Havana The Travel Show

Now on BBC News - The Travel Show.

Cuba is at a turning point.

Decades of isolation from the USA are set to end and tourism

is leading a new spirit of enterprise here.

The wheels are in motion.

But everyone is wondering exactly where is Cuba headed right now.

The economy may benefit, but is this country in danger

of losing its soul?

Those precious assets that make this place, well,

Cuba.

On my first trip here for nearly 20 years I'm on a mission to find out.

It may be a small island 90 miles off the coast of Florida,

but Cuba has a unique story to tell.

Ever since Fidel Castro and his band of revolutionaries seized control

in 1959, the country has followed its own Socialist path.

The USA imposed a trade embargo on Cuba in the early '60s,

and Americans here were told to return home immediately.

MUSIC

MUSIC PLAYS

Classic cars like this were left behind when the rich

American playboys left town after the revolution.

Now it looks like they are on their way back.

Because relations have thawed between the two countries

and vintage cars are a hit amongst tourists who are here already.

You're restoring this 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air car.

Lovely car, can I help?

OK, come on, please.

At the moment check it, the wipers.

The windscreen wipers?

Yes, check it.

Is it turning?

OK.

Open.

Is that enough?

Open, OK.

That's perfect. OK.

It's incredible going inside these old cars, they are beautiful

cars, aren't they?

All of these wires, made in the 1940s and 50s, incredible.

I feel like a master craftsman, even though I was doing

this and this.

Nonetheless, wow.

SPEAKS SPANISH

OK.

And you?

Yes?

Julio was a taxi driver five years ago with his beloved

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Now he's taking advantage of government reforms

and is a partner in a business that restores and hires out

classic vehicles to tourists.

There are now 22 cars in total under the Nostalgicar banner.

This is such a rewarding thing to do.

It's already getting cleaner.

I haven't even started painting yet.

It will be very important for us, for this business particularly.

The business brain behind Nostalgicars is Julio's wife,

Nidialys, who has already been invited to Washington by the US vice

president in recognition of her entrepreneurial acumen.

She's lucky, most Cubans can't travel.

For us it's very important when we finish this restoration

to get money for that work.

So you do get more money?

We live much better.

We can travel, we live like capitalists, but we work a lot

but we live better too.

Only three in Cuba.

Only three of them in the whole of Cuba?

Yes, yes, yes.

In a country where even a brain surgeon can earn only $30 a month,

running a private enterprise like this can be

relatively lucrative.

It was Nidialys who was quick to see the appeal of vintage

Chevrolets to foreigners.

Beautiful car, beautiful.

Can we go for a drive?

Nidialys wasn't always a fan of these vintage vehicles.

Now she has names for all of them, including her favourite Lola.

At the beginning I didn't like to drive.

But now I love to drive.

It's very easy and it's not very common to see a woman

driving this kind of car.

What's happening here?

There is a Wi-Fi area in this park and they are connecting

with the Internet.

So it's like a hot spot where everyone comes to get online?

Yes.

The Internet is the revolution that passed Cuba by.

For most, it's unaffordable and restricted.

Take a stroll around town and you see more evidence

of a gulf in wealth.

Ration shops, poor housing conditions and two parallel

currencies, one for locals and one for tourists.

You should buy this one.

I should buy this one?

This market trader tried to explain it to me.

This is what?

This is convertible pesos and this is Cuban pesos, normal pesos.

Why have two different types of currency?

We have to find a way to beat the blockade.

OK.

Soon that will happen?

Soon.

When the embargo lifts?

I hope so.

You hope so.

Listen, for that explanation I'm going to give you a tip.

Thank you very much.

There you are, you can keep that.

You are very kind.

Thank you very much.

Take care.

On the flip side, there is a strong sense of national pride here,

of pulling through.

And many local communities have thriving cultural scenes.

The Callejon de Hamel, complete with murals and crazy

artworks, is a shrine to Cuba's African roots.

This is the voice of black Cuba.

Raw, intense, even sometimes angry.

But always emotional and passionate.

The street is the brainchild of local artist Salvador.

He encountered opposition from the authorities

who accused him of promoting dangerous mystical beliefs.

SPEAKS SPANISH

And then, rather rashly perhaps, the performers let me join in.

From the raw and passionate to the sublime.

The Cuban National Ballet School, founded in 1962, today with some

3000 students is the biggest of its kind in the world.

This couple are partners on and offstage.

And they feel ballet has a unique place in the Cuban

way of life.

As rising stars, Anette and Dani live in a nice part of town

with their young daughter.

But they say there is no sense of celebrity here.

But people recognise new you 'la calle'.

People go, "Ah, es Dani, es Anette"?

And as night falls in the city, Old Havana loves to

celebrate its artistic side.

The Gran Teatro de La Habana, a Havana landmark since 1838.

But with the Castro government's belief in arts for all,

it's become a theatre for the people, not

just the privileged.

It's a big charity gala tonight, the talk of the town,

and choreographed by the living legend of Cuban ballet,

Alicia Alonso.

Dani and Anette get themselves ready.

And so to the centrepiece of tonight'sshow.

Anette and Dani perform a sequence from the ballet Giselle.

It may look effortless, but this is the result of years

of dedication and a passion that I've already noticed so many

Cubans share.

APPLAUSE

UPBEAT LATIN MUSIC

Head out of Havana and there is an awful lot more to do discover

about the Cuban archipelago.

My next destination is Trinidad, the sugar town, halfway along

the coast of the main island, some 350 kilometres from the capital.

One really cool thing I've noticed about Cuba is there's hardly any

traffic, we've been driving down some of the main arteries

in the island on our way to Trinidad and I feel like I haven't

seen any cars.

This is what perpetuates the notion that Cuba is stuck in a time warp.

A perfectly preserved Spanish era colonial settlement.

Tourism is Cuba's biggest industry and it's currently booming,

fuelled by the rush of people anticipating the end of an era

with the lifting of US sanctions.

Hotel rooms in the capital especially are now very heavily

booked, which leaves traveller on a limited budget with a very

Cuban option of casas particulares.

This is basically the Airbnb prototype, whereby people lease

out their spare rooms to tourists, and for many this is a lifeline

out of poverty.

But where is the man who actually runs this B?

Hola!

How are you?

I'm very well.

Welcome.

Hello, Julio.

Nice to meet you.

And who is this?

Let me introduce you to Luna de Miel.

My favourite horse.

It turns out Julio has several strings to his bow,

not just a hotelier, at also a horse whisperer.

And you're going to show me exactly how to keep the horse can't

and make her trained?

Is that right?

Yes, I will show you right now.

Fantastic.

You see she has started to be nervous?

Is that because the neck goes up?

Yes.

And of course, Luna's restlessness can reveal itself in other ways.

Oh my God!

This is really, really nice.

You actually talk into the air, or not?

No, no, no.

No whispering?

This is the funny thing, we never whisper, we never

whisper at all.

What we do is first establish leadership, and then

using the body language.

I have a solution for you, you and me, we lose their hair.

I know that a hair transplant can be very expensive

but you can do this.

CHUCKLES You see?

Yes, you look like a heavy metal rock star.

Which is appropriate as Julio's favourite band is Iron Maiden.

The only thing you need is a horse and a cheap hat.

On a more serious note, Julio and his wife who is a trained

accountant are more proof on my trip of the entrepreneurial spirit

that is blossoming all around the island.

He's an ambitious man.

What I expect, I need, because it's my way to be more

free to do business.

I'm not afraid of too many things because I know Cubans are smart

enough and they won't lose the Cuban identity.

Some Americans, because I work a lot with American people,

they say soon you will have McDonald's.

Starbucks.

Yes, and things like this.

But maybe we can have things similar but in our style,

in our Cuban style because I like hamburgers and I like coffee,

I like to enjoy good coffee but it will be our style.

Julio took me on a trip around Trinidad, by horse

and cart of course.

On the town's cobbled streets it's the most practical way.

Would you like to try?

Sure, absolutely.

It's not a Mercedes but it's really good anyway.

You are doing very well.

Common sense will tell you what to do.

Common sense is everything.

I think the trick is soft hands.

Soft hands.

And our man of many talents isn't finished yet.

Julio runs photography courses for tourists too.

Here is an interesting location, what do you like about here?

The conception of this kind of photography is like hunting.

Hunting but instead of using a gun or a rifle you are using the camera.

Julio likens his style to a gunslinger, the John Wayne

technique, he calls it.

In the cowboy movies before shooting they do this with their fingers.

Yes.

This is the feel you should have, feel the adrenaline.

Feel the adrenaline?

The adrenaline and the movements, this is the way to keep the camera.

The move is like this.

Very good.

Julio finds his perfect shot.

The beautiful tower is the symbol of Trinidad, so I will shoot

when it reaches that point.

OK, show me.

One shot is enough. Wow.

Bang. He's a roll here.

Don't chase the picture, the picture will come to you.

You love who?

Iron Maiden.

CHUCKLES

What's your favourite song by Iron Maiden?

I think all of them, but Run To The Hills.

Run To The Hills, remind me how that goes again.

# Run to the hills.

# Run for your life #

Run to the hills.

Like that, yeah?

Yes, that was wonderful.

And Fear of the Dark.

Just down the coast and about 180 kilometres south-east of Havana

is Cienaga de Zapata.

This is where you find the historically significant Bay

of Pigs, the scene of the failed invasion by Cuban opponents

to Castro in 1961, which was backed by the US government.

Any invasion these days is from a new rush of tourists

to sample the island's nature, which potentially itself creates

a new problem.

Because, up until now Cuba has been fiercely protective

of its environment and wildlife.

And that includes protecting this fellow.

The critically endangered Cuban crocodile.

This breeding farm was created at the behest of Fidel Castro in 1962.

There are some 4000 crocs here in total, separated by age

and then the size.

Wow, check this out.

Obviously they can't bite it now.

Yes.

But the markings, are they distinctive?

The colours and the markings of the skin?

Yes it's one of the characteristics of the Cuban crocodile.

That makes them unique.

One of the differences between Cuban and American.

Look at that, one movement from me.

When they get bigger I'll be the one that's jumping.

Crossbreeding with the thriving American crocodile is the biggest

current threat from the Cuban croc's survival.

This area we prepared for re-population.

They need the area for warmth, for the sun and for shade.

They need water and land.

And this is what makes the Cuban crocodile so unique.

They jump for their food.

They can jump this high using the tail.

And all this is to protect the species of the Cuban crocodile?

Yes.

And to stop it from being overrun by American crocodiles.

Do you think there is something symbolic here?

I don't know. Maybe!

My time in Cuba is about to end.

But sunrise the next morning gives me one more special glimpse

of this island's wildlife.

This is Salinas de Brito, the biggest swampland

in the Caribbean.

It's also home to 33 kinds of aquatic birds,

including one of the most glamorous, the pink flamingo who come and go

as they please.

Not all residents of Cuba enjoy that kind of freedom, of course,

and certainly not over how the country is run.

But who knows where the current path of reform and change may lead?

There is no turning back now for Cuba and the rest of the world

will watch with keen interest to see how this feisty proud island

negotiates its journey into the unknown.

Hello there.