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| Jamie and Kaye in Taormina, Sicily a few years back |
"Telex from Cuba" by Rachel Kushner. Set in 1968, the novel tells the story of two young people growing up in Oriente Province in Cuba, a place where Americans tended 300,00 acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane. In the midst of the cane plantation were 100 acres the company did not own. Those 100 acres belonged to Fidel and Raul Castro's father. The sons, who grew up excluded from a privileged American world, started the revolution there. The story is told from three narrators: a boy whose father runs United Fruit's sugar operation, a girl whose father runs the nickel operation, and a French agitator who helps train the rebels.
"Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba" by Christopher Baker. This nonfiction book tells the story of Christopher Baker as he drives his motorcycle through Cuba over a three-month period in the early 2000's. He meets and speaks with the Cuban locals, some of which support Fidel Castro and some who do not. He explores the rich heritage of an island gripped by poverty, political uncertainty, and painful transition, all the while charting his own gradual but profound change of heart about the Cuban Revolution.
Peggy Goldman is a specialty tour operator and travel expert, who owns and operates Friendly Planet Travel, a leading full-service company that specializes in tour deals to exotic destinations at affordable rates.
