WAUSAU, WISCONSIN: Travelers to Cuba encounter the people of this Caribbean island nation while exploring its art, architecture, and bird life on two, eight-day trips offered by the Woodson Art Museum in late October and early November, 2012.
The door for travel to Cuba, has been officially and largely shut to U.S. travelers since the 1960s, but recently was propped open by President Obama in January 2011 for museums, colleges, and universities to organize Cuba trips that are focused on meaningful people-to-people exchanges. After nearly a yearlong application process to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Woodson received the required people-to-people license.
The Museum, along with its Travel Services Provider (TSP) partner Academic Travel Abroad, offers Discover Cuba: Its People, Art, and Birds on the following:
Wednesday, October 31 through Thursday, November 8 (pending confirmation)
Wednesday, November 7 through Thursday, November 15
Currently a hot travel destination, Cuba was listed as number 10 on the New York Times’ 45 top travel spots for 2012.
The Woodson’s Cuba itinerary offers travelers opportunities to experience the “real” Cuba with one-on-one visits with artists, art historians, and art educators as well as farmers, naturalists, environmentalists, and ornithologists. Travelers also explore the rich and colorful Cuban culture by sampling music, dance, and culinary treats.
Highlights of the Woodson’s Discover Cuba trip include the following:
- Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts with a curator as a guide
- Spanish Colonial architecture tour with a Cuban preservationist
- Finca Vigía, Ernest Hemingway’s rural home in the company of a curator
- Bird watching with local ornithologists in various locales, including the Pinar del Rio Province, San Diego de Los Banos forest, Boca de Guama Flora & Fauna Conservation Center, and the village of Santo Tomás on the Zapata Peninsula
- Cienfuegos, Cuba’s “Pearl of the South,” where an evening get-together with locals provides an insider’s view
- Trinidad, a Colonial gem, where local art students will share their workEach departure will be accompanied by a Woodson Art Museum staff member, a Museum representative tasked with maintaining the people-to-people schedule, and a bilingual local guide.The trip price – $5,350 for Museum members (per person, double occupancy) or $5,500 for nonmembers (per person, double occupancy); $495 single supplement – includes roundtrip air transportation from Miami to Havana; accommodations for six nights in Havana and two nights in Cienfuegos; eight breakfasts, seven lunches, and six dinners; all admissions and guides throughout as well as all gratuities; transportation within Cuba; and all visa processing. Each Museum trip will be limited to twenty four travelers.
To request more information or to reserve a spot, call the Museum at 715-845-7010 or email museum@lywam.org.
Woodson Art Museum
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
First Thursday of each month 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Saturday – Sunday Noon – 5:00 pm
Closed Monday and holidays, including Easter Sunday.
Admission: Always Free Admission
Phone: 715.845.7010
Fax: 715.845.7103
Email: museum@lywam.org
Location: Franklin and 12th Streets, Wausau, Wisconsin 54403-5007
(700 N. 12th Street)
Online: www.lywam.org
