Final Thoughts on Cuba

by | Mar 17, 2012 | 0 comments

In no particular order:   What an odd country where health care is free but you can’t buy an aspirin. The best restaurants are private (paladares) which compete with state owned restaurants.  Guess where all the gringos go.  The state fights back though.  They make the tour buses dump the tourists out at least four blocks from the private restaurants.. Artists are the elite of the country, but they mostly sell out of there home and you pay by wire transfer to another country. Their national ballet company is as good as any in the world, but their ballet theatre had restrooms with urinals torn out of the walls and no toilet paper. There’s an eight lane highway...

Fidel, the Embargo and More

by | Mar 15, 2012 | 0 comments

In Cuba, every one calls him Fidel as if they not only know him, but have a personal relationship with him.  In a way, they do.  He has cast a long shadow over the island and those who live there or lived there at one time.  He has, directly or indirectly controlled almost every aspect of their lives.  Those who live in Cuba today depend on Fidel and his regime for their livelihood, their well being and even their sense of self worth.  Those who are Cuban, but have left Cuba are, for the most part sustained by their hatred of him and a desire for revenge that transcends reason. Fidel was born to the middle class in Cuba, but he, of course, rejected class in...