Backroads to offer educational exchange trips

Cuba: Backroads to offer educational exchange trips

By Brian E. Clark

March 26, 2013, 7:00 a.m.



Backroads, which leads guided hiking and biking tours around the globe,

says guests will gain "rare access" to Cuba through the company's

recently approved People-to-People license by the U.S. Treasury

Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.



Backroads received approval at the beginning of March for the

educational exchange trips, which will be offered throughout this year

and next. The first trip will depart May 4.



Berkeley-based Backroads has five confirmed departure dates for this May

and June. It also has 10 pending departures in December and 14 pending

departures in January and February of 2014.



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The outfitter expects pending dates to be confirmed by April 15. All

tours will leave from Miami and accommodate up to 20 guests per tour.



On the eight-day tour, participants will have opportunities to

experience the Cuban culture and interact with locals, a hallmark of

Backroads tours. The itinerary will include visits to museums, art

studios, coffee plantations, farms and national parks.



Trip highlights will include:



Delving into Hemingway's Cuba during a visit to the Museo Ernest

Hemingway

Discussing Cuba's rich arts heritage with artists at private

studios and a community art project

Learning about Cuban enterprise from budding entrepreneurs,

including owners of private restaurants and private room rentals

Chatting with farmers, cowboys and coffee plantation workers

Talking conservation with local naturalists

Learning about Afro-Cuban religious traditions with a Santeria priest

Meeting musicians, dancers and performers from such groups as the

Yoruba Assn. of Cuba and the Spanish Ballet of Cuba



Because of the tour's license requirements, officials said it would not

be nearly as active as typical Backroads' walking, hiking and biking tours.



However, there will be some opportunities for walking. Additionally,

accommodations and food will be simpler than Backroads' Premiere and

Classic Inn tours.



The price is from $5,198 a person, double occupancy, plus $550 for

return airfare from Miami to Havana. The trip includes all meals, except

for one dinner.

In 2013, Backroads also began offering both a biking tour and a hiking

tour to Myanmar, a nation that has largely been closed to tourism until

recently, but which gained attention after a visit by President Obama,

as the first sitting US president to visit that Asian country.



Info: Go to backroads.com/trips/ACUQ for a detailed itinerary and

departure dates. (800) 462-2848.



http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-cuba-backroads-to-offer-educational-exchange-trips-20130322,0,4397192.story