PRESS RELEASE: Motorcycle Diaries Redux: Tour Che Guevara’s Cuba by bike

Moto-journalist Christopher P. Baker leads 12-day, 1,200-mile journey exploring Cuba through the eyes of revolutionary (and famed biker) Che Guevara (Oct 22-Nov 2, 2017)

SEATTLE (29 June 2017) Acclaimed Cuba expert and moto-journalist Christopher P. Baker will lead a one-of-a-kind Che Guevara-themed group motorcycle tour of Cuba, October 22-November 2, 2017. Offered by Cross Cultural Journeys under the “people-to-people” license for U.S. citizens, the 12-day ‘Motorcycle Diaries Redux’ program will explore western and central Cuba, taking in sites associated with the iconic revolutionary (and motorcyclist) Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

The itinerary includes visits to the Comandancia de Che, his headquarters in Havana; Santa Clara, the industrial city that Che’s rebel troops captured in December 1958 and where he is buried; plus Cuevas de los Portales, a giant cave where Che headquartered during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Other highlights include the beautiful tobacco-growing region of Viñales, the Bay of Pigs, the enchanting colonial city of Trinidad, and the snow-white beaches of Cayo Santa María.

The tour is priced from $7,966, depending on motorcycle. Participants may choose a modern Suzuki V-Strom or Harley-Davidson. The deadline to book a spot on the trip is July 31, 2017.

Baker’s presence ensures that participants learn about Cuban history and culture while maximizing interaction with Cuban friends — from artists, baseball players, and classic car owners to local harlistas, owners of pre-revolutionary Harley-Davidsons — as required by the U.S. government’s people-to-people regulations.

In 1996, Baker — the 2008 Lowell Thomas Award-winning ‘Travel Journalist of the Year’ — shipped his BMW motorcycle to Cuba and rode 7,000 miles while researching his Moon Cuba guidebook. His literary travel book, Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro’s Cuba, describing the journey was published by National Geographic Adventure Press and is a two-time national book award winner. In 2012, he secured a people-to-people license from the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to offer the first-ever group motorcycle travel of Cuba for U.S. citizens. He has since led more than 100 ‘people-to-people’ trips to Cuba.

Cross Cultural Journeys has been leading groups of Americans to Cuba legally since 1998. One of the first U.S.-based tour operators to obtain a people-to-people license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Seattle-based company has taken thousands of American travelers to the island over the past two decades.

Web-ready images of motorcycles and bikers in Cuba, including tour leader Christopher P. Baker, are available for download in this Google Drive folder.

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