Showing results for "day" in Caribbean & West Indies

In late April 1902, Mount Pelee, a volcano on the Caribbean island Martinique, began to wake up. It emitted clouds of ash and smoke for two weeks until violently erupting on May 8. Over 30,000 residents of St. Pierre were killed; they burned to death under rivers of hot lava and suffocated under pounds of hot ash. Only three people managed to survive: a prisoner trapped in a dungeon-like jail cell, a man on the outskirts of town, and a young girl found floating unconscious in a boat days later.

What happens when you venture outside the boundaries of a prepackaged travel experience and truly expose yourself to the history, economics, and culture of a country other than your own? We are all familiar with the Cuban cliché: decaying colonial architecture, soulful salsa dancing, refreshing cocktails by the seaside - paradise, in a nutshell. We also share a superficial understanding of Cuba’s troubled political history and economic struggles over the last decades.