A Cuba "fan" - U.S. tourists rush to Cuba as White House tightens travel -

Orlando Sentinel ^ | July 14, 2003 | Vanessa Bauzá

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HAVANA -- Sure, she knew the tour was a bit skewed, perhaps too rah-rah. Nevertheless, Margo McAuliffe came away from her 10-day trip through Cuba "a fan."

"I'm the reason they want the travel ban kept," said the California retiree, referring to the Bush administration.

"I came here somewhat under the influence that Castro is a bad guy," said McAuliffe, sitting in a Havana hotel lobby. "I felt this was one place [about which] I wasn't hearing the truth. I feel our government has an ax to grind."

With a packed itinerary focused on sustainable development, McAuliffe's group, organized by San Francisco-based Global Exchange, learned about Cuba's organic gardens and herbal healing. They visited a rehabilitation center for disabled children and talked with a family physician. In total they logged more than 1,000 miles from Havana to the eastern port city of Santiago and back.

[foreverfree]

bump

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I admit I only got to Havana. I can't tell much about the first photo, by the way, thank you for sharing, the second photo is very interesting. It looks like something that one will find in the interior of Panama. That thatched wooden house and the foliage and banana trees are out of Panama. I am totally guessing at the following: It wouldn't surprise me to learn they have lived that way since before Castro.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

By the way, are you sure you didn't take that photo in Panama?

[Texas_Dawg]

The photos come from this article from DallasNews.com: http://www.dallasnews.com/world/cuba/stories/071203dnintcubaindians.9b013.html

These people probably did live this way even before Castro. But far more people live this way, 44 years later, than would had Castro not come along. Once Communism has fallen in Cuba, the economy and way of life will improve there, drastically, overnight.

[jriemer]

A large number of US citizens have been travelling to Cuba via Toronto and Vancouver - by-passing the US ban. By what I understand, the Cuban customs / immigration officials never marked the US passports at arrival / departure and the Canadian officials only cared about when they were leaving Canada or declaring asylum. This way, ban-passers don't get hassled when they cross the US Border.

One time I arrived at Toronto's Pearson airport one evening on a business trip. While waiting in the Canadian immigration line, a Air Canada flight arrived from Havanna and around 50% of that flight was American college students returning from a Leftist vacation / retreat. They were all joking about how they were slipping one past "the man" and this was right after 911. All of the Americans in front of me were re-admitted into Canada without a hitch to eventually return to America at some time in the future.

[freekitty]

I don't think you can get any dumber, except for the moron who wants his children to decide the most important decision in his life.

[hobbes1]

"Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be....

A well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 % literacy"

J.Derbyshire...NRO

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I was only pulling your leg about the photo only because it looks like Panama...except the duck. Chickens are preferred here because they are pretty easy to maintain...except when a possum gets lose in the yard at night. With a few handfuls of rice tossed at them during the day, they spend the rest of the day running down bugs in the yard.

And yes, everybody is worse off with Castro no matter what their economic background was/is. That poor man still has to give a share of what ever he grows to the government. Certainly these people are worse off if that’s possible.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

That’s true. Cuba stamps no passport of any kind coming and going.

They were all joking about how they were slipping one past "the man" and this was right after 911.

I find that truly disgusting. I went for the purpose of expanding my knowledge of the world and for nothing more. I just can’t find words to describe that type of mentality and behavior. It truly sickens me. They didn't go to learn but to slip one past and then bragging about it. What a bunch of slobs.

[Texas_Dawg]

Yep. For one example, if this man was at least in a free economy, he could get another duck and breed some ducks behind his shack to sell in the market. This would at least provide him with a little extra money and someone else in town with some duck meat. But Cubans aren't even allowed to breed the chickens, pigs, and ducks that wander in and out of their huts. (I know, because I recommended this once only to be met with a room full of laughter at my naivete.)

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Hey Feepers, I've got to go run an errand for a couple of hours. Will catch up later.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

They could also reap from the eggs they lay. What a shame. Hopefully Castro will pop off soon, but the bad always seem to stay forever. I do see great things for Cuba once this happens. Tourists will be going to Cuba rather than Florida. One can see that Havana was once a very beautiful, vibrant place.

I really do have to see about a plane ticket now...to Florida that is.

[jriemer]

They didn't go to learn but to slip one past and then bragging about it. What a bunch of slobs.

They were also the brightest examples of our higher-education because one of them brought a surf board along in their carry-on. [/sarcasm]

[Texas_Dawg]

Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer) says, "Can't... stop... FReeping..."

;-)

[Texas_Dawg]

They could also reap from the eggs they lay.

I mentioned this to my friends in Cuba as well, and once the laughter died down, one spoke up saying, "Even if we could raise chickens privately, we're so hungry that we'd just eat all the eggs (and profits)."

From 1991-1993, after the Soviet Union fell, these people ate bananas ("fungos") every single meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They only had these and a monthly ration of a 5-lb. bag of rice. They said it caused serious problems in their arms and nerve systems. A decade later they still have meat (chicken or pork) only once a month, if lucky, and beef never. And this is the average person in Eastern Cuba. They all tell the same stories.

[george wythe]

Did you take one of these taxis in Cuba?

[george wythe]

"La Maravilla" (wonderful marvel) after 45 years of blissful Workers' Paradise
[The Soviet era black/white TV set still spews communist propaganda, even after the whole 'hood looks like Beirut in the 1980s]

[Texas_Dawg]

I didn't because I wasn't in Havana that long. But I saw them of course. The mode of transportation in eastern Cuba is ox-drawn cart. Motorized engines of any kind are very rare outside of Havana.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

They were also the brightest examples of our higher-education because one of them brought a surf board along in their carry-on.

Gads...Can you believe that? He went all the way to Cuba to surf? It's more obvious he didn't go to learn anything. What a fat head.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer) says, "Can't... stop... FReeping..."

Isn't that the truth? It's difficult to get away especially when the posts are so interesting. It's a good thing I got away because the plane was about full. Can you believe that my ticket cost over $800 just to get to Florida? And Miami is only 1050 miles from Panama. Sometimes it costs less. It's expensive since flying is the only way out of here, or they wouldn't charge so much.