Cuba Travel Help

I'm Humberto — a Cuban language teacher and tour guide with a curious soul and a critical eye. I teach English and Spanish to teenagers, always seeking a balance Vacaciones en Cuba: Soy Humberto, maestro cubano de lenguas y guía turístico con alma curiosa y mirada crítica. Enseño inglés y español a adolescentes buscando siempre el equilibrio entre lo académico, lo creativo y lo emocional. Me apasionan la historia cubana, la belleza en todas sus formas, y las experiencias que dejan huellas

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lunes, 25 de agosto de 2025

Why I dont make Tours in Havana for everyone

Being an independent guide in Cuba is no child’s play. Here it’s not just about pointing out streets, squares, and cathedrals; it’s about opening a door to the living memory of a country—its scars and its daily resilience—outside any preconceived script. And that, though some may not understand it, is not for everyone.

There are tourists who believe the city exists to serve them their whims on a silver platter: those who arrive asking about girls instead of what is truly valuable, those who want cheap bars instead of learning the story of a century-old rum, those who chase cardboard-cutout selfies and have no interest in the truth of a city that breathes between ruins and grandeur. Those, though I may need them, I often don’t accept. They are not clients, they are problems, trying to use a local just to extract information.

I want to work with another kind of traveler—the one who comes with respect and hunger to learn, not with those who confuse Cuba with a tropical theme park. My tours are for those who dare to look beyond the tourist scenery and who care about how people really live, about the history hidden in every peeling balcony, about the work of a forgotten painter or poet, about the music that beats in a courtyard.

It’s not about nationality or money. It’s about attitude. Here, the visitor is not buying a tour; they earn the privilege of entering, with a local guide, the most intimate folds of a unique and complex city.

Havana is too vast, too contradictory, too beautiful and painful to waste on tourists who only come to collect excesses. I compete with the big companies that sell bland “packages.” They may have the power, but my struggle is different: choosing carefully to whom I open the doors of this city I love.

And if you’ve read this far, with the curiosity and respect that brought you—or will bring you—to Cuba, then this tour truly is for you. For those who seek answers where others see only questions, for those who know that history does not live in museums but in the streets, and for those who discover in the architecture, the art, and the people of this island a different mirror—rebellious and luminous. To those, I gladly open my doors.

Humberto – Tours in Havana
History | Art | Society
📱 WhatsApp: +5352646921
📸 Instagram: humberto_habana

jueves, 21 de agosto de 2025

HAVANA, A BIG MISTAKE: NOT HIRING A PRIVATE TOUR

The Mistake of Not Hiring a Local Guide in Cuba

Havana is a whirlwind of history, art, and life—a place that demands to be deciphered. And yet, with an arrogance as naïve as it is devastating, many tourists boast of exploring it on their own, map in hand—or worse, clutching a second-hand guidebook. It is a fatal mistake. There is no other word for it. It is a blatant disregard for the reality of the city and for the opportunities being squandered.

Cuba is not a country to be read about—it is a country to be lived, to be felt. Travel books lie by omission. They reduce a nation with a vast, complex history to a handful of monuments and attractions. They show a polished surface but refuse to dive into the soul of the city. Reality—always richer, always more colorful—hides in the cracks between their pages.

The gravest mistake is to trust the first stranger who approaches with a smile offering to “help.” Tourism in Cuba, as everywhere else, has attracted an army of opportunists, and many of them are nothing more than vultures of ignorance. They have no real knowledge. Their only aim is to drag you into a tourist trap, a restaurant for their commission, or a souvenir shop for a quick cut. They reduce the experience to a mere transaction, a robbery of your wallet, leaving the visitor with a cheap, watered-down version of what could have been.

But the worst crime of all is bias. Some approach you with a political agenda, with a tired, hate-filled narrative, selling you the image of a country that doesn’t exist. They feed you a Cuba in black and white, a caricature that bears no resemblance to reality. They ignore the complexity, the resilience of its people, the art that blossoms in the most unexpected corners. They steal from you the chance to see life in shades, to understand a society that—despite its contradictions and struggles—beats with a force no pamphlet can capture.

A Guide Is a Bridge, Not a Map

Hiring a true Cuban city guide is not a luxury. It is an investment—for your awareness and for your wallet. It ensures your money goes into the hands of an expert who has dedicated their life to understanding the history, the art, and the society of their country.

A real guide is the bridge between what you see and what you understand. They will show you places not found on the map, tell you stories absent from books, and introduce you to people you’ll never meet in hotels. A professional guide will steer you away from the opportunists’ traps and, most importantly, give you the tools to form your own opinion—an informed, nuanced, prejudice-free opinion.

So, when you come to Cuba, don’t be just another tourist. Don’t settle for the superficial. Don’t let them steal the experience from you. Invest in a guide and discover reality. It is tougher, yes—but infinitely more beautiful, more alive, and more authentic than any fantasy they could try to sell you.

Humberto. Art, Society, History. WhatsApp +5352646921

📸 Instagram: @humberto_habana

viernes, 2 de agosto de 2024

World Bank: Cuba Has the Best Education System

CUBA

WORLD BANK

EDUCATION REFORM

World Bank: Cuba Has the Best Education System in Latin America and the Caribbean

In terms of education, this Caribbean country has no cause to be envious of even the most developed nations. The Caribbean island is also the nation in the world that allocates the highest share of its national budget, 13 percent, to education.

According to the international organization, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have a high quality education system.

In Latin America, kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers constitute, in human terms, a resource of 7 million people, or 4 percent of the region's workforce and more than 20 percent of all technical and professional workers. Their salaries absorb 4 percent of the continent's GDP. Their working conditions vary from one region to another, even within national borders. Teachers, mostly women -- 75 percent on average -- are poorly paid and tend to be of lower socioeconomic status. In addition, the average age of teachers is more than 40. Thus they constitute a workforce considered to be "aging."

The World Bank notes that the government scrutinizes carefully "the quality and practices of teachers," particularly at a time when the objectives of education systems are required to adapt to new realities. The emphasis is now on skills and not merely on the accumulation of knowledge.

The report's findings are final. The World Bank emphasizes "the poor quality of Latin American and the Caribbean teachers," a condition that constitutes the main obstacle to the advancement of education across the continent. Further, academic content is inadequate and educational practices ineffective. Insufficiently or poorly trained teachers devote only 65 percent of their time to classroom instruction, "the equivalent of wasting an entire day of instruction per week." In addition, available instructional materials are under utilized, especially those that deal with new information technologies and communication. Finally, teachers struggle to assert their authority, keep their students engaged and retain their attention.

According to the financial institution, with the notable exception of Cuba, "no teaching faculty in the region can be considered to be of high quality when compared to global parameters." The World Bank also notes that "today, no Latin American school system, with the possible exception of that of Cuba, has the high standards, strong academic talent, and high degree of professional autonomy that characterizes the world's most effective educational systems, such as those of Finland, Singapore, Shanghai (China), the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada."

Indeed, only Cuba, where education has been the top priority since 1959, has a truly efficient education system and high-quality teachers. In terms of education, this Caribbean country has no cause to be envious of even the most developed nations. The Caribbean island is also the nation in the world that allocates the highest share of its national budget, 13 percent, to education.

This is not the first time that the World Bank has praised the education system of Cuba. In a previous report, the organization characterized the excellence of the island's social system:

Cuba is internationally recognized for its success in the fields of education and health, with social services that exceeds those of most developing countries and, in certain sectors, are comparable to those of the developed nations. The country has created a social system that ensures universal access to education and health services, provided by the state. This model has helped Cuba to achieve universal literacy, eradicate diseases and provide universal access to safe drinking water and basic public sanitation. Cuba now has one of the region's lowest infant mortality rates and longest life expectancies. Today, the social performance of Cuba is one of the best in the developing world, a fact well documented by many international bodies including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Program for Development and other UN agencies as well as the World Bank. [...] Cuba outperforms both Latin American and Caribbean as well as many other middle-income countries in the most important indices of education.

The World Bank points out that the development of good education systems is vital to the future of Latin America and the Caribbean. It highlights the example of Cuba, which has achieved excellence in this field, as being the only country on the continent to have a high-level teaching faculty. These results reflect the political will of the Cuban leadership that places young people at the center of the social project and allocates the resources necessary for their acquisition of requisite knowledge and skills. Despite its limited resources as a Third World nation and a state of economic siege imposed by the United States for more than half a century, based on the maxim of José Martí, its Apostle and national hero, "to be cultured is to be free," Cuba demonstrates that quality education is within the reach of all nations

Humberto, Guide & Teacher in Havana Whatsapp +5352646921

jueves, 27 de junio de 2024

Ernest Hemingway in Cuba

Ernest Hemingway had a deep love for Cuba and Havana, where he spent many years of his life. In a Spanish interview in 1954 after winning the Nobel Prize, Hemingway said: "I am very happy to be the first Cuban to win this prize. I am glad that the authorities have said it is based on a Cuban landscape". This shows his connection to the island and how it influenced his work.

Hemingway found in Cuba a refuge to escape the world and write in peace, especially at his Finca Vigía estate near Havana. According to Gabriel García Márquez, when Hemingway chose places to write, his preference for the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Havana "could only have one explanation: without intending to, perhaps without knowing it, he was succumbing to other charms of Cuba, different and more difficult to decipher than the great fish of September and more important for his troubled soul than the four walls of his room".

Fishing seems to have been one of the main reasons that brought Hemingway to Havana, where he enjoyed the best fishing he had ever seen in his life. His love for Cuba is reflected in his work and life, spending decades on the island until his death in 1961.