Complete Cuba

Check out the Red Dot Blue Dot Holiday Gift Guide...

www.reddotbluedot.com/blueblog/2021giftguide

The Red Dot Blue Dot 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers & Photographers — RDBD Winter is coming . . . and with it, the holidays. By now you’ve probably seen about 10,000 of those “gift guides” – gift lists for moms, dads, husbands, wives, neighbors, friends, etc. – even travelers.  Here’s the secret behind those gift lists, though:  They us

If you are in or headed to Boston, check out the exhibition of work by one of Cuba's most celebrated avant-garde painters, Mariano Rodriguez, at Boston College.

As this story from PBS NewsHour explains, Rodriquez was a prolific 20th century artist whose exposure in the U.S. was cut short after the Cuban Revolution.

How artist Mariano Rodríguez's work honored his Cuban heritage while breaking rules One of Cuba's most celebrated avant-garde painters, Mariano Rodríguez, was a prolific 20th century artist whose exposure in the U.S. was cut short after the Cuban Revolution. But now there’s a resurfacing of his work at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College. Special correspondent Jared Bow...

Some interesting economic news from Cuba this week . . .

Cuba opens the door to cryptocurrencies by setting out rules and plans for their use Financial institutions and others permitted by the law can use virtual assets to carry out monetary and commercial operations, Cuba's government said.

It's Ernest Hemingway's birthday!

In conjunction with the premiere of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary, Hemingway, the American Writers Museum hosted a fantastic panel discussion with Hemingway scholars and institutions from across the country. If you missed it, you can check it out here:

Happy birthday, Papa!

Hemingway Scholars Discuss New "Hemingway" Documentary Following the premiere of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary HEMINGWAY, scholars and AWM Affiliate Author Home members discuss Hemingway's enduring ...

If you:
📷 Like photography and/or
😡 Need a break . . . and/or
😂 Like to laugh

You need to watch the Barnack Hour. Featuring the inimitable Dan Tamarkin of Tamarkin Camera, the Barnack Hour is the program you never knew you needed. Watch the WORLD PREMIERE episode (featuring our own Keith Sbiral):
https://youtu.be/3Plr2X2Iaq0

Welcome to The Barnack Hour This is part one of our pilot, I guess you'd call it. It's a show about photography and Leica. We're having fun, and we hope you enjoy our talk.What do you w...

As Hemingway Week comes to a close, one last Hemingway sight in Havana:

The Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Hemingway stayed when visiting Cuba from 1932-1939 before renting, and later purchasing, Finca Vigia. His favorite room, 511, is now a museum and is where he started For Whom the Bell Tolls.

After visiting room 511 and seeing the artifacts on display, our travelers often enjoy a visit to the roof for the view, the breeze, and maybe even a mojito.

Ernest Hemingway, Literary Hotels, Cuba | Literary Traveler While Cuba has much to offer, literary travelers cannot help but associate the country with Ernest Hemingway. Hotel Ambos Mundos became Hemingway’s home from 1932-1939. Located close to the Plaza de Armas in Old Town, it is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

The Ken Burns documentary may be over, but Hemingway Week continues!

While we always take our travelers far from the tourist trail, you can’t really go to Havana and not visit the Hemingway statute at El Floridita.

Hemingway fans will recognize the Floridita from part 2 of Islands in the Stream, while everyone else just enjoys visiting the home of the daiquiri, a 204 year old bar that’s been frequented by the likes of Ezra Pound and Graham Greene.

Below, 2 of our 2016 travelers, Don & Janice Skarzenski, say hello to Papa himself. Read more about the Floridita — and Hemingway’s preferred daiquiri there — in this article:
https://www.liquor.com/articles/behind-the-drink-the-hemingway-daiquiri/

Hemingway week continues, with the third installment of the Ken Burns special on Hemingway airing tonight.

Visiting Cojímar, the small fishing village not far from Hemingway’s Finca Vigia home, allows our travelers to see the place that inspired The Old Man and the Sea.

It is somehow always windy, and the sky and water really are as blue as in this photo.

📷: March, 2018 Complete Cuba traveler Narayan Nayar.

Hemingway week continues!

Many of our groups visit Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s home outside Havana from 1939-1960 and where he wrote much or all of books including The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Here’s a shot of one of our 2016 groups outside Finca Vigia on a very warm August day.

It's Hemingway Week! The 3 part Ken Burns documentary on Ernest Hemingway premieres Monday-Wednesday. This article from Smithsonian Magazine introduces some of the locales we're likely to see featured (and that Complete Cuba alumni will recognize) when the documentary gets to Hemingway's 20+ years in Cuba.

Follow Ernest Hemingway’s Footsteps Through Havana Sixty-five years after nabbing a Nobel, many of Papa Hemingway’s favorite haunts are still open to the public

Can’t wait for the 3 part Ken Burns series on Hemingway next week?

In the meantime, check out “Hemingway, the Sea and Cuba” presented by South Florida PBS, The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, and FIU Casa Cuba. It features Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, Cristina Garcia, Brin-Jonathan Butler and Ann Bocock.

Filmmaker Q&A: Hemingway, the Sea and Cuba | Ken Burns | Hemingway | Ken Burns | PBS Conversations on Hemingway: Hemingway, the Sea and Cuba features Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, Cristina Garcia, Brin-Jonathan Butler and Ann Bocock.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day? Check out this article referring to Cuba as “the Ireland of the West” and discussing the Cuba-Ireland relationship back to 1895.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Complete Cuba!


https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/cuba-the-ireland-of-the-west-the-irish-daily-independent-and-irish-nationalist-responses-to-the-spanish-american-war/

If you’re a Hemingway fan as so many of our travelers are, mark your calendar for the 3 part Ken Burns documentary on Hemingway coming to PBS in April. (Info here: https://kenburns.com/hemingway/)

And if you’re truly passionate about Hemingway, register for a panel discussion about the documentary, hosted by the American Writers Museum:

Panel Discussion: "Hemingway" Documentary A panel of Ernest Hemingway scholars discuss Ken Burns & Lynn Novick's documentary film HEMINGWAY following its premiere on PBS.