Let's Hope The Cuban Government Do Not Allow It To Change Cuba's Character by: Bill
I'd hate to see Cuba become the next Aruba with casinos, burger chains and sleazy noisy rock bars full of loud drunken overweight American teens on Spring break.
Cuba has its own unique quality which is why those of us who love it so much keep returning.
I first visited ten years ago and I have to say I have witnessed so much change. The workers who live close to the resorts seem to have so much more materially. You'll see them with iPods, iPhones and even Blackberries.
In Varadero I met many Cubans from Havana who had paid more than us for a three day stay at the resort hotel. They had the latest Blackberry phones so were obviously making money on the black market.
We were saddened as parents to see the surge in elderly men, (for some reason mostly Italians), as old as my dad and he's in his late 60's, with young AfrocCuban girls who looked young enough to be their grandaughters.
We could not believe the amount of elderly Canadian women of large girth who whinge on here. We are talking tubby folks!, with young guys in their 20's. They can now check these guys into the resort hotels.
It's a shame these middle aged women are corrupting young Cuban men. It's astonishing, ridiculous even, how these women kick up such a fuss when the guys do a vanishing act soon as their papers come through.
What else do these women think?
That those young men were with them for any other reason than a passport out of poverty? Dream on!!.
Get Real, and take care of your grandchildren or do some charity work in Haiti or Africa instead of throwing your pension at a young guy who most likely despises you.
So hopefully we will see the embargo bring some dignity back to Cuban folk by way of a decent income.
Aug 20, 2010 Rating
Reassuring To Know. by: Sandra
It's reassuring to know that Cuba will not change too much, nor loose it's unique culture when the embargo is lifted.
It would be a real shame to see it return to the Battista days. You're right when you say they need to pay their workers more. No one can survive on $12 a month. And most of the goods in the shops are sold in CUC not pesos.
Cuba faces quite a challenge when the Americans arrive and the embargo is lifted. The boom in tourism will help boos the economy.
Let's hope we do not see the place morph into Miami or Puerto Rica, that would be too awful for words.
