I just returned from my first visit to Cuba, via the Adonia cruise ship from fathom, the new impact travel brand from Carnival Corporation. During my 7-day trip, I enjoyed a plethora of new experiences while exploring Havana and Santiago de Cuba along with an interesting group of fellow travelers.
As I reflect on the experience, one thing that tops of my list of highlights: my interactions with the Cuban people.
Our land tours in Cuba — included in the cruise price — were full-day activities meant to enhance the people-to-people exchange. Much of the interactions, however, were limited to our guides, who like Manuel (pictured above.) Previously a school teacher, Manuel was knowledgeable, friendly guide who genuinely wanted to share about daily life in Cuba, in addition to informing us about the places we visited.
My most memorable experience came during our second day in Havana, when I teamed up with two fellow travelers to break away from our group.
With Diana, from Miami and fluent in Spanish, and Dotti, a New Yorker who had previously traveled in Cuba, we hired a taxi driver to take us to Finca La Vigía, the Hemingway Casa museum.
The Ernest Hemingway Museum is located in the small, working-class town of San Francisco de Paula about 10 – 15 miles outside of Havana.
After we toured the estate, we sat down with our driver at the outdoor bar with a cold drink while watching the locals press sugarcane.
At my husband’s suggestion, I had taken along a few ball point pens with the Kansas City Royals baseball team logo on them as conversation starters. I gave our driver a pack of pens, and asked if he knew of the baseball player from Cuba who played for the Royals on the 2015 World Series-winning team. Our driver asked some of his friends, and soon a gentleman appeared to talk with me.
“Talk” is a bit of an exaggeration since I don’t speak Spanish and he did not speak English. I was able to understand that he had known and helped coach Kendrys Morales, the Kansas City Royal’s Cuban player, when he was a young boy.
Another man came over to interpret, and we had a great conversation about baseball, and how my new friend for years coached young baseball players around the Havana area.
It was a truly special moment that I won’t forget.
The number one reason I would like to go back to Cuba is to interact more, in one-to-one conversations, with the local people. Whether talking baseball, food, drinks, history, everyday life, or hopes for the future, all of the Cuban people that I met were warm, open, curious and hopeful for a better relationship with the people of the United States.
“Our problems,” I heard over and over, “are between our governments, not the people.”
Have you visited Cuba? Or, is it on your travel bucket list? What topics would you want to discuss with the Cuban people?
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50 Interesting Facts about Cuba
Maokong, the famous tea-producing area in southeast Taipei, is best reached by a ride on the Maokong Gondola.
To reach the Maokong Gondola, we took the MKT Brown Line (#1) from the Jiannan Road station near our 
Cute animal art greets you at the Taipei Zoo MKT Station, which serves both the zoo and the Gondola.
Follow the signs to the Maokong Gondola at the Taipei MRT Zoo Station.
It is about a quarter of a mile walk from the Taipei Zoo Station to the Maokong Gondola Service Center.
As you can see on the route map pictured above, the Maokong Gondola makes three stops. Most folks ride the entire route to the Maokong Station near the Erge Mountain Range.
After waiting in line for your turn, it’s easy to board the Maokong Gondola, as the cars slow to pick up passengers. Cars hold up to 6-8 people, but since we were there on a weekday, we were given a car to ourselves.
It’s warm in the gondola cars; they have air vents but are not air conditioned. The scenic and thrilling ride seemed to take about 40 minutes each way.
As you get closer to Maokong Station, you have a bird’s eye view of tea plantations from the Maokong Gondola. Tea cultivation in Taiwan dates to the 18th century.
The gondola ride ends at the Maokong Station. This area is home to 50 to 60 tea houses and restaurants serving “tea cuisine.”
You will see these cat statues near the Maokong Gondola Station. The name “Maokong” means “cat’s hollows” but has nothing to do with an actual cat. Instead, the name refers to the potholes in the stream running through the area. The boulders and stones in the stream bed are comprised of rocks of varying hardness; over time the stream’s waters have carved potholes in them. Local inhabitants named the place “niao kang” in their native Taiwanese dialect, which became the Mandarin name “maokong” used today, in reference to the “cat’s hollows” in the stream’s rocks.
As we walked along the winding Zhi Nan Road towards the Taipei Tea Promotion Center, we got a close-up view of tea plants growing near the Maokong Station.
This area is full of restaurants, tea houses and shops offering tea. You can also see tea leaves drying outside of the shops.
We stopped in the Red Wood House restaurant and tea house. It offers great views, Wi-Fi, and all things green tea including ice cream.
Due to the heat and humidity, we opted for a cold Taiwan beer instead of hot tea.