Boulder Company Leads Treks into Cuba
Last Frontier Expeditions helps travelers taste forbidden fruit Pristine beaches, rainforests, diverse wildlife, uninhabited islands and unique 16th-century architecture attract tourists to Cuba from around the world.

But the biggest lure for Americans is something more elusive.

³itıs the forbidden fruit,² said Gunbarrel-resident Robert Walz, president of Last Frontier Expeditions, a travel and tour company that specializes in ³special event² tours to Cuba.

³The temptation to taste this forbidden fruit before the average American gets there is greater than the risk,² he said. ³Once everyone gets there, itıs the whole atmosphere - the people, the old cars, the cigars, the music. Itıs like Alice through the looking glass. Itıs mind boggling.²

Besides, he said, Cuba and its struggling economy welcomes American tourists and their dollars. ³Cuba canıt get enough of American tourists,² Walz said.

Ever since the United States trade embargo on Cuba began in 1962, American tourists have been prohibited from traveling to Cuba. U.S, law does not forbid Americans from entering the communist country, but the Trading with the Enemy Act says they canıt spend money there, including paying for a ticket on a Cuban airline.

That doesnıt stop some Americans getting there via non-Cuban airlines, such as Mexican charter To purchase goods and services legally, Americans travelling in Cuba need a Department Treasury license, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on a case by case basis.

Walz said he receives three type of travel inquiries to Cuba: Twenty-five percent of Last Frontierıs clients are from groups or individuals who have their own licences - including athletic, educational, religious and humanitarian groups as well as journalists - and need Walzıs travel expertise and ability to plan and organize the trips for them. Walz accepts direct payments from this category of individuals.

The rest go as ³fully hosted guests,² Walz said.

According to the not-for profit U.S. Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc.ıs Web site, the term ³fully hosted² means that ³all expenses within the Republic of Cuba on behalf of the individual subject to United States law are paid for by a person or organization not subject to United States law.²

In these cases, all expenses are paid to non-U.S. travel entities in Canada or Mexico, Walz said. Last Frontiers is an Aruba-registered company, and Walz is the U.S. marketing representative and Cubaıs special events and travel promoter since 1991, and is the sole employee of the company, he said.

Another 50 percent are from individuals, couples and small groups who say they do not care about the legality of visiting Cuba, aware that no one has been prosecuted for such travel, he said. For these travelers, Walz acts as a consultant and ensures they pay a country or travel enterprise that is not under U.S, laws or jurisdictions.

Another 25 percent of the trips are for special events, international sporting events, environmental, educational, medical seminars, etc. that Walz created or co-sponsored with Cuba. He takes these guests as ³fully hosted guests of the Cuban government,² and they receive credentials and a letter from the Cuban government authorizing the authenticity of ³fully hosted travel.² Walz organizes and escorts these types of groups. Funds are paid to Canadian or Mexican travel organization outside the restrictions and jurisdiction of the U.S., government.

While some academic groups and museums are getting liscences and organizing cultural trips to Cuba, Walz and his trips are different because he creates adventure and sports tours.

³So many people are tired of tours and vacations,² Walz said. ³They want something fun.² Last Frontierıs first tour in may 1994, the Hemingway Sports Classic, included about 85 people from the Boulder/Denver area who ran with about 15,000 Cubans in the countryıs first 10-kilometer race. The trip also include co-ed baseball games between Cubans and Americans and bike riding.

One year ago, Walz created a new company, Last Frontier Safari, which offers seasonal and year round fishing Safaris to the more remote and unexplored regions of Cuba.

The U.S.-Cuba Trade and economic Council Inc. Web site warns those travelling on a ³fully-hosted basis² That Office of Foreign Assets Control presumes those individuals subject to United States law most probably in violation of the regulations . Criminal penalties for violations range up to 10 years in prison, $1, million in company fines, and $250,000 in individual fines. Civil penalties range up to $55,000, the Web site said.

³According to U.S. Customs, the fully-hosted travel that we use is legal,² Walz said. He added that Last Frontier is licensed by the office of Foreign Assets Control.

Walz received a license five years ago from the U.S. Government that allows him to go to Cuba for sporting events. He works with the Cuban Olympic Committee and sets up youth spring tournaments in Cuba.

Walz has visited Cuba 207 times in the last nine years and has hosted 5,000 people on trips there.

³I never tire of it,² he said.

He also said has never had a disgruntled client.

³Itıs for one reason ,² Walz said ³The Cuban People. They accept you just who you are. That was a new concept to me.²

Boulder resident Mark Rucker, the owner of Transcendental Graphics, has been to Cuba six times and was introduced to the country by Walz in 1997, he said. Rucker is also the co-author of ³Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball,² A pictoral history of baseball in Cuba.

³I got an introduction to the island from Bob (Walz),² Rucker said. ³He knows so much about the place. He can get you to the places that are fun and important to see historically, and he knows fun places to travel to and as well as places to stay and eat.²

Curtis Peek, co-owner of the Boulder hair salon Charisma, went on a Last Frontier trip about four years ago. He said memorable moments included playing basketball with the Cubans and leaving his shoes and basketball and other sporting equipment behind for the Cubans to use.

³I met top athletes, played basketball with the Cuban national team,² Peek said. ³They are great people. We are totally doing an injustice to those people.

³Itıs a chance of a lifetime. You are treated like royalty by the people and by their government.²

Last Frontierıs next special event is a cigar dinner with Cuban President Fidel Castro, which will raise $1 million for Childrenıs Orthopedic Hospital in Havana. At the event, Castro will sign one case of cigars that will sell between $50,000 and $100,000, Walz said. About 30 out of about 700 people attending will be from Last Frontier.

In September, Last Frontier will offer the Colorado/Cuba business exchange. The U.S. government has been removing some sanctions, and last year, a measure passed the House allowing the direct sale of medical products and food to Cuba, Walz said.

Last Frontierıs one-week tours cost from $1,198 for individual and small groups to $2,298 and up for deluxe Fidel Castro cigar dinner trips, or hunting and fishing safaris. The price includes airfare from Cancun by Mexican charter Aerocaribe, hotels, meals, transportation and events. English Speaking Cuban Guides lead the tours.

Walz takes his participants to restored Cuban hotels, those that ³still have the personality, of Cuba,² he said.

³Iım doing something I love to do and never forget that travel is a privilege,² Walz said. ³I went 24 times last year and I can hardly wait to go back. I still get like a kid before Christmas. I pack my bags two weeks ahead of time.