Cuba has it goin on

I just returned from a week in Cuba with Gaurav. Beautiful holiday with some revelations I'll share with you since Cuba has a lot of great ideas.

First lesson; how not to get stomped on by Americans. It all started in the 50s when American started buying up all of cuba's farmland and manufacturing their goods, Cuba said hell no, get out and this did not please America :). Thus the trade embargo and Fidel being quoted as one of the top five terrorists wanted by America. Come on Fidel isn't a terrorist, just a communist, there's a difference. When America recently ordered that American currency be removed from Cuba and gave them one year to do so, Cuba returned all the American currency within three months just to snub them. Cubans hate America which is understandable since they have inflicted much economic turmoil. However Cuba does blame almost every problem on America. I admit that America makes a lot of mistakes (I mean a lot!!) and exploits a lot of countries but there's anti-American propaganda in Cuba that even I found shocking. Like billboards everywhere of Bush with fangs and him to Hitler.

It was interesting to see communism in action. It really seems to work for Cuba and the government is very proactive. This year everyone is getting a new energy efficient refrigerator to save the government millions in energy costs. There is barely any begging in Cuba and the even the vendors are laid back. Nothing like Mexico where they hassle you sooo much "come to my stall, my turn next, buy buy buy....!!!" In fact when you find something at a market often you have to FIND the vendor (who is sitting in a corner drinking a coffee) to ask "quanto" (how much)? Speaking of coffee: it's great there as are the rum and cigars. Ok I hate cigars but apparently they are the best in the world! Our tour guide of Havana had a great saying for how communism really works: we are all equal, some are just more equal.

We stayed at an all inclusive in Varadero......which had the most beautiful beaches!! I know you hear that about everywhere but it's true. Havana rocked; amazing history, colonial buildings, markets, nightlife, the works. The people of cuba are the best part. They say its the only place in the world that you have to pay a musician not to play!!! Everywhere you go there is someone playing a spanish guitar and belting out a tune. The musicians all have anywhere up to 4 years of music education at university and sound amazing. (My favorite song being the Cha Cha Cha). They are so lively, happy and friendly and on top of all of that: they love canadians and say that we share a lot of the same culture.

Cubas education system is one of the best in the world, everyone is educated and post secondary is paid for. They also have one of the best health care systems in the world with the highest ratio of doctors to patients... 1:170...in canada its 1.9-2.1 per thousand (ouch!!!!). As a result, Cubans have one of the healthiest and longest life spans. Recently Cuba is actually trading their doctor's services for resources. Sending doctors to Venezuela to help them in exchange for cheap oil..for Cuba who really lacks natural resources this is a brilliant trade!! Although America protests it: "They (America) are ashamed and protest as if it were a crime or a conspiracy to take care of millions of excluded Venezuelans," said Pres. Castro. "If they (the doctors) are Cuban agents, why dont they send agents from the United States who are capable of living where the poor do, and practicing medicine in order to save so many lives among the marginalized people in those barrios?"

Cuba now allows religion to be practiced but not evangalized. They have the theory (of which i agree) that you can believe, justdon't waste your time telling everyone else about it. Another quote from our tour guide "Which theory is true: evolution or creation? It is a good question, Cubans just have the train of thought that there are such dramatically more important questions in the world today" (like how can we stop poverty etc!).

One more thing, like a lot of latin countries these people know how to rock it. Everyone knows how to salsa and the nightclubs are hot. We went to a Tropicana show where there were over 200 dancers, musicians and arcobats (the show also included a complimentary bottle of rum and some wine but that's a different story!). It was really impressive.....as were the ladies outfits: all of them know how wearing a thong should look! Speaking of good times we had a blast with a group of British airline personnel, stories that are in the vault!!

So between their laid back attitude about religion, tolerance, peaceful ways, love of music and dance, amazing weather and beaches, selfsufficiencye and their ability to stick up for themselves as a nation I say Canada and all nations could learn a lot. Cheers to Cuba, a vacation I highly recommend.