Has anybody ever been to cuba? I know some Canadians that went there and loved it. I'm interested in going if they lift the ban. I hear they have nice beaches there. I think the ban is kind of silly. I know it is considered a communist country but so is China and some other countries that we are allowed to travel to.

I would LOVE to be able to travel to Cuba!

My late Godmother was Cuban, and I grew up hearing stories about Cuba (and the evil Fidel who confiscated her husbands lands).

I would definitely want to go. In fact, I would love to go NOW, while it's still "behind the iron curtain"...the last bastion of Marxist communism.

I'd like to see that ban lifted. It's time.

I had a lot of friends from Boston who defied the travel ban by traveling from Canada to do social justice work.

They all said it was, for the most part, a beautiful and peaceful country. My female friends said that they felt comfortable walking around the streets unescorted at any hour of the night, something they would never do back home.

They also talked a lot about the state-sponsored university education they have. Everything including medical school is free to every citizen. Of course, doctors don't get rich like they do here, so everything is a trade-off. But I love that education is considered a right, not a privilege for the wealthy.

FunkMistress said:

In my adulthood, I learned to understand better what Castro was trying to accomplish. And for a brief time (before the collapse of the U.S.S.R.) he did, since Cuba had one of the best education systems and THE LOWEST infant mortality rate in all of Latin America.

But alas - what good is it to study hard and be a doctor, when taxi drivers are making more than you? (I saw a show once, where doctors were interviewed who quit practicing medicine to drive taxis for tourists around Havana - making WAY more money!!!)

PurpleJedi said:

Yeah, that really sucks. I wonder if there's a way for them to pay medical professionals more.

Is your family from Cuba?

FunkMistress said:

Maybe if Raul Castro opens up their economy (like China did) then professionals can command more pay. But of course, then the poor suffer (which is against the whole POINT of communisn).

No, my parents are Honduran, but my late Godmother (who was like my third Grandmother) was Cuban, and I grew up eating Pernil and Arroz-con-Gris and tostones and yucca-con-mojo....good God now I'm hungry!!!!

It's great. Lot more black people than I thought - whitey still rules though. Yes I said it, and not in a negative way.

I would love to be able to travel there