Tag: Caribbean

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Jamaica releases exclusive footage to celebrate new Bond movie, ‘No Time to Die’

To celebrate the release of the latest James Bond film, the Jamaica Tourist Board has released behind-the-scenes footage of ‘No Time To Die.’ The exclusive footage showcases cast and crew as well as some of the locations shot in Jamaica.

The Caribbean island nation is a key location in ‘No Time To Die’ where Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life. His peace is short-lived when his old friend from the CIA, Felix Leiter, turns up asking for help.

Jamaica is the birthplace of 007, where Ian Fleming created and wrote the Bond novels. The island also features in the first James Bond film, ‘Dr. No’ (1962), as well as in ‘Live And Let Die’ (1973).

The Jamaica Tourist Board is delighted to play such a significant role in the 25th James Bond film. “Bond for us means we are a place for beginnings, but we are also a place for great endings,” said Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism for Jamaica. Hon. Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, comments, “It’s really something we have dreamt about and we are happy that it’s going to be a reality.”

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Photos: Gorgeous views of Guadeloupe

The French territory of Guadeloupe is a favourite Caribbean destination thanks to its fine beaches and exciting culture. It’s also become a popular stop on the cruise-ship circuit which means even more tourists are discovering this heavenly archipelago.

This day, May 27, marks Guadeloupe’s national day (territorial day?). It marks Abolition of Slavery Day, an event that was a long time coming for the islands.

Even though France’s King Louis X proclaimed in 1315 that any slave setting foot in France should be freed, the nation continued to allow slavery to prosper in its overseas colonies well into the 19th century.

Originally annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1653,  much of the native population was wiped out and was stocked with African slaves to work the territories’ sugar plantations.

France then abolished slavery in 1794 then re-established it in 1802 during the French Revolutionary Wars when French slave-owners threatened to move their colonies under British control. The reestablishment of slavery in Guadeloupe sparked a rebellion, but it was repressed.

The second abolition of slavery took place under the Second Republic on April 27, 1848 and it wasn’t until May 28, 1848 that it was permanently abolished in Guadeloupe.

When the day comes that we get to travel again to places like Guadeloupe, here’s a taste of what you’ve been missing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAsegFAJX4A/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAsP1olHmCM/

 

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Only one country in the Caribbean has a real railway

A train in Cuba

The only Caribbean country with an active railway is Cuba.

Used for both freight and passengers, The Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba, or National Railway Company of Cuba, operates a network of 4,226 kilometres across the island. The longest stretch connects the 835 kilometers between the capital, Havana, to Santiago de Cuba in the east.

Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, trains would actually connect to Miami in the United States by ferry.

The only other Caribbean nation with a train is St. Kitts with a 29-kilometre scenic railway that takes tourists along the island coast to enjoy the view.

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Cuba Libre: Cuba Beyond the Beach

With deliberate care, Ramon Guilarte places a half-empty bottle of Paticruzado rum on our table,alongside a battered tin coffee pot and some cups made from old soup cans. He sits down, lights a cigar, smiles through a billowing wreath of smoke and proudly proclaims: “Rum, coffee and cigars are the best things produced in Cuba and you have to enjoy them together!”

Guilarte is our host at La Fondita de Compay Ramon, a private restaurant he runs with his family in Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second-largest city after Havana. Privately operated restaurants like his, known as paladares, cater to tourists and locals alike—and they’re popping up all over the country.

In a country where virtually every business is state-owned and salaries are low, the opportunity to cash in on the tourism boom is a big deal for many families. The restaurants are also great places for visitors to interact with ordinary Cubans.

Guilarte grew up on a farm in the neighbouring Sierra Maestra Mountains, and artifacts from his youth adorn the walls of his eatery. While he leaves the cooking to his wife Mayra and daughter Viviana, Guilarte serves us a buffet of traditional Cuban fare: pork, chicken, fish, rice, beans and plantain. Everyone’s favourite dish is picadillo—ground beef with green peppers, onion and tomato sauce.

After the meal, Viviana describes the satisfaction of preparing food for guests. Her father echoes the sentiment. “The greatest pleasure for me is to see visitors enjoying our food,” Guilarte says, “I really want them to feel like they are in my home; to see them come in as tourists, but leave as members of our family.”

That dinner in Santiago is just one of many highlights of an eight-day road trip that takes us more than 750 kilometres along highways and back roads, through beautiful colonial cities and dusty farm towns. The journey brings us face-to-face with regular Cubans leading ordinary lives, far from the postcard-perfect beaches for which the country is justifiably famous.

Read the rest of the story in CAA Manitoba magazine at http://joom.ag/IpBY/p44.