Cuba?

So when do y'all think it's going to open up? would you go? Know anybody who was there in the heyday?

back when tc was a yahoo group someone went to cuba & found the old tv's & took pics.

i have a friend who has a friend who has a friend that runs a non-profit org that allows american volunteers to enter cuba by delivering medical aid. i was going to check into it myself (in no great hurry though), if you are interested let me know.

i think castro has a few more years (a very few!). i hope to get there before hard rock cafe does!

if you're hankerin' for cuba, check out the movie I AM CUBA. here's netflix's description:

This landmark Cuban film was lensed in 1964 during the heyday of Fidel Castro's revolution. Four beautifully made vignettes set in pre-Castro Cuba dramatize the need for insurrection, idealizing hardworking but exploited peasants and Castro's staunch, freedom-loving revolutionaries. Although I Am Cuba (which wasn't released in the United States until 1995) hammers home one-sided, political points, it's masterful filmmaking nonetheless.

there is a scene shot in tv's. the movie's extremely dogmatic & dated but pure eye-candy!

another great film set in cuba is BEFORE NIGHT FALLS.

i read an article a few weeks ago about how cubans are fearing the inevitable effects of surge of american tourists that they aren't really equipped for.
i'd love to visit cuba, personally, but i really regret (in advance) how we'll trample the place. (and the hard rock cafe mentioned earlier.)

You can travel to Cuba through Canada. I haven't been but just about everyone I know has been... Cuba is full of hosers on holiday. I'd like to go but my husband is a US citizen and doesn't want to take the chance of getting caught. However there are Canadian companies that specialize in sending americans to Cuba. They just don't stamp your passport.

i've heard of americans getting hassled by feds while in cuba. something to the effect of it's okay to go there but you can't spend american dollars ...

i also heard the u.s. gov was real lax during the clinton administration but that bush has been coming down real hard on americans going there.

speaking of canada... now that i live closer to the great white north, i was pondering how easy/risky it would be to get some cuban rum for myself. i suppose i could always use an empty meyers's bottle and transplant. hmmm.
smuggling is against the law. i'd neeeever do that. :P

I would love to go with my neighbors. They're Cuban/Costa Rican.
I think there must be some major corporations just waiting to grab property on the cheap and build like crazy. Congress keeps voting to improve relations -- which usually means somebody has been or is gonna get paid -- then Castro locks up a bunch of people and the whole deal is off. That guy can't die soon enough in my opinion.

When Disney gets into Cuba

If you're driving across the border, no problem. they almost never check. I'd stick it in another bottle.

Actually it may be legal to bring back anyway. I don't know the law.
You should email the customs people and ask them.

Chris, when you go to Cuba, you take US dollars. That is the only currency the Cubans will accept.
I'm not sure how that works, but that's the honest truth.

Yes, yes and YES!

I have been all over Latin America, done business with the Cubans (I had a boutique cigar company back in the 90's) and my first Misses was half Cuban, BUT I have never gone even though I live only 90 miles away! First it is expensive for me to get there costing at least $600 RT for the trip (P.I. RT was only $1000), second Bush has been trying to crack down on Cuban travel. Congress voted to NOT fund the Secret Service to prosicute, but Bush has promissed to veto that (remember Jeb B. is backed by the Rep. Cubans of Miami). They have U.S. customs at Nassau watching the Havana flight disembark, also the one in Toronto is watched. So Cancun is your best bet or as stated above do the take medicine for a visa thing which only costs a few hundred $$$.

Will Castro die soon? Well not soon enough in my book! He is 77 since last Aug 13th, but his Mother lived until her 90s, so who knows. From what I figure Castro has lasted this long because like Mao, he is a political icon, almost god-like to many Cubans. The majority of which have never known anything else. But from what I hear, they are sick to death of the 'revolution' and will be glad when it is over. The problem is that Castro's brother Raoul will take over after Fidel dies, and this has been very well rehersed. It is speculated that Raoul will crack down on the initial public's desire to be free of communism and then there may be a civil war. :cry: I will certainly THEN go to see it all if I can, before Micky D's invades. On the other hand, outside of Cancun and a few other beach areas, Mexico is still Mexico and free of the pinche gordo, feo gringos. :P

[ Edited by: Rattiki on 2003-11-18 12:59 ]

I have been to Cuba and must report a warning that there were a lot of Italian men in thongs. HAIRY Italian men. Lots of vintage cars straight from the 50s. I went to Varadero and the water was clean and clear, spectacular beach! Best of all no one tries to force you to buy anything like in Mexico.
But alas,
what I most remember,
is a hairy ass.

OK, got this from a customs site...

"Cuban Cigars It’s true! You can buy Cuban tobacco, cigars and rum in Canada. Just be sure not to take them with you into the US. "

Sorry! I'll just have to drink all this Havana Club myself glug glug

I met a woman in Arkansas who's been on some caving expeditions in Cuba. On her first trip there, a Cuban man was caving in patent leather shoes. She asked him why, and he said, "These are the only shoes I have."

Now, whenever she goes to Cuba she brings as many extra clothes and boots as she can and gives them to anyone who needs them. These are not uneducated people either, everyone is poor. She said she just can't get over how much gratitude the Cubans have for the things we take for granted in the U.S.

My buddy just left for Cuba today! He has been instructed to get me the best rum he can find. He did bring me back some six months ago. He should be back in a week, and I will give you all a report. By the way, he went on one of those medical trips.

Cheers,

KT

fartsatune

alas, what I rememeber most, is a hairy ass

Was it a woman's ass?

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-11-19 22:59 ]