Cuba – finca tungasuk

Reopening Cuba November 2021

On October 24, 2021

Many of you have contacted us asking us the past months if we were opened. As you might know we had to suspend the volunteering program since Covid pandemic started on March 2020.

For all of us in the island it has been a big challenge, navigating between Covid pandemic, lockdown, lost of loved ones and “post pandemic” stress. Some have family abroad and have not been able to see each other since then; and cherry on top, Cuba has been/is facing one of the worst economic-health crisis since Special Period.

But this has not stopped us, has not stopped many Cuban families, trying to find a way to deal with this long closure, including their small family businesses, looking to generate income somehow and support each others. I particularly found there was an explosion of many small business (entrepreneurs) during this period: admirable, resilient, bad-ass, how to call it/them? Finding the right words to describe how we all dealt with all the difficulties and still are, might be to premature or naive. We can all agree in one fact, we are just ready for Reopening. We were just waiting for it for so long, we all need it, we all have missed everyone so much.

Already some coffees, coffee-bookstores, restaurants-paladares are back in business, trying to find their rhythm, figuring out how to be responsible with their team, employees, customers, and still stay cool and offer a relax atmosphere, which is at the end the one thing we all want when leaving your home and ”risk being out” to ‘breath a little’ or have a ‘change of air’.

We are currently having a short “sabbatical time period” from the farm (as I decided to call it after realizing it is our 8th ongoing year here). Lucky me, lucky us, this period has allowed us to share with some amazing people in Europe about what we have been doing the past 7 years at Tungasuk, visit family, and concreted a great collaboration with Eminente rhum that started 8 months ago.

But we are back and ready for reopening end of November (normally- if something this pandemic has taught us, specially to parents, is to take a deep breath, be flexible, ready for changes, do not stress about it, do your best and make your peace with it-with you).

Will keep you posted! And see you all soon!

Find some articles related to traveling Protocols in the island and what we have been doing this past 2 months outside the farm.

Ps. Excuse my poor English but it has been a while without posting. Any question, inquiry, doubt about traveling to the island or volunteering, please follow us on Facebook or send us an email to tungasuk@gmail.com

https://www.mintur.gob.cu/protocolos/

https://www.mintur.gob.cu/protocolos-sanitarios-para-viajeros-a-partir-del-7-de-noviembre/

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/traveling-to-cuba-during-covid

Hotel Eminente

Finca Tungasuk – Eminente

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2021/10/eminente-launches-cuban-experience-in-the-heart-of-paris/

http://www.the7exclusivejournal.com/2021/07/16/hotel-eminente-un-cuba-sauvage-en-plein-paris/

First MOOC from Cuba: Building Climate Resilience in Agriculture from UN CC:e-Learn Platform

By tungasuk@gmail.com

On December 21, 2017

In Uncategorized

I was visiting my family in Nicaragua after Hurricane Irma event on September, excited to get 24/7 fast internet connection while being there, which we do not have yet at Finca Tungasuk (as you may now internet access is still not so easy to get in the countryside, hopefully soon!) when I saw a facebook link announcing the upcoming UN CC: e-Learn Platform upcoming course on: “The National Adaptation Plans: Building Climate Resilience in Agriculture”.

During my time in Nicaragua, being far from the farm allowed me to have time and look from the distance and process what just did happen to us and around 75% of the island. We just finished a very active hurricane season this 2017 and this was my first time experiencing in the countryside the impact of a hazard weather event like hurricane Irma was. We had some tree lost and damages, but we did “well” compared to the central/east part of the country. You can find more information on this report on Hurricane Irma and Cuba. I questioned myself what we should have done to avoid some of the loses and damages due to the wind impact on the farm and which measures we could take to prepare for another weather event like this one.

No better timing for me to get acces to this large tank of resources on climate change information, mitigation and adaptation actions.

Volunteer Cultivating Healthy Land

By tungasuk

On March 9, 2017

In Uncategorized

Finca Tungasuk often welcomes volunteers to spend the day working alongside locals at an organic farming cooperative outside of Havana. Planting, harvesting, weeding, watering, and above all learning about sustainable farming and connecting with local farmers are possible daily activities. In order to learn more about us and about volunteer opportunities. You may contact us directly through our Facebook page Finca Tungasuk or email us at:

tungasuk@gmail.com

C.c.

annabelle@nauta.cu

We will come back to you as soon as it is possible and send you more information and details about how to volunteer with us for a Day during your trip to Cuba.

Thanks to our friends from Give a Day Global who gave us support last year to start the volunteering program. We have met wonderful people through the past year, people willing to do spend some meaningful time in the countryside of this beautiful island learning about organic farming and sharing a good fresh farm to table lunch with us.