In prep for our trip to Cuba, MPR and I watched Papa: Hemingway in Cuba, on Netflix. It’s a movie about a young journalist who finds a father figure in legendary author Ernest Hemingway during the Cuban Revolution. What we didn’t know is that this movie was filmed entirely in Cuba, even at Ernest Hemingway’s real house, and we ended up following the footsteps of the film crew as we visited all of Hemingway’s favorite spots on our excursion that detailed his life there.
Our first stop was the old fishing village, Cojímar. Hemingway docked his fishing boat here and interviewed fishermen at La Terraza de Cojímar as research for his book, The Old Man and the Sea.
The next stop on our tour was his house, which was donated as a museum and kept true to the time period. The walls were covered with hunting kills and the house had multiple grand writing desks. The most haunting discovery was the scribbles on the walls in his bathroom where he obsessively kept track of his weight. But the backdrop of his estate was absolutely gorgeous.
Lastly, we headed down to Havana to see the hotels and bars where he drank with the locals, including the Floridita.
Cuba is a special place and it was definitely an eye-opening trip. I highly recommend it for history buffs and literature buffs, and for those who want to experience the Cuban culture. We only visited for one day, but we definitely squeezed a lot out of our time there 🇨🇺
Caitlin Ryan, APR 
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