Author Archives: Encompass Tours

Cuban Soup of the day

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“Ajiaco Oriental” is our Cuban soup of the day.

Ajiaco Oriental sopa

“Ajiaco Oriental nuestra sopa del dia!”

This typical Cuban soup is cheap, delicious and nutritious!

Ajiaco Oriental is so named because it’s from the orient of Cuba, down in the region of Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa! It’s so good and popular that it’s made the length and breadth of the island in markets and at home.

Market Havana Cuba

First you need to go to the farmers market and buy your ingredients!

No meal in Cuba is complete without meat and beef is the key ingredient in this dish! There are some standard ingredients and others you can throw in to your taste and budget!

Garlic Havana

**Major supermarket in the UK now  have a general selection of Caribbean foods but in more remote parts of the British Isles some of the ingredients will have to substituted for other similar vegetables. 

Peppers&Onions Havana

 

Ingredients

Beef of some sort –  Carne de res
Yam –  Yuca
Sweet potato –  Boniato
Pumpkin –  Calabaza
Taro –  Malanga ….possibly not available in UK, it’s a root tuber.
Potatoes –  Papas
Plantain green or ripe –   Plátano verde o madura
Sweet corn –   Maize
Peppers –   Ajies
Onions –   Cebolla
Mexican Coriander or Coriander (fresh)  –   Cilantro o Culantro
Garlic –   Ajo
Lemon juice –  Limon (in Cuba its Lime)
Tomato puree –  Puré de Tomate
Chopped tomatoes  –  Tomate en torsos
+ Plus any other vegetables and flavouring spices and herbs that you like!!!
A little oil + Salt and pepper!

Tomatos Havana

In Cuba the majority of the people have basic utensils and basic cooking facilities, so this is a “one pot soup”

Yucca Yams Havana

Choose a nice big pot with a lid if it has one!

1. Cover the bottom of the pan with oil and add finely chopped onions and crushed garlic and cook gently to extract the flavours and soften the onion.

2. Turn the heat up a bit and add your shredded beef next!

Once the meat is browned, turn the heat down again and begin adding the other ingredients well chopped up into small pieces.

3. Let it all simmer adding more water as needed. As the vegetables begin to soften and break up you will be delighted to find a thick tasty broth!

Cilantro Mexican Coriander Havana Boniato Sweets Potatoe Havana

Join us in Cuba for Ajiaco Oriental this year

A Cuban Snapshot 7 days tour.

https://encompasstours.com/tours/a-cuban-snapshot-7-days/

Mi Cubita 14 days tour

https://encompasstours.com/tours/mi-cubita-cuba14-days/

Calabaza Pumpkin Havana

 

 

 

 

Lolo: Artists Flourish in Cuba

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Food and other commodities can be hard to come by in Cuba but Art is abundant and gives us all hope!

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We recently visited a well know artist’s studio in Matanzas. Cuba’s sculptor “Lolo” or Osmany Betancourt Falcón is one of Cuba’s flourishing artists.He is a local to Matanzas and his studio can be found on Calle 97 known as Narvaez facing onto the San Juan river.

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He was busy at work when we arrived, up a step ladder on a huge piece supported by various pieces of wooden scaffolding and ropes. In the back ground a radio played some lively tunes and one of his colleagues with whom he shares his studio was working on some glazes. We wandered around admiring various pieces and looking at his array of tools and machinery for moving large works.

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We chatted to Lolo when he took a short break to wash the rich red clay off his hands, and we asked him about his studio and his wonderful creations! Materials can be hard to come by in Cuba and so artists tend to work with what is easily available locally. Lolo likes to works in clay, and it is sourced from Pinar del Rio the neighbouring province. Then he likes to casts his pieces in Bronze and wood is another favourite material he incorporates.

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For the piece he’s working on now, he plans to send it to the US to be cast in bronze.

Asking Lolo where we could see his works, he told us there was one in the Ceramic Museum in Havana. This is a small museum is on Calle los Mercaderes just off Plaza Vieja, entry is free and it’s well worth a visit!

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Lolo has had some recent fame winning first  prize in Matanzas, in the 11th Summer Exhibition 2011 with a piece entitled “Sargento” an installation in enamelled ceramic, metal and wood.

He has won other prizes in the Bianual Amelia Peláez Ceramic Competition and in the Roberto Diago Salón. He has also had pieces of work on show in Canada, Holland and Germany.

MatanzasCubaOsmanyBatencourtArt1

The government actively supports “the Arts” and over the last 53 years of revolution, Cubans artist have enjoyed support and opportunities that others have been denied. Art of all types and forms is everywhere and accessible, mainly free of charge or very cheap for Cubans. Tourists pay a lot more. Artists have an almost free expression in music, dance, sculpture, and painting, the resulting works interpreted by the viewer.

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Art schools are over subscribed and its a career  that the younger generation are drawn to. The arts attract tourists and sales to tourists bring extra cash bonuses.  If you are talented and produce popular works you might get a chance to travel with a show or get a contract to perform abroad. The young have a thirst to see the world beyond Cubas shores!

Why not book a holiday in Cuba this year?

The Castro days are numbered and change will steamroll this fragile and unique island.

Cuban Snapshot 7 days  https://encompasstours.com/tours/a-cuban-snapshot-7-days/

Mi Cubita 14 days     https://encompasstours.com/tours/mi-cubita-cuba14-days/

 

 

 

Varahicacos Cuba. “the other Varadero”

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Varahicacos Cuba. “the other Varadero”

Varadhicacos

Foreign tourists to Cuba either flock to Varadero’s white sandy beaches or give it and its glut of “all inclusive” hotels a wide birth!

For visitors who don’t like beach hotels, Varadero is still worth a visit to see the dramatic lifestyle contrast with the rest of Cuba. This narrow strip of beach lined land is bursting with Hotels, and amazingly, still more hotel giants are being constructed cheek by jowl. You can only try to imagine what it will be like in ten years time! As no Cubans actually live in Varadero, workers are bussed in and bussed out. The only Cubans enjoying Varadero are the ones selling goods on the streets! This is a pricey, tourist only zone!

Varadero beach

So why come to Varadero?? Well luckily there is more to Varadero than the lovely beach if you are prepared to go and look for it. Put it on your itinerary now before it gets completely squeezed out!

VaraderoBusTour

If you take the “Hop on Hop off beach tour bus” you can get a few glimpses of the sea and, an almost ariel view of the developments on the peninsula. Among the crowded hotels in down town Varadero, dive centres and fishing opportunities are abundant! There is a dolphin centre where shows are put on and it’s possible to swim with the dolphins too. Still in the down town area you find Jonson Park, originally a private residence now a botanical garden with lake and other family attractions in a 9 hectare site.

Continuing on, up the peninsula, the Varadero Golf Club at Mansion Xanadu is 18 to 19 hole golf course surrounded by lush green palm trees and makes a refreshing break from the built up area! Golf carts and equipment are available to rent and an 9 hole option or a course of lessons can be yours at a price.

TheotherVaradero

Just beyond this and opposite “Reserva Ecologia Chaplin” you find “Boat adventures” a centre offering a range of water bourn tours exploring the mangroves!

Keep going on the bus till you reach the area called “Hicacos” and the “Reserva Ecologia Verahicacos”, our destination today!

Varadhicacosinfo

It’s a small reserve but it is an attempt to preserve some of the original flora fauna and vegetation currently to be found on the peninsula. At the entrance there are some well presented information installations in Spanish and English describing some of the highlights and aims of the reserve. Pay your entrance fee and a poor map is provided! But it suffices! Underfoot its sharp coral rocks, so good foot wear is advisable. The paths are adequately marked and the whole self guided tour lasts about an hour to an hour and a half! Butterflies and lizards skit off into the undergrowth, while caves, ruins of the salt works and giant cactus are the main physical attractions of the reserve. It’s nice to think about how this part of the island looked before the first building arrived!

GiantCactus

Your “hop on hop off” bus ticket last the whole day so there is plenty of time to complete the whole beach tour and return down town for a cocktail!

Why not come and see Cuba for yourself?

A Cuban snapshot 7 days tour

https://encompasstours.com/tours/a-cuban-snapshot-7-days/>

Mi Cubita 14 days tour.

https://encompasstours.com/tours/mi-cubita-cuba14-days/>

Varadhicacosinfo2

Life on the Malecon!

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Life on Havana’s Malecon; Cuba!

The Malecon is undoubtedly the most popular social scene for young and old in Havana! It’s a “must do” outing for any tourist, and one of our favourite haunts!

The wide wall separating the sea from the city is the “Malecon”, a versatile venue for all kinds of meetings and spontaneous rendezvous!

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On one side the ever present rhythm of the ocean, on the other a wall of crumbling colonial buildings that are slowly being restored nowadays! Running between these two, the main road is never very busy.  Cars are a luxury few can afford, but this road is the main artery joining old and new Havana and a string of taxis trundle along in both directions. The Malecon stretches on beyond sight and the constant breezes from the sea make it a cool and refreshing place to meet. Who could resist it!

Malecon Havana Cuba

Malecon Havana Cuba

Some days the waves are high and the sea surges over in crashing salty cascades flooding the road and the passersby, but those days are few!

All day fishermen come to cast their lines, some with only a coil of nylon fishing line and other with more sophisticated equipment! Any fish caught will supplement the family diet and well worth spending a few hours waiting for!

Malecon Havana Cuba

As the sun reaches its highest point and the temperatures soar, T shirts are pulled off and children and youths leap into the water to cool off and enjoy a refreshing dip!

Mothers arrive with babies and toddlers and look to the horizon in search of the infrequent ships that bring goods from Venezuela and China into the port! Many point across the water in the direction of Miami and recount stories of brothers and sister, uncles and aunts, who left and have never been back!

Malecon Havana Cuba

It’s an ideal spot for young lovers to have not-so-secret rendezvous and sit smooching in the sun and sipping a can of “tu cola” and dreaming or a future together.

As dusk falls and in the early morning joggers come out in the cool of the day and pound up and down, dripping  trails of sweat that evaporate as soon as it touches the baking ground.

Finally, as night falls and the stars shimmer invitingly,   small groups of hungry musicians search for opportunities to serenade any tourists who might spare a few pesos in exchange for a popular song.

Musicians of all sorts come out to practice and music drifts in the wind!

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In the darkness of the night it’s a place to party! A bottle of Havana Club is a cheap fiesta that can be shared among a group of friends who have nowhere else to meet….

The Malecon is a hot spot! By day or by night it’s the most popular venue of the city! It’s the place where ideas can be exchanged and plans made!

Why not come and enjoy it for yourself! We run tours to Cuba throughout the year!

Cuban Snapshot is a 7 day tour

https://encompasstours.com/tours/a-cuban-snapshot-7-days/

Mi Cubita is a 14 day tour

https://encompasstours.com/tours/mi-cubita-cuba14-days/

 

British Cuba!?

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Did you know that Cuba was once British????

BritishTaxiHavana

Cuba! The very name conjures up a taste of sugar and rum, the smell of fine cigar tobacco and coffee and the sound of music played to the rhythms of the gentle waves lapping on the shores of this coral island paradise! Cuba is the very essence of a Spanish Caribbean Island, or is it???
You might be surprised to hear that “Yes indeed” Cuba was under British rule ….. for a spell!!

PlayaAnconTrinidad

Cuba had been jealously claimed and run by the Spanish Conquistadores who divided it up amongst themselves for cultivation and colonization. Its location made it a perfect stop off for treasures plundered from “New Spain” and South America, heading back to be melted down for the Spanish crown. Goods too made this journey back to Europe and a two way trade developed between Europe and the Americas!

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Cuba the island was flat and fertile a readymade breadbasket of the Caribbean! ! The “west Indies” as they were called were crucial in the trade routes between the Americas and Europe and whoever gained a foot hold of these islands could easily control trade!
SUGAR had become an addiction in Europe and Cuba was ideal for cultivation of this crop, but the local populations had long since perished from diseases and over work and the island had been repopulated by slaves captured along with the booty from neighbouring lands. A new source of stronger workers were needed and Slaves from West Africa arrived by the boat load!

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Greed and the idea that the world was there for the taking, and could be divided up between the crowns of Europe led the British in 1762 to set sail from Portsmouth for Havana, Cuba! This was no tourist trip! Britain had always prided itself on the power of its Navy! An expedition set off with 5 warships and 4,000 troops! They lay siege for two months on Havana bombarding the city walls and blasted their way through the massive fortifications and defeated the Spanish; this battle cost the lives of 560 British soldiers!!
British rule immediately opened up trade after the heavy restrictions Spain had imposed! Trade was mainly with North American and Caribbean colonies and it transformed the Cuban society. Food, horses and other commodities poured onto the island as well as thousand of slaves from West Africa to work the sugar plantations. The British brought machines and greatly improved all aspects of the sugar industry!

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The desire to rule Cuba was all about money and British occupation was short lived! London merchant feared a decline in sugar prices and put pressure on the government to negotiate with Spain over colonial territories! Nine months on with the Paris Treaty the Seven Year War was ended and Britain got Florida in exchange for Cuba!!!! Britain felt it was a poor exchange!!
How sad that hundreds of thousands of Cubans have exchanged their own island for Florida in the 20th and 21st Century!CamagueyEmilio2012126

Read more about Cuba in our Archives Cuba News Posts! If you have a sweet tooth try https://encompasstours.com/2012/05/the-sweetest-sugar-in-the-world/

Why not see Cuba for yourself? Join one of our tours this year!

Our favourite is “A Cuban Snapshot”  https://encompasstours.com/tours/a-cuban-snapshot-7-days/

If you have more time we recommend “Mi Cubita”  https://encompasstours.com/tours/mi-cubita-cuba14-days/