The sad reality about travel is that all trips must eventually come to an end. That is the very nature of a vacation. When the music stops and the tour is over, we all must go home. And you may find that returning from travel or ending a vacation often comes with grief and sadness, a feeling of loss compounded by the return of the pressures of normal life, work, home, family, stress, responsibility.
But when you return to these necessary realities, do not forget that for a moment you were someone else, somewhere else. Hold on to the memories and apply what you've learned in your travels to enrich your daily life. Yes, all vacations must come to an end, but their impact and memory can last a lifetime.
Gein, I just got off the phone with my brother. He took care of your father's funeral arrangements and cremated him according to his wishes. Okay, he promised to keep the remain safe until we return.
Please thank him for me.
I did, and Martin is working on smoothing over our abrupt departure from Prague. So it shouldn't be an issue when we choose to.
Go back, right. I just can't let it go. Of LOSTA. I need to know who killed him.
It must be the cag B.
I'm sure you're right. It's just something my father said before he was killed.
We know they were following him, and they certainly would rather have him dead than in American hands.
Maybe try to be patient.
I am tired of waiting, sitting here, playing it over and over in my head. We brought the maps my father died for all the way to Washington, d C. And we have been sitting in this hotel room for hours waiting for Martin.
You'll get your answers soon. Rebecca is on her way over with him.
Oh here there now.
Hello of lost Jean. Again, my deepest condolences and apologies. We should have never let this happen.
Martin. Nice to see you in person again.
I blame myself. I should have been prepared. Now that you're all here, I am. I want to tender my resignation.
Rebecca. Please, it's not your fault.
I was the agent present. It was my mission, and it failed.
Very honorable, but unnecessary. Rebecca, there were inherent risks in that mission. We played the odds and lost. I'm sorry to say.
Martin's right without you, we would have never found my father in the first place. You want to redeem yourself, help me clear my father's name and stop the attack. He sacrificed his life for. Did you take a look at the maps he gave me?
Yes? And for all the stories surrounding your father. He proved to be a true hero. Those maps confirm a report roots Seed from one of our moles in the KGB weeks ago. It seems the Soviets are moving weapons and battalions right under our noses. If they succeed in reaching their destination, it will be the greatest threat to the USA and its history, a potential precursor to war.
What where are they moving them?
To?
Cuba? How did you know that I recognized it on the maps?
Impossible? The maps only showed trails and tunnels through unmarked mountain ranges and coastlines. It took our team days to match them correctly using high altitude imagery. You could have just asked, well, we have the location now and the detail is astounding. If we had had maps, this specific bay of pigs might have ended differently.
Something else I noticed on those maps is that many of the sites are not coordinates specific You're going to need someone to go in there and verify the positions.
We have a military team ready to enter Cuba.
Stop them and send us instead. Excuse me, there is nothing under the radar about a military team, and nothing enters Cuba without Castro knowing. He said it yourself. If the maps are right, we can't afford another bay of pigs failure. You need someone else who can go in and conduct the surveillance undetected first.
And you're offering your services, Jean, don't.
It's too dangerous.
We've come this far. I can't let it all end in war. If my father gave his life for this, I have to see it through.
Your country owes you a huge debt, Gene.
Once we confirm the locations and contents of the missile sites, you can send in the cavalry.
We have a ton of contacts inside the country who can help us once we land.
I have people of my own I trust as well, who well. I've known Javier, the manager of Hotel Nacion now de Kuba for years.
We spent part of our honeymoon there.
The hotel has been closed since Castro took power.
Yes, but many writers, diplomats and foreign officials still stay there.
Jean Parsacreje just stayed at the hotel after the revolution with his wife Simond de Beauvois when they interviewed Jacob Vera and publish Visits Cuba. The hotel even named the room he stayed in after him.
So I suggest a similar cover. I'm still a dual citizen of Hungary, where I was born, and Vlosta is of Czechoslovakia. Hell, we even run our office out of Paris like Satra, so so we fly in through Central America on our foreign passports under the guys that we are writing a book on Cuba. Then we conduct the surveillance and counterintelligence to find these target sites before departing the way we came. That could work, and I.
Can enter separately on a Canadian student visa. Many activists arrived daily to support the Cuban government. I could join a group.
How would we find you?
I'll make contact once inside.
It should be a forty eight hour operation. Get in, confirm the maps, and get out.
Music to my years Martin, I want you to ensure there is an extraction team if necessary.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Cuba is one of the largest single islands of its archipelago and one of the more influential states of the Caribbean region. Cuba was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain in fourteen ninety two, and it became the Spanish Empire's most important source of raw sugar in the eighteenth century. Though Spain had to fight several difficult and costly campaigns against independence movements, it retained rule of Cuba until eighteen ninety eight, when it was defeated by the United States
and Cuban forces in the Spanish American War. Cuba soon gained formal independence, though it remained overshadowed by the nearby United States. On New Year's Day nineteen fifty nine, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government and its dictator Batista. Adopting a Marxist Leninist model, Castro converted Cuba into a one party socialist state under Communist Party rule,
the first in the Western hemisphere. Cuba quickly became economically isolated from the United Slime States, while developing close links to the Soviet Union. But with democracy and capitalism gone, the ones booming tourist industry quickly disappeared, along with them.
Darling, we're back in Cuba. H not exactly a second honeymoon.
I wonder how different the hotel will look.
Hmmm.
It's sad to think if it boarded up and empty. We'll have you a meet us at the airport.
He should if he received my message, and if he didn't, then this will be a very short trip.
Well let's go find out.
Hmm.
I did miss that tropical air We.
Haven't stayed in one place long enough to acclimate.
Do you see him?
Hope, there he is on the tarmac, blaster, Jean. Ah, it's great to see you, Javier.
Welcome, Thank you for meeting us. How have things been since the hotel closed?
You cannot imagine what they've done to the place. It's falling apart.
Oh, I'm so sad to hear that.
Occasionally diplomatister come to stay. But Castro has turned the country into a fortress in stalling more guns to the Santa Clara battery to protect the coast. Now we have more guns than guests.
Hmmm. It's said he lives in constant fear of invasion, as you Americans.
After the Bay of Pigs, everyone is paranoid. But I am happy to have you back at the hotel, even if it is under different circumstances.
We aren't putting you out, I hope.
Oh no, not at all.
Come.
My car is waiting up front.
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic Spanish eclectic style hotel in Havana which opened in nineteen thirty It offers commanding views of the sea and the city and contains a mix of styles, including Civilian, Roman, Moorish and Art Deco. In nineteen thirty three, after Fugencio Battista's September fourth coup against the transitional government, the National Hotel was the residence of Sumner Wells, a special envoy sent by
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to mediate the crisis. Soon after, it became the site of a bloody siege that would become known as the Battle of the Hotel Nacional of Cuba. Years later, in nineteen forty six, the hotel hosted the Havana Conference, an infamous mob summit run by Lucky Luciano and Mayer Lanski and attended by Santo Traficante Junior, Frank Costello,
albert Anastasia Vitro, Genevese, and many others. It remained a mafia hangout for many years to come, growing and expanding while hosting many infamous guests.
Gene Plasta, welcome back to the nazional.
Gen.
Do you see those soldiers with the guns.
They are Castro's guard I didn't report you. I promise this is fairly routine nowadays. I hate to say.
That's fine. Let's just go inside.
They're coming towards us.
Don't act concerned. I'll handle it. Adiva, stop.
You must come with us.
Gentlemen, these are guests of my hotel.
They come now. Those are orders.
They must be a misunderstanding.
We are just travel writers and we've come a long way. We'd love to get settled into our room. Perhaps you can tell us what this is about. Either you come peacefully or we will be forced to arrest you. Oh okay, okay, we'll go, no problem. Geane, all right, we're going take it easy. Don't worry. I'll get to the bottom of this. Can I at least ask where you're taking us?
Welcome on, Dante?
Who is that? Dodel Castro.
With the entire island south of the Tropic of Cancer, the local climate is tropical, moderated by northeasterly trade winds that blow year around. The temperature is also shaped by the Caribbean Current, which brings in warm water from the equator. Kuban culture is influenced by its melting part of cultures, primarily those of Spain, Africa and the indigenous Tinos of Cuba. These melting bodies apparent and everything from the literature to the cuisine, but it is Cuban music that is the
most commonly known expression about nik Kuban culture. This helped to create a vibrant nightlife, which brought in the Daners from around the world who like to spend time in a many casinos around the island.
You wrote all this every word. I've been to Cuba many times over the years.
We honeymoon at the Nacional.
But this guide book was written when Cuba was still run by the capitalist swine that have exploited our people for centuries.
Yes, we haven't had the opportunity to make it back until now.
Now. I've taken over tourism on the island, including hotels and casinos, and I am committed to making Cuba the most luxurious travel is the nation in the.
Americas ambitious and certainly possible.
After the revolution, I even wrote a letter to the Americans, graciously inviting them here to Cuba. It was even printed in the New York Times.
Yes, we read it. It was very welcoming.
But now the US government has made Kuba their enemy, and I've had to execute many spies and traders who wish to stop my progress flast.
And I are here to help.
That's right, we can help the message.
Oh.
We intend to provide an updated guidebook to show the world exactly what the new Cuba has to offer, just as Jean Paul Sats's book Did you like e Cyta? Oh, I feel a deep kinship. Not only are we both writers, but like Saltra, our offices are in Paris and I work with my wife as a married team.
Well, it's true, we are both American citizens. I was born in Czechoslovakia and Jean in Hungary, so we both have strong Communist roots.
But you are not a famous writer like cut No, but our business is tourism, which I know used to be one of the strongest pillars in the Cuban economy.
This is true, then we also know that eight out of ten tourists used to be Americans, so it's no surprise tourism is down ninety percent since the revolution.
So if you want to make back the millions the tourists used to bring.
I'm sure that Cuba is still a beautiful island worth spending in your.
Honeymoon, then you should welcome our book even more than you welcome saltless.
We want to help you bring the Americans back to Cuba, and we know how to sell it to them.
Cigar much appreciated.
We make the best, you know.
I do. We'll be sure to include an entire chapter on it. Very good.
I'll tell Javier to put you both in the Satra suite. We named the room after him. You know it's the best.
To nottel.
That's very generous, have you.
Javier will make sure you get around Habana safely. I look forward to your book.
We look forward to writing it.
You can go, Gods, guitarists.
Can I breathe now? I thought we were finished in there.
Never underestimate the power of a good guide book. My dear.
Real suave Hemingway, you can enjoy that Cuban cigar. To Malison, we'll late to meet Rebecca and she's probably worried.
The Maleson, officially known as Avenida de Masseo, is a broad esplanade roadway and sea wall that stretches for eight kilometers along the coasts of Havana. Construction of the Malason began in nineteen oh one during temporary US military rule to protect Havana from the sea, but soon became a popular public destination. It begins at the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana and continues along the north side of the Centro Havana neighborhood and the Vedado neighborhood, ending
at the mouth of the Almendares River. There are a number of important monuments along the Malesson, including those to General Maximo Gomez, Antonio Maso, General Calixto Garcia, and the Monument to the Victims of the USS Maine, as well as prominent buildings, including the Hotel Nacional and a bustling market place in nineteen fifty seven. In nineteen fifty eight, the roadway even served as the venue for the Cuban Grand Prix.
Ough Jin, don't wonder off, how are we supposed to spot Rebecca with all these people. She's a needle in a haystack. Did she tell you specifically where she'd be?
She said she'd meet us on the main Isn't this the main street? Maine? Isn't a street. It's a monument. What they built? A monument in honor of the USS main that exploded in Havana Harbor in eighteen ninety eight, the.
Attack that led to the Spanish American War.
That's the one, but many now think it actually exploded from the inside. Ugh, which way is it down here?
No?
I still don't see her.
There she is, Rebecca, There you are.
I was just about to head to the.
Hotel to look for you.
We were brought in for a meeting with Castro himself.
Seriously, are you all right?
Jean shared us to go with him.
I thought we were dead until we convinced him we were there to write a new glowing travel book on Cuba.
Powerful man. Sure are suckers for vanity.
I think we convinced him. But do you think it's safe to proceed?
He wouldn't have let you go otherwise.
How about you? What did you learn?
My KGB contact left a dead drop confirming the location of the weapons and asking to meet me tonight.
What if it's a trap.
I don't think so. He could have just picked me up at the drop if he wanted to. And it must be important because he didn't even leave the meeting location. In case the documents were discovered. All he wrote was I'll meet you where I'll have immunity whatever that means.
Immunity like in a hospital law or from the law.
No, it's neither. I think he means a church. A church, the Iglesia de la Spiritu Santo, to be exact. In seventeen seventy two it was declared the only immune church in the city.
Sounds right to me lead the way.
The Iglesia de la Spirito Santo is considered one of the oldest temples in Havana. It was built in sixteen thirty five and then expanded in sixteen forty eight, with
simple stone construction and a lack of lavish decorations. Despite its modest appeal, many illustrious people of Havana have been baptized in this church, among them the educator Jose de la Luci Caballero, Bishop Geronimo Valdez, a founder of La Casa de Beneficiencia Imaternidad de la Habana, was buried in this church, and his master, Sepulcher, was discovered within the
categor combs in nineteen thirty six. During the colonial era, the church had exceptional importance since by a papal bill in seventeen seventy two and a royal certificate in seventeen seventy three. Charles the third of Spain declared it the only immune church in Havana, meaning that any persecuted individual could find amparo or sanctuary in its walls, protected against the action of the authorities or justice.
Rebecca, do you know what your contact looks like?
No, and I'm not sure where we're supposed to meet him.
This courtyard is huge.
There should be a metal plaque at the foot of the bell tower that attests to the papal immunity.
Great idea, let's go there.
Hmm, nice timing.
But where is he?
Do verier no proverie?
What are they saying?
It's an old Russian proverb it means trust, but it must be their code words.
Thank you for meeting me.
I received your message in the documents, but I need identity verification.
My name is Oleg Penkovski, Colonel Soviet military Intelligence.
How did you first make contact with the CIA.
In July, I saw American students on the Bolshoy Maskvretsky Bridge in Moscow and gave them a package with my offer to spy for the United States. They delivered it to an officer to the US embassy, who eventually contacted me with MI six. You need to trust me. The Soviets are increasing their missiles here in Cuba.
I saw that in the maps you provided. But why did you need to meet?
Because this information is so urgent and important, it couldn't wait, and I couldn't risk it being discovered at a drop. Only a select few of the truth of this operation. What operation Operation Anadhir? It's a top secret operation to deploy ballistic missiles, medium range bombers, and a division of mechanized infantry from Russia to Cuba. They are creating an army and arsenal that would prevent an invasion of the
island by United States forces. The plan is to deploy approximately sixty thousand personnel in support of the main missile force, which consists of three or twelve missile regiments and two are fourteen missile regiments.
Those are close and intermediate range missile regiments. If that's true, it would demand a US military response. It is true, then we're going to need reconnaissance photos and locations of the missile regiments to confirm the operation. I have a Cuban contact. You can help. If they've imported missiles of this size, someone would have seen it.
Okay, Then while the two of you get the proof we need, I'll go back with Javier and let him show me the tourist sites in case anyone is.
Still watching us.
Perfect. So all we have to do is get this top secret information off this enemy island before the Soviets catch or kill us.
Are the Cubans execute us?
But if we don't, this cold war is about to heat up really fast.
The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance and dance, comprises a large set of unique traditions influenced by the variety of people who came to live on the island. European dances and folk musics include zappateo, fandango, pasodoble, and retambico. The enslaved Africans and their descendants made many percussion instruments and preserved rhythms they had known in their homeland. The most important instruments were the drums, of which there were
originally about fifty different types. Today, only the bongos, congas and batah drums are regularly played. Due to the synchronetic nature of most of its genres, Cuban music is often considered one of the richest and most influential in the world. Cuban music has contributed to the development of a wide variety of genres and musical styles, including rumba, Afro Cuban jazz, sokos, flamenco, and more. In fact, all of this brought about the invention of salsa dancing as well as the mambo.
Makes you want to shake your hips, doesn't it? Jane, Thanks for waiting while I talk to my contact.
He spooks easy, no problem. I was enjoying the show. So what did he say? Have any information?
Yes, he described large trucks passing through his town at night carrying very long, canvas covered cylindrical objects. But he noted that the trucks were so large they couldn't make turns through the towns without backing up and maneuvering.
What does that mean?
Defensive missile transporters could make such turns without difficulty. What he saw must have been the ballistic missiles were looking for.
Did he track where they went?
He drew this map on the cocktail napkin.
It looks like it correlates to one of my father's maps. I know where this should lead. It's a town north of here.
I think we need to head there and see for ourselves.
I was thinking the same thing.
I hope you're wearing good walking shoes.
A good travel writer comes prepared for all occasions.
Then let's mumbo out of here.
Look here, this road looks freshly cut into the jungle, and.
It's wide enough for the trucks to maneuver.
From this map, the first location is a quarter mile past this ridge.
We're getting close. Ah, God, damn, mosquitoes are eating me alive. All the surveillance should be done in the comfort of a U two spy plane at seventy thousand feet, not I'm deep in the Cuban rainforest. I'll tell them what they can shove in.
Their photo gap, photo gap.
That's the nice way. The suits in DC are explaining why we have no surveillance photos of Cuba the last five weeks.
I assumed they would be sending constant YouTube surveillance over Cuba after the Bay of Pigs disaster.
Well they were, But then a U two operated by the US Air Forces Strategic Air Command flew over suck Khalin Island in the Soviet Far East by mistake. Then nine days later, a Taiwanese operated U two was lost over western China to an SA two surface to air missile. So now US officials are worried that one of the Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA YouTube initiating another international incident.
It seems we are on the precipice of an international incident either way.
And clearly the Soviets and Cubans knew about the photo gap and took full advantage. Another intelligence failure. If you asked me, wait, get low. There are lights up ahead. Sh nice and slow, careful not to break any twigs. Stop. That's close enough. Stay here.
We're still pretty far. I can't make out much from this distance.
That's why I brought my telephoto lens.
What do you see?
There are missiles camouflaged in the palm trees, lots of them.
Good eye.
I can barely make them out.
That one closest is the R twelve, a medium ranged ballistic missile with an effective range of two thousand kilometers.
Oh, I guess Oh it turned out to be right.
Oh, and there's the R fourteen, big son of a bitch. It's an intermediate range ballistic.
Missile, well kind of range.
Forty five hundred kilometers from here, basically anywhere in the continental US.
My god, oh shit, what what is it?
The warhead that R fourteen is carrying is thermo nuclear.
Nuclear as a mushroom cloud nuclear.
Jesus, not just one. They're all armed with thermonuclear warheads.
My god.
Forty five hundred kilometers. That's twenty eight hundred miles. Cuba is only ninety miles from mainland US.
The missiles alone would be bad enough, but with the nukes, DC would be a wasteland before we could even fire a.
Missile, and at this distance, the entire continental United States, who would be completely annihilated.
Photo's Guide to Espionage is created by Lars Jacobson, written by Lars Jacobson and Sabrina Jaglam and directed by Sabrina Jaglain, Produced by Lars Jacobson and Sabrina Jagulain, and executive produced by Noel Brown for iHeart Radio Fodor's Guide to Espionage stars Ethan Korn as Eugene Fodor, Lelia Symington as Vlasta Fodor, and Jackie Emerson as Rebecca Ralston, with additional performances by Chase Mullens, George Rivera, Matt Linton, Dylan McCollum, Gabe Greenspan,
Chris Cappel, Duncan Kaladine Dana Melanie, Alex Gombadi, Noam Thomaschoff, Katrina Aaron, and Simon Jagulain. Sound design and editing by Chris Childs. Original theme song by Jack Blavelt and Chris Childs, with additional scoring by Chris Childs. Sound engineering by Chris Sek. Todoro's Guide to Espionage is an iHeart Radio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts