014. Mail these items to: Cultural Contrast LLC 241 Nilson Way, Suite 100 Orlando, FL 32803 (888) 978-‐5215 !
!
I wish to register for participation this trip to Cuba. I understand that itinerary items and the final pricing are subject to change. I understand that my deposit is refundable until 2/15/2014. My final payment is due no later than 2/15/2014, at which time all payments become non-‐refundable for any reason. !
Yo u r s i g n a t u r e : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D a t e : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This t rip i s conducted u nder a G eneral L icense f rom O FAC by C ongregation o f Reform Judaism a nd i s a l icensed r eligious t rip s upporting J ewish C uba.