SUMMERTIME IN CUBA

Texto y fotos: Rolando Pujol

The arrival of the “Cuban summertime” is met with an array of festive activities along the island; there is music of all rhythms – from salsa to rock –everywhere. Children are guests of honour during the season enjoying special treatment through parties, tours, excursions and celebrations of all kinds, specially those related to the ending of the school year at all levels and types of education.

All the provinces have excellent beaches, some of them of unsurpassable beauty as the ones to the east of Havana (Playas del Este), Varadero in Matanzas, Guardalavaca in Holguín, Marea del Portillo in Granma and the close to paradise beaches of the Villa Clara and Ciego de Avila northern keys, as well as the south central Cayo Largo del Sur keys.

Other summer options include camping in mountain and river sites, exploring caverns and other nature spots, all of them available to all visitors. All national parks – Península de Guanahacabibes, Viñales, Sierra del Escambray, Ciénaga de Zapata, Desembarco del Granma, Sierra Maestra and Alejandro de Humboldt are open to lovers of nature and adventure.

Carnivals on the other hand are the closing event of the season and all provinces try to excel each other celebrating according to their own traditions. Nevertheless if one wishes to participate in a singular carnival, the Santiago Carnival is strongly recommended with its masquerades and street dances, namely congas and comparsas that joyfully assault the city with their drums, trumpets and the unique sound of the corneta china cornet. The city of Havana also celebrates its carnival along the seaside promenade of El Malecón with splendidly decorated floats and street dancing.

The City Historian Office promotes every year during the summer season an urban project of great cultural and amusing value in the city of Havana called “Rutas y Andares”, that includes a journey into the history and knowledge of Old Havana through a guided tour along one of the first cities founded by the Spanish colonizers in the Americas.

Travelling to Cuba during the summer equals to experiencing in the company of the Cuban people, that warm and festive season that can become an unforgettable experience, inspiring a desire to repeat it.