Unidad Cubana

There are apparently some people who think that the current "Greenhouse Effect" will simply lead to an "evolutionary" change in the global climate, so that climatic areas in the northern hemisphere like Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska in the U.S., and Antarctica in the southern hemisphere will become like one big tropical resort area like Tahiti, Cuba, or Jamaica. Soon everyone will be enjoying glorious sunshine, and sipping exotic tropical drinks in Nova Scotia, Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, or around the Arctic waters of Siberia, according to people with this apparent view. These people profess a dislike for the cold, and they therefore welcome any change that might eventually get rid...

Many people may find planning their trip to Disney World very confusing, but planning is the key to making the most of your time and budget. To start, the first thing to do is to decide when you would like to go to Disney World. Typically, the most crowded period is the summer season along with the major holidays such as the Christmas, New Year, and spring breaks. Basically anytime kids are out of school. The least crowded period of the year is January to February (up till the President's Day) and September to November. If you are concerned about the weather, Disney World has a pleasant climate most of the year, but Orlando can be very hot and very humid during summer. The fall is cooler and winter...

As you climb Kilimanjaro spare a thought for the humble porter. His life is one of extreme hardship of trekking up and down the mountain carrying your supplies. No one notices him, no one cares for him, he goes unseen and unappreciated. I see many items on the internet about the 'Kilimanjaro song'. Many climbers wanting the words for the song as it brings back memories for them. Good memories of the hard slog to the summit of Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa. There is another side to this song; the porters who sing this song have their own storey. What follows is the porter's song, in this case Marco's song. These are his own words... Sometimes, to get the job as a porter with a group I...

Some time in July I was watching our local TV station, CityTV, and I caught a part of a report about a Toronto couple that had remortgaged their home to start a non-profit community development organization in a small town on the Pacific Coast in Peru. I didn't catch their name or their contact information, only the website: I used the contact email on the website to try to locate this couple and to ask them for an interview.I got a response back and met Danielle Lafond, the female member of the couple and co-creator of the project, in a restaurant in Toronto's Greektown and was struck by her youthful energy, idealism and commitment to improving this world. The decision to put their own finances at...

With a gun to his head and passengers lives at stake, Mike McNeill did something totally unexpected with his "customer". A people skills story every business person can benefit from. In 1981, Mike McNeill ran into an "unreasonable customer". As a Captain on a DeHavillan Dash-7 aircraft, Mike was making a routine flight from Killeen, Texas to Dallas. A 45-minute hop. Shortly after the airplane leveled off, a passenger came into the cockpit and suggested a new destination: Cuba. When McNeill turned around and saw an Uzi machine gun leveled at his head, he knew he would need more than just flying skills to keep things cool. At the trigger was a hyper young man in his 20's. Like a cobra out of its cage...

Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of and is delighted to have as a guest well- known author and travel writer, Christopher P. Baker.Christopher is an expert on Cuba and Jamaica, as well as other venues in the Caribbean and Latin America.Christopher was named Travel Journalist Of The Year by the Jamaica Tourist Board in 1998. He is here to discuss with us Jamaica.Good Day Christopher and thank you for accepting our invitation to be interviewed.NORM:Please tell our readers something about yourself, your expertise and the books you have authored.Christopher:I grew up and was educated in England, where I began my international travels while studying geography at university. After settling in California in...

Although the sailing season in the South Eastern Mediterranean runs from mid-May to the end of October, there is still significant demand from European sailors for charters in waters warm during the long, cold Northern winter. Traditionally the Caribbean has been the main beneficiary of this. The British have tended to go to the ex-colonies - the Virgin Islands, Antigua, and Grenada. This always has two problems. Travel costs are high and/or inflexible, and the area is equally popular with North Americans to the point that it gets very crowded. Getting there from the USA is seriously cheap and easy, and there is little or no time difference. The charming French islands of Martinique and...

The South Pacific is becoming a hot vacation destination for North American travelers, and Moon Handbooks is the leading provider of travel guidebooks to the region. From Tahiti and French Polynesia to Fiji and Samoa, you can count on the name Moon for unbiased travel advice. Moon Handbooks South Pacific (ISBN 1566914116) is the original travel guide to the Pacific islands. The 1st edition appeared in 1979, and in November 2004 the 8th edition was published. Moon Handbooks South Pacific is far more than just a guidebook - it\'s a comprehensive reference work with 1,091 fully indexed pages and 119 maps. Moon Handbooks Fiji (ISBN 1566914973) describes and maps everyone\'s favorite South Pacific...

Cuba…the very name produces images of Fidel Castro,Che Guevara,vintage Cadillacs,Spanish colonial architecture and beautiful beaches! In reality,it is all of these things…and much,much more. Cuba is the largest island in the Caibbean,some 750 miles in length and is the worlds 16th largest.The Republic also includes some smaller islands,the largest of which is the Isle of Youth.The notorious Guantanamo Bay has been leased to the USA since 1903. Cuba was a Spanish possession for 388 years but after long,protracted wars of independence and with the help of the USA,it finally gained full independence in 1902. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the former corrupt regime,which was in large...

Ever wonder where cigar smoking began? So have I so I decided to look into it, here's what I found. Cigars have been around for over 1,000 years! The original native population of the various islands in the Caribbean as well as the rest of Mesoamerica began making and smoking cigars as early as 900 AD. How do we know this? Archaeologists discovered a ceramic vessel at a Mayan dig site in Uaxactun, Guatemala which was painted with the likeness of a man smoking a cigar. The explorer, Christopher Columbus who found the Americas by accident when looking for a shorter trade route to India, is credited with introducing smoking to Europe and even with the actual discovery of smoking even though just like...

There exist many ways to explain why tourists enjoy traveling on a Caribbean cruise vacation and that is not just because they like the idea of going on just a cruise ship which already is a vacation without even setting foot on any kind of Caribbean soil. No, the main reason is that the Caribbean has just so much to offer when you leave your cruise ship making it a truly memorable vacation that you will never forget. So what are the best locations to go and visit when you disembark. Well, this really depends on the package that you go for but here is a line-up of some of the more well liked ports of call which most cruise liners include in their itinerary Jamaica - this is the biggest island in the...

Motorized scooters are a great form of travel almost anywhere in the world. They are small, economical and fun. Of course, you sacrifice safety with just about any scooter that you ride. It is hard to have a scooter as an everyday vehicle, but they are great for warm weather vacation destinations or if you live in a rural area. One of the best places to rent a scooter is Key West, FL. Key West is southern most point in Florida, located about 90 miles north of Cuba. This is a great place for renting a scooter because there is a lot to see. The famous author Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time there, so you can visit his favorite hangouts. There is the southernmost point of the island where you can...

Fonosound / Universal Music Latinolanzan a Frankie Marcos y Clouds en "Blown Away (Soplao)" 15 de Julio del 2004 - Al recibir la nominación al Grammy por su tema "Ay, Habana, cuando pienso en tí", dueto con Arturo Sandoval, Frankie Marcos recibió un precioso regalo de una persona muy respetada por la industria del disco, colaborador de una publicación dedicada a ésta. El regalo provino de la plumade este señor, quien escribió lo siguiente: "EL AÑO DE FRANKIE MARCOS" -Hay etapas en la vida de los artistas que son consagratorias en sus carreras. En el caso de los músicos, pueden estar años sin grabar, pero cuando finalmente lo hacen, se ganan un Grammy, como le pasó a...

Title: CAN TERRORISTS DESTROY THE WORLD? Author: Arthur Zulu Contact Author: mailto: Copyright: Copyright © Arthur Zulu 2002 Word Count: 622 Web Address: Publishing Guidelines: Permission is granted to publish this article electronically or in print as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. CAN TERRRORISTS DESTROY THE WORLD? By Arthur Zulu Terrorism. Let?s find some synonyms for that word: Organized violence. Genocide. Annihilation. Mass Suicide. I wanted to add these words: nationalism, freedom fighter. But I find that the words don?t really fit in the definition of terrorism. I find other words: Hollywood, Cinema, Acting, and Dreaming. And I...

Presidents of the United States can only make decisions based on the information they are getting from the people and other sources that are available to them. Different Presidents obtain that data flow in different ways. This is particularly important because the events we are dealing with are so much more crucial than other Presidents may be dealing with. Iraq, North Korea, high gasoline prices, competitive position versus China, long-term deficits are all huge problems that must be solved one way or another. President Kennedy had an open door policy. He functioned as his own chief of staff, a center of the spokes strategy if you will. It was highly successful. Unlike this President, Kennedy asked...

The Cuban leader Fidel Castro is making attempts to drag his country out of the guagmire he has landed it in since rejecting adopting market economic principles when its sponsor, the Soviet Union, fell apart in 1991. Even though his way of doing it -telling the Cuban population to save on energy and work harder- is not immediately likely to effect much change, perhaps his efforts evidence that the Cuban leader is losing hope of an impending end to the US trade embargo on his own terms. The hours long speeches held in recent days by the Cuban 78-year old leader show that he's by no means through with Leninist-style Marxism governing his rather undreamlike Caribbean island's economy. The changes that...

Grace sews to make money to support her family. She lives on the peripheries of Arusha Town in Tanzania, East Africa. She makes curtains for a shop in the town centre, one of the expensive shops where all the ex-pats go to spend their money. Arusha is a small town with one main street and two small markets. Even though Arusha is sometimes called a city there are no traffic lights and only three traffic circles. It is not much of a city really. Grace's husband works in the Tanzanite mines which is a grueling half day travel by bus towards Kilimanjaro. Grace's husband visits home at weekends if he has money if not Grace can wait a whole month and not even hear from her husband. Working on the...

Hotel Habana Libre, Thursday, April 14, 2005, 3:02 pm The last few days I have spent quite a bit of time walking around downtown Havana - or Habana Vieja, as they say around here. It is an extremely fascinating place and one of the most architecturally consistent colonial city centres in the world. A few days ago, my local friend Pedro and I went to explore the Capitolio, which is a beautiful building, ironically very reminiscent of the Capitol in Washington. Built between 1926 and 1929 as the former seat of the Cuban government, its neoclassical exterior is complemented by an absolutely astounding Roman interior with all sorts of meetings rooms, a library, a souvenir shop and an Internet cafe. In...

Taking time out from the everyday stresses and strains of life to visit an exotic place is something that everyone looks forward to. Cuba, with its notoriety brought upon by its government and the clamp down of the American government on its export and tourism, is a country known more for its cigar and its leader, rather than as a vacation destination. Despite this, every year more and more tourists from Canada and Europe are flocking to Cuba, enthralled by its natural beauty and its passionate and welcoming people. Tourism in Cuba is currently at an all time high. Cuba is the largest of the Caribbean islands and is inhabited by people with a mixed race of Caribbean Indian, African and Spanish...

Hello from Cuba (10) - A Country Excursionby: Susanne Pacher After my walk through the Vedado neighbourhood, my friend Pedro came to pick me up since I had suggested a little excursion with a rental car to get to know the countryside. His wife and sister-in-law unfortunately coulnd't make it since their cousin was coming to town. La Habana can feel a little claustrophobic since the transportation options are limited and even a basic taxi ride to the Eastern Beaches (Playas del Este) is quite costly. And it's also nice to get away from the city, which can get rather congested and contaminated with car exhaust fumes from all the old vehicles. I can't imagine what the air must be like here in the...

Fonosound / Universal Music Latinolanzan a Frankie Marcos y Clouds en "Blown Away (Soplao)" 15 de Julio del 2004 - Al recibir la nominación al Grammy por su tema "Ay, Habana, cuando pienso en tí", dueto con Arturo Sandoval, Frankie Marcos recibió un precioso regalo de una persona muy respetada por la industria del disco, colaborador de una publicación dedicada a ésta. El regalo provino de la plumade este señor, quien escribió lo siguiente: "EL AÑO DE FRANKIE MARCOS" -Hay etapas en la vida de los artistas que son consagratorias en sus carreras. En el caso de los músicos, pueden estar años sin grabar, pero cuando finalmente lo hacen, se ganan un Grammy, como le pasó a...

Cuba has cut off electricity to the United States' diplomatic office in Havana, and the U.S. State Department says communist authorities on the island have not responded to questions about the action. Officials here in Washington say electrical service to the U.S. office in Havana was cut on June 5. Swiss diplomats, who technically represent U.S. interests in Cuba, and American staff have appealed in vain for service to be restored. A U.S. spokesman says no similar power problems have affected nearby buildings in downtown Havana near the U.S. Interests Section office. American officials describe the incident as harassment arising from U.S. efforts to inform Cuban citizens about human-rights issues...

It is a widely known fact among cigar lovers that the very best quality cigars are those from Cuba. The problem with having that knowledge is that it can land you in hot water if you are determined to buy them or at the very least make you get burned by someone selling cigars as Cubans that really aren't. If you are insistent on getting yourself a box of these high quality stogies then you should follow some of the advice given below to make sure you get what you are seeking and stay out of trouble at the same time. Since President Kennedy placed an embargo on Cuba in 1963, Cuban cigars have been illegal to import. One little known fact is that JFK had one of his assistants go to Cuba and bring back...

In my capacity as the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours Limited, one of my jobs is to ensure every client has the best tour possible, with that in mind I have put together some suggestions for sites to take in during your holiday in Cuba. Cuba is located between the Bahamas and Jamaica which means that it has a superb all year round sunny, tropical climate. With its white sandy beaches of paradise, warm aqua marine waters and palm trees how can you not feel pampered? Venture out to sea and you will find some of the most stunning coral reef which in turn provides a perfect natural habitat for a wide array of underwater life. 1 Havana brings the fifties back to life with its old American...

Have you ever wondered what the deal is with cigars? Do you know how to light one? Is there a special way to smoke one? You're not supposed to inhale it, right? What should you do with a cigar? These are only some of the questions that a newcomer to cigars might have, and if they are questions you have, then read on, the answers are provided in the short newcomer's guide below. How to Light a Cigar The most fundamental part of enjoying a cigar is properly lighting it. To properly light a cigar, you need clippers that are specially made to snip the edge off of the end you're going to put in your mouth, the head. After doing this, you can light the cigar, but not with just any old lighter. Cigars...

Many people may think of Honduras and recall a memory from 7th grade that involves a map of Central America, a pop quiz, and a prayer. For the avid cigar smoker, however, Honduras is thought of as much more. One of the biggest tobacco producers on our planet, cigar lovers think of Honduras as a virtual Mecca, a place where tobacco seeds go to make their parents proud. Honduras, located near Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, is a country made up of an instable history, one that involved fights for independence, hurricane devastation, human rights violations, and political diversity. Together these have all caused Honduras to be among the poorest countries in Central America. But, unlike some of...

The US government is one of the three countries in the world that have initiated and maintained the Cuba blockage. Specifically, only US, Israel and Uzbekistan are the rejecting the voice of the United Nations General Assembly to seize this type of trade treatment. More cases appear every year in the news regarding the US embargo consequences on the lives of millions of Cubans. Food, medicine and other important supplies are withheld from the citizens of this island due to its political history and recent communist upheaval that led Fidel Castro in power. But although the General Assembly of the United Nations approved a resolution, condemning the economic blockade that the US has applied to Cuba...

Information on getting there and getting around, attractions, culture and history. - To get into the tropical atmosphere of Cuba at its fiftieth. Among the American automobiles, the smoky bars of Havana, the effect is assured. - For its fantastic sea. Cuba offers about six thousand kilometers of splendid Caribbean coast, with beaches and cliffs for all likes. - For the people's hospitality, not always interested as it is wanted to make you believe. The Cubans are people full of happiness and eager to leave, people who love to find the foreigner, just to exchange ideas. - To smoke the best tobaccos in the world, made by hand with the leaves of Vuelta Abajo. You can also attend to the making...

Dubai was until only a few years ago not known for its tourism industry. How has Dubai managed to obtain a similar status as travel destinations such as Hawaii, Cannes or Bali? Other destinations have spent decades building up reputations and infrastructure with the hope of becoming a major travel destination. Dubai has managed to surprise all hospitality and tourism experts. These experts did not expect any destination and especially one in the Middle East to become world power in the travel industry. So how did Dubai manage to build a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert? Dubai started its rise to fame just over a decade ago with the launch of the first annual Dubai shopping festival...

Hotel Havana Libre, Tuesday, April 5, 2005, 7:20 pm Yesterday I had to sign up for my Spanish course at the University of Havana. The Campus of the University is an astoundingly beautiful collection of classical buildings and a Cuban tank graces the entrance to the library. At 9 am all the foreign students, about 40 of them, met in the Edificio Varona and we were shepherded by various professors into a very antiquated lecture hall. (By the way, of the 5 or 6 washroom stalls in the women´s bathroom, only 1 or 2 have toilets in them, no toilet seats, and no running water in the sinks. Again a sign of rather run-down infrastructure...) There they told us about the program, but only in Spanish...

Cuba, beauty in simplicity, a haven, a paradise, an experience. One of the largest Caribbean islands, Cuba is all you can dream of and a little more. Endless sandy beaches, captivating culture, old-age architecture, friendly locals, delicious cuisine, it is a place you would not want to leave. Cuba consists of the main island, the Isle of Youth and about 4,195 keys commonly known as cayos. It is 140 kilometers from the Bahamas and 180 kilometers from Florida. Cuba's 11,200,000 inhabitants predominantly speak Spanish. Journey with us as we take you down the alleys, past the favorite haunts and experience with us the true magic of this virgin holiday destination. Join us as we rediscover Cuba's past...

According to a recent survey by the ASC (alt.smokers.cigars) the following results were obtained from a recent online survey of cigar smokers: 86% of cigar smokers report that they do not inhale. The average number of cigars smoked per week is 6.74 at and average price of $4.34 The best individual cigars were the Romeo y Julieta Churchill(Cuba) with 8 votes, the Cohiba Esplendido(Cuba) and Montecristo(Cuba) each with 7 votes, and rounding out the top five were the AF Flor Fina and the AF Hemmingway Signature both from the Dominican Republic with 5 votes each The best cigar brands overall were A. Fuente from Dominican Republic with 15 votes, A. Fuente Hemmingway(DR) with 12 votes, the always popular...

Taking time out from the everyday stresses and strains of life to visit an exotic place is something that everyone looks forward to. Cuba, with its notoriety brought upon by its government and the clamp down of the American government on its export and tourism, is a country known more for its cigar and its leader, rather than as a vacation destination. Despite this, every year more and more tourists from Canada and Europe are flocking to Cuba, enthralled by its natural beauty and its passionate and welcoming people. Tourism in Cuba is currently at an all time high. Cuba is the largest of the Caribbean islands and is inhabited by people with a mixed race of Caribbean Indian, African and Spanish...

You're about to set forth on your dream luxury travel vacation. After months of planning, days of packing, and hours in the air, your arrival is the start of some highly anticipated fun. But it can also be the hardest part of a trip. Chances are you'll be tired, jet lagged or both. Everything seems a bit new and strange. So how do you deal with the stress and excitement? Having a plan that deals with arrival essentials allows you to begin your luxury vacation a little more stress free. Choose Your Timing Wisely If at all possible, try to avoid arriving for the beginning of your luxury vacation in the middle of the night. Be aware that your ticket may say landing at 10 pm, but after you go through...