cuba travel blogs

There is a rhythm in Cuba, a current, or maybe it’s a heartbeat. It runs down the center of the island and through the veins of its people. You can see it in their smiles, hear it in their music and feel it on the streets of Havana where the grand old mansions sit and decay. Cuba is a mystery to most and a daydream for many, with soft, sugary sands and the most sparkling waters you’ve ever seen lining the beaches of Varadero, Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco. But it’s also a place of stark contrasts, cities like Camaguey with its labyrinth-like streets and the colorful cobblestone village of Trinidad expertly portray both grit and grace. If you’re manifesting a trip to Cuba, picture images of fourth-generation tobacco farmers, tilling their lands along the lush green mogotes in Viñales, the colonial cathedral in Santiago de Cuba, sultry carnival festivals that take place all over the island and the millions of crimson crabs who flood the roadways in their annual migration to the Bay of Pigs. The island is home to a plethora of protected ecosystems, including wetlands, waterfalls, rainforests, mangroves and some of the most unspoiled coral reefs in the entire world. It’s estimated that nearly 22% of the island is protected by conservation efforts, making it the most environmentally safeguarded island in the entire Caribbean.