Comments on: A helpful tourist

By: cool gadgets at the right price

cool gadgets at the right price — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:38:01 +0000

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By: Landon Phillips

Landon Phillips — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:31:31 +0000

sometimes the fit on my baseball glove is not very good ~~.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:06:44 +0000

Whoa – you got to see a side of life that most tourists don’t get to experience. Do you know why the changes are happening? As far as I can tell the country is still cash strapped so what accouts for the better food, gardens and shops? I’d be interested to know what’s spurring the change.

I too would love to see Cuba on a slower path to a true democracy – given the chaos of Russia it was a prime example of how too much change too soon is quite disruptive in society with many people falling through the cracks. China did it smarter with a slower integration into westernization of their country, although they still have huge human rights and environmental problems.

Thanks for visiting and the good work that you do!

By: Clayton

Clayton — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:39:23 +0000

Read your post with interest. We have had the privelege of being in Cuba twice in the last 15 months not as tourists but as workers with our church denomination. Our trips took us to the city of Palmira in Ceinfuegos province. Most of the people we met (except for the very agressive folks in the market) were gracious and kind, even generous. This past November we noted many significant changes – much more activity in the fields and gardens, more cars (newer)on the roads, better quantity of food in the shops and much activity (non tourist)in stores. We also had a walking tour of Old Havana which was a beehive of activity related to restoration of the buildings. They are planning for tourism to pick up and even begin by boat as the dock area was renovated and being cleaned up.
Our impression is that progress at a pace the people can handle will prevent the kinds of things which went on in the former USSR. It would be nice to think they would not become a society like our were people can go through the landfill and see peoples discards of new items never even taken from the packaging. We have some things to learn about the cost (certainly enviromentally) of a consumer driven society. Good observations on the tipping as we simply carried on as if we were at home. Things have changed as I think back to former coworkers going in the 90′s and their comments on some of these things.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:23:02 +0000

LOL! I totally hear you, and your posts captured the magic of Cuba and the nostalgia of leaving just fine.

By: tornwordo

tornwordo — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:55:52 +0000

You said it better than I did, but it was only my first visit. I would love to go back and marinate some more. And I’m not talking beer either, haha.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:10:47 +0000

@Teena – nice! There are definitely people like you who do just that, and it’s exactly that which opens up a dialogue and ushers in change. Good for you!

@Water Roots – Thanks! And yep it’s a bittersweet feeling to sit on a beach in Varadero and realize that locals are not allowed on it. Or that they can’t purchase a beer in their local currency. Or that their school bathrooms are filthy because they lack simple sanitizers. Change does take time, but what it takes most of all is the people realizing their position and clamoring for change. This can be accomplished by contact with visitors, freedom to use the internet and communication in general. Change WILL come and when it does it should be for the better.

@Jean – I love all your comments, but especially complementary ones Thanks – and remember the room is there for a guest post should you ever decide to share YOUR broad life experience also.

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:47:35 +0000

Tatiana, I love all your posts, but these ones showing your wisdom and broad life experience are always my favourite. Keep it up!

By: Water Roots

Water Roots — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:04:25 +0000

What a wonderful post, filled with terrific (and honest) information. We should count our lucky stars; we are so fortunate to live the lives we do and have all the things we need. And sure, you can say that the people of Cuba should revolt and change the way their country runs. And perhaps one day it will come to that, but for now things are very bad there. Change takes time.

When you lie on the beaches of this country, it’s hard to imagine that the locals live poverty-stricken lives and don’t enjoy the beauty of their country the way you do as a tourist.

By: Teena in Toronto

Teena in Toronto — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:30:35 +0000

I’ve been to Cuba a few times and I always try to get off the resort and really get to know Cuba.