Bicycle tours in Cuba hit top gear

In recent months I’ve consulted with several U.S.-based tour companies that wish to offer group bicycle tours of Cuba. To do so requires a special license for “people-to-people educational exchange” from OFAC (the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control), which oversees travel to and financial transactions with Cuba.

So far, OFAC has proven unwilling to contemplate bicycle travel as a viable means of cultural interaction, and to that end has denied applications that focus on cycling.

Nonetheless, you frequently come across U.S. citizens cycling in Cuba, alongside scores of Europeans doing the same.

More noticeably, this past year I’ve witnessed an explosion of cycling groups touring the island.

Here are the most prominent players: more >>

Cuba’s “horse whisperer” promotes Monty Roberts’ equine techniques

My friend Julio Muñoz has always had a passion for horses. He also has a knowledge of communicating with horses that is perhaps unique in Cuba.

This thanks to his enthusiasm for the techniques of Monty Roberts, the impresario who has revolutionized horse-training methods with his best-selling Man Who Listens to Horses and documentaries on PBS and the BBC.

Thanks to the books and videos brought by foreign guests staying at Casa Muñoz, Julio’s and his wife Rosa’s 18th-century home and room rental (casa particular), Julio was able to learn Roberts’ techniques. more >>