Cuba

Havana, Cuba. At the central plaza, looking up at the podium where Fidel Castro would give his fiery hours-long speeches. He was still alive and ranting when we were here on our first visit, and it woulda been kinda cool to drop in on one of these mandatory - attendance events. Nowadays this is more of a hang-out spot for families and kids.

One of Cuba's main products is good ol' Soviet-style propaganda. It's very strange, seeing no ads for anything here. Except ads for the communist government: 'pro-us' and 'anti-them' billboards are all over the place.

It pays to have a thick skin when you come here - be prepared for all kinds of insulting anti-US propaganda. We thought some of it was kinda funny. I never got the feeling that the people cared as much about geopolitics as all the signage would have you believe. On every trip here we found nothing but super-friendly people.

Above : "Anti-Imperialists"? They sure didn't seem to mind when the USSR was doing it!

Right : "Translation : 'Hey you stupid gringoes - We're not afraid of you!" This sign is on the waterfront, pointed toward Key West.

Havana, Cuba. The monument to Jose Marti, Cuba's version of George Washington. Soviet-style monuments to the regime cover the island - no big surprise.

Havana, Cuba. The huge monument to communism and Che Guevarra is a centerpiece of the main public square. "Onward forever until Victory" it says.

Havana, Cuba. One thing Cubans are proud of - and rightfully so - is their cars. Old 1950's era American cars all over the island are kept running by their owners' wits alone. With no auto parts stores anywhere on the island, it's like one proud owner told us : "here, everyone has to be an engineer". Spare parts are made from old Soviet farm equipment, household items, other cars, whatever's available.

Havana, Cuba. The run-down condition of Havana really adds to its atmosphere. Beautiful Spanish architecture is everywhere, and you get the feeling that all the city needs is a good pressure-washing and a fresh coat of paint, and it'll be good as new.

Havana, Cuba. This place has more than its share of characters.

Rural Cuba. Tobacco farmers out in the countryside, proudly showing us this year's crop. Most of this tobacco will go into the production of Cuba's famous cigars. I'm not a smoker myself, but the smell of fresh-cut tobacco in that barn was about enough to turn me into one.

A beautiful little hacienda out in the Cuban countryside. This was no doubt some family's private home & farm before Fidel came to power. Now, like everything else, it's state property. There are no luxuries here but at least you get a free education, free housing, free health care, and a meager ration of food and medicine. On each of our trips here we've all generally agreed that in spite of its many problems, the average person's quality of life in Cuba is better than many other countries we could name. As long as you don't piss off the government that is.

The Cuban Countryside. This is a beautiful island. Issues that have ruined other Caribbean islands like reckless overdevelopment and poor management of resources have not had such a large impact here. One small benefit of absolute government control and a poor economy may be that the countryside doesn't get so messed up with ugly condos and strip-malls. Or at least it takes longer...