The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act Would Lift the Ban for All Americans
The Freedom to Travel Act is under consideration on Capitol Hill right now. That’s big news for anyone following the USA to Cuba events, or anyone who wants to travel to Cuba. There are already 180 people in Congress who are willing to cosponsor the bill, and a similar bill in the Senate has thirty-two Senators endorsing that bill. Is it too early to start packing your bags for travel to Cuba?
The House Foreign Relations Committee is considering the bill now, which is just the first step in the legislative process. This committee has to approve the bill in order for the process to continue into an actual piece of legislation. There are thousands of signatures from the public, supporting Freedom to Travel to Cuba, including many online signatures from Orbitz.com.
The grassroots movement supporting travel to Cuba is strong. In fact, polls taken in September 2009 indicate that even Cuban-Americans are in support of opening up travel to Cuba. 59 % of Cuban-Americans were in favor of lifting the ban for all Americans. The tide has certainly begun to change in the public, and even on Capitol Hill, we hope!
After years of chronic transportation woes, Cuba is finally getting some relief. President Raul Castro’s Ministry of Transportation is granting licenses to car owners who want to use their vehicles as taxis. This is big news for lots of Cubans, including city dwellers of Havana, who often have to hitchhike to work every morning. Or stand in lines for buses, then pack in like sardines. People in the countryside or suburbs often wait all day for a bus to pass by.
More Private Cars Can Now be Used as Taxis
The Cuban government stopped issuing taxi licenses in 1999 and car ownership is not common among most citizens of Cuba. To get around, people have to be creative, to say the least. There are taxis, but they don’t cruise around much because that eats up a lot of gas. There are nice taxis, even, but these are for tourists and charge up to $30 for a sweep around Havana. Taxis for Cuban citizens cost about $.50 for a typical common ride.
Buses aren’t even easy to get in Cuba. There just aren’t many. The old buses they use from the Soviet Era. They are hand me downs from East Germany and still have East German cities as their destinations. The government has purchased nice buses from China, but they are used to shuttle tourists around.
Alas, the new taxi licenses allow drivers to ferry Cubans only, not foreigners. But it should help the transportation system in general as Cuba tries to move forward on Raul’s promise to improve daily life for Cuban citizens.
Cuba’s National Ballet Company and the great Alicia Alonso, the 83 year-old General Director, are touring Europe. This company is world-famous for its dancers and performances, and Ms. Alonso was once the hottest ticket on the circuit, in the 1940s. The Company will be performing these ballets, in a tour that ends in Italy on November 15:
Featured dancers are:Viengsay Valdés, Anette Delgado, Sadaise Arencibia, Yolanda Correa, Yanela Piñera, Joel Carreño, Javier Torres, Elier Bourzac, Ernesto Álvarez and Alejandro Virreyes. In 2004, Cuba’s National Ballet Company toured the United States and five dancers defected. It was a painful time for Alicia Alonso, who had trained them for nine years. They ended up with the Cincinnati Ballet, two of them becoming soloists.
Up and coming ballet dancers in Cuba are hand-picked while very young and given free training. Top dancers earn about $50 per month. Stars in the US can earn up to $10,000 for just one gala performance! However, in the US, classic training is extremely expensive, while it’s free in Cuba.
It’s coming soon, we knew it would happen. Cuba will soon open up to travel, thanks to the new Obama administration. We’re watching with bated breath, now that relatives can freely travel. We hope anyone can travel to Cuba soon, anyone with a desire to see a new place, new faces. We’re watching from as close as you can get, Key West FL. That’s only 70 miles to Cuba, as the crow flies. We hear a small buzz in the air, as people talk of starting charter companies that will ferry visitors from Key West to Cuba, via boat. When that happens, Key West will change yet again, morphed by the tourism industry every twenty years or so. The world will be watching, so stay tuned for what’s happening in Cuba travel.
Cuban Pianist Chucho Valdés
July 3, 2009 – Confederation Park, Ottowa. The Chucho Valdés Quintet wowed the crowd at the 2009 Ottowa International Jazz Festival today. The weather had been rainy but miraculously the skies cleared just in time for the pianist and his quartet to wow the crowd with their island rythms. Chucho Valdés is a Grammy winner – five times over.
Vocalist Mayra Caridad Valdez and the rest of the group gained whooping admiration from the crowd as they built the intensity of their music. The played for about an hour and a half, and everyone forgot the rain, the mud, and everything else for that matter. It was all about Valdés, his group, and the fabulous Cuban music they shared with the audience. Encores and standing ovations followed, and the night was capped by a dueling set of gourd shakers. It was a spectacular show and a great night for fans of Cuban music.
Havana, Cuba - $ 29.95
