Our Three Guides

 

A little bit about our three guides.  All our guides work for Wij in Cuba, a travel company initially formed by Felipe Gonzales to serve Dutch tourists.  It is headquartered in the town of Varadero, which is 90 miles from the Marina Hemingway, where we are staying.  Wij in Cuba, www.wijincuba.com, is one of a very few private companies allowed to compete with EcoTours, a government-owned travel agency. All three guides when not working for Wij in Cuba, work for EcoTours.

 

 

Reuben Romero

 

• Our guide for our Havana excursions. Reuben showed us around Havana for two days.

• Majored in English in college.

. As a college bound student he only had to spend one year in the Cuban Army. Service is compulsory. Non-college males have two years to serve; college enrolled students have only one; medical students have no military service requirement but do have other government obligations post degree.

• After college, Reuben taught basic conversational English in secondary school before becoming a tour guide.

• Reuben and Felipe previously worked together at EcoTours and have been friends for many years.

• Has had several friends die when attempting to reach the US by boat.

• Reuben loves baseball and follows MLB. He has a Cuban American friend in Tampa who emails him the latest scores.

• Reuben lives in Matanzas Province about 35 miles from Varadero with his wife Betsy and two kids.

 

 

 

Ramone

 

• Our second guide accompanied us on an all-day trip through the countryside to Vinales, in the western peninsular of Cuba, 2 ½ hours from the marina.

• Majored in German. Ramone, while in college, was an exchange student in Munich. He speaks fluent German and is primarily a guide for Germans, of which there are many touring Cuba. His English was OK. He was an engaging conversationalist.

• Ramone’s father is a fisherman. He and his boat were once commandeered while taking four Cuban men fishing. They wanted to go to the US. However, with no compass or navigation equipment on board and only a small amount of fuel, they ended up instead in the Bahamas. The Bahamas Defense Force took them to Nassau and then sunk his father’s boat. All 5 were sent back to Cuba. We learned that in recent years Cuban laws have relaxed and there is no punishment for getting caught trying to escape to the US. He knows people who have made multiple attempts. He said his father before this incident had received offers of cars and thousands of USD for his boat, a basic flat-bottomed skiff, from Cubans who wanted to use it to escape to America,

 

Tony Alonso

 

• Our guide for the three-city overnight tour: Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santa Clara.

• Tony didn’t go to college. He learned English by watching movies, and his use of American slang and understanding of English is quite impressive.

• Tony was a water polo player which helped him avoid the military.

• Of the three guides, Tony was the most outgoing.

• Tony loves everything American and peppered us with many questions, from politics to sports. Tony, like the other two guides, is excited about and welcoming of improved US-Cuba relations.

• Tony at our request took us on a side-trip to the Bay of Pigs, landing point of the Ill-fated April 1961 invasion by Cuban-American Commandos. Commemorative monuments line the road.   We learned it is also one of the best SCUBA dive sites in the country and wanted to investigate the area for a future trip here.

• Tony’s step-father works for the economic branch of the government and has travelled on behalf of Cuba to China to learn of China’s economic programs.

• Ramone & Tony and their wives are good friends. They live two houses from each other in Varadero.

• Tony has a four year old daughter who was appearing in a ballet recital in celebration of Castro’s 90th birthday which happened to be on the second day of our drive. During our trip his wife was texting him about her performance.