Cuba & Costa Rica Blog
About this blog
Written by Cuba and Costa Rica expert Christopher P. Baker, this blog will update readers on life in these two diverse and exciting countries.
Recent Posts
- Last blog post on Costa Rica and Cuba
- First-ever group motorcycle tours of Cuba successful
- Cuba’s Mariel port readying for Panama Canal expansion
- Musings on wildlife encounters on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula
- Cuba’s Steam Trains puffing their last gasp
- My top five thrilling activities in Costa Rica
- Cuba’s fun February festivals include Harleys, Books, Cigars
- Five top volcano viewing experiences in Costa Rica
- New road along Costa Rica / Nicaraguan border mired
- Cuba’s Hotel Campoamor at Cojímar to be restored?
- Cuban revolutionary Celia Sánchez honored in new book
- Christmas challenge for Costa Rica’s sexually abused girls
- Costa Rica opens Chinatown in downtown San José
- David Soul films Hemingway’s car restoration in Cuba
- National Geographic Expeditions receives license for Cuba tours
International Court of Justice rules on Costa Rica's rights to use the Rio San Juan
Despite the end to Contra conflicts two decades ago, tensions between Costa Rica and Nicaragua have run high. Nicaragua has disputed Costa Rica's territorial rights to free use of the Río San Juan, while Costa Rica disputes Nicaragua's claim that the river is entirely Nicaraguan territory.
The 205-kilometer-long river, which flows from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean, marks most of their border. When you are on the water you are inside Nicaragua.
Costa Ricans have had right of commercial use of the Río San Juan, but since 2001 Nicaraguan authorities have boarded Costa Rican boats and fined foreigners aboard ($25) for using the river without Nicaraguan visas. This has primarily affected sportfishing boats from Costa Rican lodges in Barra del Colorado, and tour boats and water-taxis operating from Los Chiles. more >>
Hemingway haunts Old Havana
Ernest Hemingway loved Cuba. It was more alluring, more fulfilling than Venice, Idaho, or the green hills of Africa. In 1940 he bought a hilltop house–Finca Vigia–in San Francisco de Paula, on the southern outskirts of Havana. It was his primary home for 20 years. (I'll be posting about Finca Vigia, now the Museo de Hemingway, in a later post.)
You don't need to trek out to Finca Vigia, however, to get a taste for Hemingway's haunts. Three sites in Old Havana are de rigueur stops on the Hemingway Trail.
Prior to buying Finca Vigia, Hemingway laid his head at the Hotel Ambos Mundos (Obispo, corner Mercaderes, tel. 07/860-9530), where off and on throughout the 1930s he slept in Room 511. Here he wrote The Green Hills of Africa and Death in the Afternoon. The room is preserved, with furnishings from Finca Vigia. The themed exhibitions change every year. Esperanza, the multi-lingual custodio, gives a great spiel. more >>
Join me on a National Geographic Expeditions cruise-tour of Costa Rica and the Panama Canal
Once gain, I'm privileged to have been invited by National Geographic Expeditions to act as trip expert on the company's 8-day "Costa Rica and the Panama Canal" cruise-tours. I'll be escorting the January 23-30 and January 30-February 06, 2010 trips. Please join me!
This will be the second year in a row that I've worked with NGE, and the sixth time I've participated on a similar cruise along this route. The faculty on board the vessel – the 62-passenger 'National Geograpic Sea Lion' – includes biologists and other experts who enhance your learning pleasure. more >>
Central America is a prime gateway for air travel to Cuba
One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how to travel to Cuba via Central America. It so happens that travel via Central America is my favorite route. Even in preference to going through Mexico.
First, though, let me remind you that it is strictly illegal for anyone under U.S. jurisdiction who is not licensed to book arrangements for travel to Cuba, including via the Internet. That's U.S. law! Still, many thousands of U.S. citizens and residents say "What the heck!" every year and make the journey via a third country. more >>
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