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
Climate change affecting Costa Rica’s snake population
Two days ago I called in at Serpentario Viborana, a serpentarium east of Turrialba, in the extreme east of Costa Rica’s Central Highlands.
A decade ago when I first visited, it was possible to walk inside a huge cage full of boas, which hissed like boiling kettles to announce their displeasure. more >>
Guerrilla peace talks in Cuba—a terrorist nation?
Would it surprise you to know that Cuba is officially listed by the United States as a State Sponsor of Terrorism?
The other three countries that carry such a designation are Iran, Sudan and Syria. (Libya was taken off the list in 2006; North Korea in 2008.) more >>
Guidebook rates Costa Rica’s finest urban boutique hotel
It’s now 23 years since I signed a contract to author the first edition of Moon Handbook Costa Rica (published in 1994 as the Costa Rica Handbook). On that first in-depth research trip to San José, the capital city, I chanced upon a brand new boutique hotel offering personalized service—a novelty in a city that had plenty of hotels, but no stand-outs, and certainly nothing that could be called “boutique.”
Fast forward to August 2012 and my current research trip…
As I type, I’m relaxing with a cappuccino amid an oasis-like calm in the open-air patio restaurant of the Hotel Grano de Oro, 20 years after my very first visit.
In the years in-between, Canadian owners Eldon and Lori Cooke have elevated their hotel into one of the world’s finest urban boutique hotels. more >>
Romney campaign calls for curtailing travel to Cuba
This being election year it seems timely to turn my attention to where President Obama versus Mitt Romney stand on the issue of Cuba relations, and specifically how it potentially affects you and I.
As regular readers of my blog know, President Obama has shown his support for the constitutional (and moral) right of U.S. citizens to travel freely without government interference. more >>
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