Moon Cuba - Softcover

Christopher P. Baker was born and raised in Yorkshire, England. He received a BA in geography from University College, London, and masters degrees in Latin American studies from Liverpool University and in education from the Institute of Education, London University.

He began his writing career in 1978 as a contributing editor on Latin America for Land & Liberty, a London-based political journal. In 1980, he received a Scripps-Howard Foundation Scholarship in Journalism to attend the University of California, Berkeley.

Since 1983, Christopher, the 2008 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year, has made his living as a professional travel writer, photographer, lecturer, and tour guide. He specializes in Cuba, about which he has written six books. He has contributed to more than 150 publications worldwide, including CNN Travel, National Geographic Traveler, Robb Report, and The Los Angeles Times. Christopher has been profiled in USA Today, appears frequently on radio and television talk shows and as a guest-lecturer aboard cruise ships, and has spoken at the National Press Club, World Affairs Council, and on National Geographic Live. He is a National Geographic Resident Expert and conducts tours of Cuba, Colombia, and Costa Rica and Panama for National Geographic Expeditions. In 2013, he led the first-ever motorcycle tours of Cuba for U.S. citizens on behalf of MotoDiscovery.

His many books include Moon Costa Rica, Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba, and Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles.

Christopher's website can be found at christopherpbaker.com.

Discover Cuba

The time to visit Cuba is now! President Barack Obama’s announcement in 2014 that he was reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba was exhilarating. For the first time in decades every U.S. citizen can now travel to this Caribbean island of eccentricity and enigma.

Any U.S. citizen can qualify for group educational travel with licensed tour companies and academic institutions. Even more exciting is the possibility that new regulations may permit individuals to travel solo for educational activity defined not as academic study but people to people” interaction. Plus, U.S. citizens will be able to use their credit cards in Cuba and bring home cigars and rum the ultimate mementos of a unique and long overdue travel experience.

With all the media attention on politics, it’s easy to overlook the sheer beauty of this place: diamond-dust beaches and bathtub-warm seas the color of peacock feathers; bottle-green mountains and jade valleys full of dramatic formations; colonial cities with cathedrals and cobbled plazas; and above all, the sultriness and spontaneity of the people in a place called the most emotionally involving in the Western hemisphere.

Divers are delirious over Cuba’s deep-sea treasures. Birding is the best in the Caribbean. There are crocodiles, too, lurking leery-eyed in well-preserved everglades. Horseback-riding options abound. Cuba is a prime destination for fishing and bicycle touring. In the Sierra Maestra, hikers can follow revolutionary trails trod by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. There are salsa, mojitos, and cuba libres to enjoy and the world’s finest cigars, fresh from the factory.

Cuba’s most enigmatic appeal, however, is the sense that you are living inside a romantic thriller. Cuba is intoxicating, laced with the sharp edges and sinister shadows that made Ernest Hemingway wish that he could stay forever and inspired Spanish poet Federico García Lorca to write to his parents, If I get lost, look for me in Cuba.” No other Western nation offers such sensual and surreal sensations, made more romantic by Cuba’s caught-in-a-time-warp setting. Finally, after six decades, U.S. citizens can now legally taste this forbidden fruit.