Exploring Cuba with Mike Curry

About this trip

Journey to Havana, Cuba and explore the world of Ernest Hemingway and his life in this amazing island which he called home. Using the lens of Hemingway’s novels To Have and Have Not and The Old Man and the Sea, author and Hemingway scholar Michael Curry will lead our journey through the city's complex past and present. We will explore La Habana Vieja (Old Havana), walking through the amazing architecture of monuments, fortresses, churches, and plazas. We will visit the small fishing village of Cojímar, the setting for Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. We will see the Cuban countryside in picturesque Viñales Valley for a deeper understanding of the region's geology, agriculture, and history. Through our visits to artist studios and community projects together with Michael’s longtime Cuban friends, Osmeivy Ortega and others, we will learn about Cuba today and the remarkable resilience of the Cuban people.

"At a point about halfway across the Gulf Stream, on a passage from Key West to Havana on a clear night with calm waters, you can look back from where you have come and see the glow of the lights from Key West. If you look forward at that moment to where you are headed, you can see the glow of Cuba and know you are on a true course to Havana. The fact these two islands are connected in such an ethereal way symbolizes the spiritual and cultural bond between them. Of course, there is a point where the glow from Key West fades, and the glow from Havana strengthens. Ernest Hemingway lived happily in Key West until he sensed and then saw the glow of Cuba. This is a story of his two island homes and the cultures and people who shaped his life and writing for over 30 years." (Hemingway: Between Key West and Cuba. Directed by C. Michael Curry and Raúl Villarreal, 2021)

Highlights

• Explore Havana through the lens of Ernest Hemingway, who called this place home from 1940 to 1960.
• Travel with Michael Curry, Hemingway scholar, author, and Cubaphile, to explore key landmarks and cultural sites. 
• Experience the intense visual beauty of Havana in all its decadence, beauty and history. Enjoy a walking tour with Jaime Rodríguez, one of the three architects who initiated, in the early 1980s, the project to restore Old Havana.
• Learn about Afro-Cuban religious culture by experiencing the music and ceremony in a local home of musicians in the community of Regla.
• Take a day trip to Viñales Valley in the country's rural heartland, home to the remarkable limestone hills known as mogotes, and learn about the importance of tobacco in Cuban culture and history.
• Experience the contemporary art thriving throughout Havana. Osmeivy Ortega, friend of Michael and visual artist, will guide you through visits to several artists’ studios. At Casa Fuster, you will see the work of an artist who helped transform his neighborhood with tile work and other installation work.

NOTE: It is not necessary to be a Hemingway fan to enjoy this program, but it will add to the experience. Participants will be encouraged to read Hemingway’s works To Have and Have Not and The Old Man and the Sea, as well as Black Witch Moth: A Man's Spiritual Journey to Find His Destiny by C. Michael Curry (2022).

Meet your leader

C. Michael Curry

Michael Curry grew up in Key West, Florida, hearing stories from his grandfathers, who knew Ernest Hemingway. His grandfather on his father's side was born on Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, in the Bahamas, and worked at the Key West Citizen, the local daily newspaper. Hemingway would come to the Citizen to check the wire for the day's news and to discuss news and current events with the newspaper's owner and editor. It was no small coincidence the newspaper in those days was located directly across from Sloppy Joe's Bar.

Michael's grandfather on his mother's side was a charter boat captain in Key West and a Bra Saunders and Joe Russell contemporary. His connection to Hemingway resulted from being around the docks where Saunders, Russell, and other party boat captains kept their boats. His recollections included conversations between the captains, the mates, and the writer on topics ranging from fishing to politics and the art of making a living from the sea.

Michael's grandmother on his father's side was born in Guanabacoa, Cuba, and spending time with her gave him a unique perspective on the connections between Cuba and Key West as he grew up. His great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents were and are Conchs.

Michael has co-written and co-produced a documentary on Hemingway titled "Hemingway: Between Key West and Cuba." In addition, he co-wrote and presented a paper on Hemingway in Cuba titled "The Picador and the Prisoner" at the 2023 Hemingway Colloquium in Havana, Cuba.

Michael is working on a paper he will present at the International Hemingway Conference in Spain in 2024.