The Cuba Fieldcourse

Playas del Este

Playas del Este are the nearest beaches to Havana and, unlike some of the larger tourist resorts like Varadero (the large tourist resort to the East of Havana), are used by Cubans as well as tourists. This stretch of coastline is made up to two main beaches that are divided into five sections: to the west of the River Itabo (nearest to Havana) are Tarará, El Mégano and Santa María del Mar and to the Eastern side are Boca Ciega and Guanabo. We will drop you on the eastern side of the river and pick you up at the western end so you will need to walk through the different sections of the beach.

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On route to the beaches, you will pass by a number of sites including:

Pan American Games complex built in 1991. This complex is a source of great pride for Cubans not just because it was the location of the Pan American games but also because it was built at considerable financial expense when Cuba was experiencing considerable economic hardship. Cuban athletes achieved remarkable success at these games.

Large dormitory city of Alamar: this enormous housing complex is home to about 100,000 commuters and was built largely by volunteers. Originally, this was intended to be the first of a number of such complexes as officials intended to refocus the city towards the Eastern shores but financial constraints restricted future developments.

Pinar del Rio

Pinar del Rio is the third largest province in Cuba (population about 60,000) and lies to the West of Havana. This area is much less developed than the Eastern parts of Cuba and the standard of living in this area in generally quite low. Most of the population farm the land (plains of Eastern Pinar del Rio are planted in sugar cane, the Vinales Valley is a tobacco growing area, there are rice fields in the south and cattle ranching is common in the foothills of the mountains). This area is being developed as an area of Ecotourism.