the globe says
Cuba
Fly to Havana or Holguín, then the long road over La Farola — the mountain highway that ended Baracoa's 450 years of isolation only in 1965.
A casa particular — a family home — which in Baracoa means cocoa farms, chocolate, and grandmother's cooking.
Cuba's first city and its most cut-off: chocolate and coconut cuisine unlike anywhere else on the island, the flat-topped El Yunque mountain Columbus described, rivers pouring out of rainforest.
Hike El Yunque with a local guide, swim in the Duaba river on the descent, then eat lechita — fish in coconut sauce — at your casa.
December to April
¿Qué bolá? — the Cuban what's up.
Trading with the Enemy by Tom Miller — the best gringo-in-Cuba travel book written.
Humboldt National Park — the Caribbean's most biodiverse corner, an hour up the coast.
US citizens travel under specific license categories with documentation requirements — know the current rules before booking, and bring every cent in cash; US cards do not work.