Warm, lusty, vibrant and sexy cliches about Cuba

This is how a Canadian travel writer describes a visit to the tropical gulag:

It calls us. And someday, at least once in our Canadian lifetime, it would be a blast to plan at least one getaway trip to visit warm, lusty, vibrant Cuba. The home of the sexy Salsa and a place where ocean-side resorts are easy on the pocket book.

Translation: a cheap place to have sex with a prostitute. Don't feel guilty, Cuban women are sensual and have no problem with the idea of selling their bodies and their dignity for a little perfume or perhaps a small appliance.

Visiting the cities, towns and villages of this somewhat secretive country offers a glimpse into another world.

Is it that Cuba is secretive or that perhaps people that visit as tourists simply don't want to know about the realities in "other worlds"?

Cuba's capital city has more than two-million people. A good place to start for the first night is a stay at Hotel Melia Habana in the city's centre, which is easy to get to and an elegant hotel with many ocean view rooms. It's also a 15-minute drive from one of Cuba's greatest hotspots -- the Tropicana Cabaret.

Wow, this place reminded me of that hotspot where that green guy on the movie Mask danced up a storm, but with far more glitter and glitz. The $60 entry fee includes a small bottle of rum per person. This is a world-famous club that features an open air stage with hundreds of authentic Cuban dancers and singers. It was built in 1939 and played host to famous people like Nat King Cole.

Translation: the communists have decided to cash in on the nostalgia for Cuba's "bad old days" when American gangster ran the joint along with "American backed dictators".

Havana is also a neat city just to roam around in. Take a taxi on a horse and wagon for around 10 pesos and clippity-clop through old Havana with it's amazing old Spanish Colonial buildings and colorful markets.

That's 10 "convertible pesos" to you, tourist, not the worthless currency that circulates among Cuba's citizenry.

While many of the buildings are left in squalor, they are remarkable and the government of Cuba is now pushing toward renovating some of these almost-ancient stone buildings with their giant pillars.

Yes they are "left in squalor". It's not that the government had anything to do with the creation of that squalor. In fact it's the government that's saving these precious landmarks.

The renovations also help create jobs and encourage new trades for the people.

Sounds like Barack Obama's economic recovery plan.

It's like a blast from the past. Touring through Havana and any of the main roads in Cuba where horse-drawn wagons vie with ancient Fords, Buicks and Chevy's that our parents drove in the 1940s and '50s.

Cuba is a haven for old car lovers. Anywhere else in the world these old relics would be in a museum, but in Cuba it's like being in a time warp.

And isn't that what we all really want, to visit a country where people are living somewhere between 50 and 100 years in the past?

It started out of dire need when cars could no longer be bought because of the ongoing U. S. embargo.

Of course, because the United States is the only country in the world that manufactures and assembles cars.

Many of them are worth $50,000 to $100,000 but by law Cubans aren't allowed to sell or export these amazing relics and the proud owners spend all their free time tinkering to keep their cars on the road.

Sure, because by law Cubans aren't allowed to do anything they want to do or anything that might make them some money or make them happy like owning a business or eating a lobster they caught or even slaughter a cow on their farm.

Tracy, your check from castro, inc. is in the mail.

Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at January 9, 2009 10:09 PM

Comments

Posted by: Rayarena at January 9, 2009 10:42 PM

Posted by: Lazaro at January 10, 2009 07:46 AM