On a November 2016 study abroad trip to Cuba, Colorado Mountain College professor Dr. Bob Gumbrecht and students, including community members, travel throughout the country on a bus owned by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center that hosts the class in Cuba. Here they stop for a visit in Havana.
Upcoming Cuban study abroad course to create unique CMC experience
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about real life in one of Latin America’s most fascinating and often restricted destinations awaits, courtesy of a unique CMC study abroad program later this year.
The excursion, planned for Nov. 21 to Dec. 1, 2025, is designed as a chance for both students and interested community members to see and experience the history, culture and the good and bad of ongoing political realities in Cuba, as part of a guided tour.
“Travel to Cuba is sort of like stepping out of time,” Gumbrecht said. “The cars and other aspects of the ‘frozen in time’ pieces of Cuba are fascinating. Old Havana is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, with imperfectly preserved colonial architecture, so it’s a cool place to absorb the cultural legacy.”
Gumbrecht said the trip’s official theme, “The Cuban Revolution in the 21st Century,” reflects previous CMC study abroad programs he’s led, in addition to other trips he’s made to other headline-grabbing locales such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and Northern Ireland.
“I’ve always been particularly interested in human rights in post-conflict regions, and how reconciliation can take place in deeply divided communities,” Gumbrecht said.
This year’s trip, which will include visits to both Havana and the resort community of Varadero, will give participants the chance to meet and interact with ordinary Cuban residents, as well as time with diplomats at the U.S. Embassy. There will be trips to museums, the Afro-Aesthetic Experience, as well as visits with artists, schools and clinics, as well as an organic farm.
Gumbrecht said the CMC trip represents a rare opportunity for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba, with the necessary permits and arrangements with the Cuban government assisted by the Center for Global Education and Experience, a program run by Augsburg University, a small private Lutheran college in Minnesota. He said that the partnership will help with many of the considerable logistics of travel to what is normally a challenging experience for American visitors.
Those completing the trip will receive transferable credit for PSC 1050. Gumbrecht will host an online information session about the trip at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 12.
An all-inclusive fee for the trip is $3,000, which includes meals, lodging, international travel insurance and local transportation. Airfare, CMC tuition and other fees such as immunizations or passport fees are not included. Scholarships and financial aid assistance for the travel program may be available through CMC and its Financial Resources for Study Abroad webpage.
The application deadline for the Cuba experience is Aug. 1, 2025, and course registration and payment is due on Aug. 15.