Goodbye cheap Cuban vacation

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Originally Posted by Oddmott

We toured the interior of Cuba, away from the tourist traps, quite a bit on our honeymoon. None of the Cubans we met, purchased from, ate with, visited seemed hard done by. They were quite happy and content in most respects.

Sure, they didn't have much in the way of handheld devices, HDTVs or $90K luxury SUVs, but so what?

We went to one local ball tourney. It was a weekly deal for them. Huge turn out from something like 7 or 8 villages. Everyone knew everyone else, lots of friendly rivalries, tailgate parties, the whole nine yards. It was like something pulled right out of the 1950s middle america - an era we often moan as being the best of times.

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Its called the mirage of life we are sold. Somehow we have come to believe we need certain things in order to be happy. No doubt, there are parts of many countries, that are destitute and hurting. Many of those same countries have wide swaths where the people are very happy. Sure they may not have as much as us, but...

In the end, it all depends on what we sold on. Of coarse, they aren't subject to that....Most likely don't have LED TVs, commercialism or someone named the Jones.
That having little = misery
That having "a lot" = happiness.

See huge swaths of the US losing "everything" in 2008.

/wonders who the lemmings are.

Maybe the food will get better now.

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Originally Posted by gunter

Maybe the food will get better now.

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You obviously never left the resorts.

Oh my gawd the best food I ever had was at little Cuban restaurants people ran out of their homes or off their front decks. Just incredible.

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Originally Posted by gunter

Maybe the food will get better now.

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Food on the resorts is pretty bad. But if you go off to the resort to a restaurant Cuban's would eat at, its pretty good.
The clue to a good restaurant (Cuba or any other undeveloped country) - find a restaurant that takes local currency.

The quality of food at the hotels and resorts will now definitely improve over the next few years but at a cost to the traveller.

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Originally Posted by JoePa

What I can't understand why someone would want to go and spend their money in a country that is run by a communist dictatorship when its citizens are imprisoned and even killed for saying anything against the government - I'm sure there are a lot of other warm places to go rather than Cuba
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Strategically,this was a very smart move by the Obama administration because,very soon,the lease for Guantanamo Naval Station was coming up and the Cubans made it abundantly clear they weren't interested in renewing with the Americans and wanted them out. This raises a very real specter of a potentially hostile foreign power getting real "chummy" with the Cuban regime (like China or Russia) taking over the only deep water port with predictable results. Remember the Bay of Pigs fiasco and October Missile Crisis of 1962 and how desparately close to WW3 and a full-blown nuclear war that was a finger-twitch away? The telling tale,other than some cursory grumbling from the Republican-controlled house who could have delayed and ultimately vetoed everything,they didn't press it and kept their collective mouths slammed shut. That speaks volumes. Give it 5 years of renewed economic ties and the Cuban communists will collapse like a deck of cards. Money talks,JoePa.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

....That speaks volumes. Give it 5 years of renewed economic ties and the Cuban communists will collapse like a deck of cards. Money talks,JoePa.

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I doubt it will take 5 years.

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Originally Posted by Bluebulldog

1. Being an American, you know exactly what your country wants you to know. And that comes out in spades with your post. The same could be said for just about every "banana republic that the US has propped up, or supported in the last 30-40 years.

2. Cuba is a beautiful country, and it's people are great. The oppression you refer to is greatly exaggerated.

3. It's economical. For value of the $$, and amenities compared to other vacation destinations, its a fraction of the cost.

4. To be bluntly honest Joe, it doesn't have any Americans vacationing there. We love you guys, as neighbors, but it's nice to vacation somewhere, that you folks aren't.

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Great post...

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Originally Posted by JoePa

What I can't understand why someone would want to go and spend their money in a country that is run by a communist dictatorship when its citizens are imprisoned and even killed for saying anything against the government - I'm sure there are a lot of other warm places to go rather than Cuba
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My favourite part of Cuba was the fact that it was no full of Americans.

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Originally Posted by Oddmott

We toured the interior of Cuba, away from the tourist traps, quite a bit on our honeymoon. None of the Cubans we met, purchased from, ate with, visited seemed hard done by. They were quite happy and content in most respects.

Sure, they didn't have much in the way of handheld devices, HDTVs or $90K luxury SUVs, but so what?

We went to one local ball tourney. It was a weekly deal for them. Huge turn out from something like 7 or 8 villages. Everyone knew everyone else, lots of friendly rivalries, tailgate parties, the whole nine yards. It was like something pulled right out of the 1950s middle america - an era we often moan as being the best of times.

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My experiences in Cuba and with Cuban people were about the same. They still value the things that are important in life rather than the material "things" the rest of us see as important.

We're hoping to go back within a few months before things really change.