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Showing posts from December, 2013

"That mint in you mojito is the only green produce you'll see today." - Havana, October 10, 2013

Our second day in Cuba and we got out of Havana. We went to visit  Las Terrazas in the Pinar del Rio Province.  Las Terrazas is part of UNESCO's Biosphere Reserve. Most of it is deforested coffee plantations. They deforested using terracing practices. Hence the name. The community of Las Terrazas was formed when the government gave the people living in the park a choice. They could move out, stay on their land, or move closer together to try to improve the community with steady housing, a school and medical services. We were there on a Saturday, so school was out, but some of the schoolchildren were enlisted to come and sing for us, the teachers and one doctor came to answer questions about the community. We dropped off the school supplies we had brought from them and also met an artist who reuses the paper from the village to make prints and cards. The endeavor benefits the community as a whole. We had a delicious lunch and were treated to a great band - in Cuba,