• In-triplicate Republic
• Black Market Tomatoes
• Road Trip in Cuba!
• Road Trip - Santiago de Cuba
• Road Trip - Return to de Vita
• Cuban Tooth Fairy
• Pregnant Dentist
• Pedro the Informer
• Caibarien
• Remedio - Blast from the Past
• Exclusive: Fidel in shorts
• Grounded
• (Not so Great) Escape

Cuba: Summary

May 9 - May 31, 2004

Interior of Cuba was a mix of breathtaking, lush tropical vegetation in the mountains, crumbling cities and dusty roads. Cubans are friendly, beautiful and fascinating people living under heartbreaking poverty and oppression. This was most exotic place we have experienced in the Caribbean. Beautiful and heartbreaking. Fascinating and frustrating. We loved to come here and we were glad to leave.

The fate of Cuban people is a real issue and it's impossible for me to put the subject aside and write only about old cars and donkeys pulling cucumber filled carts on empty roads. These log book entries will be just like any other ones in this series, first impressions from couple of cruisers on a sail boat, but I would love to devote some time later on and talk more about Cuba's future, coming change, likely winners and sure losers - the Cuban people.

Just one thought to ponder on. Cuba expects over 2,000,000 tourists in year 2005 who will spend estimated $2.0 billion U.S. dollars. This would suplement the income of communist elite and what's left of it would be spent on ideology-driven priorities. Average Cuban will be amazed how comfortable some military and government higher-ups are going to be while majority of Cubans will struggle through transition on government issue cardboard bread.

Visit Cuban Forum for more interesting findings on Cuba.

The Cuba Factbook

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