Cuba travel ban lifted

[jon_norstog]

To the list: looks like the ban on individual travel to Cuba has been/soon will be lifted. I haven't got the details yet, but am thinking about going down in the winter to visit and walk the Spanish American War battlefields, see if anything is left. My guess is the Cubans will be happy to fill me in on the details of their 20-plus year struggle against Spain as well as their own views on the American liberators. I would also guess that the only one of those sites I will be unable to visit will be Guantanamo!

jn

[StockDoc]

I read that there will be restriction to where you go and who you can talk to. You have to want to learn about their culture and their people, what ever that means. I imagine the Car Collector p[eople have already booked flights. I would too, like to visit the old Forts and visit the battlefield, would imagine any tours would have to include the Revolution battlefields as well as the Bay of Pigs.

[blackhawknj]

Recent pictures of San Juan Hill I have seen show it has been built on but the monuments are still in place. They will probably have special stores for foreign tourists only and I suspect they will limit travel to tour groups only that can be closely watched, stay only "approved" hotels, etc.

[jon_norstog]

I used Google earth on the area 'round Santiago. You don't get much sense of the relief but you CAN see that there have been changes.

[Ken The Kanuck]

My wife and her girlfriend went last year. I wasn't told about any places she couldn't go to. They stayed in a large resort area about an hour or so from Havana and took an old car into Havana and around looking at the old building, where Hemmingway stayed, etc.

All and all she said that she was not impressed, the hotels are sub-standard, the food is bland and the people are rude.

KTK

[dave]

Wonder how much aid money bambam is going to offer the Cubans? He was in a closed door meeting with Castro to-day. Wonder if he does, will the Repubs put a stop on it?

[PhillipM]

To the list: looks like the ban on individual travel to Cuba has been/soon will be lifted. I haven't got the details yet, but am thinking about going down in the winter to visit and walk the Spanish American War battlefields, see if anything is left. My guess is the Cubans will be happy to fill me in on the details of their 20-plus year struggle against Spain as well as their own views on the American liberators. I would also guess that the only one of those sites I will be unable to visit will be Guantanamo!

jn

Take me with you!

[Sunray]

Give it a few years. Know people who've gone(my Ma went years ago) and like Ken says, it ain't that great. Hot water in the assorted hotels and resorts is sporadic at best. Tipping hotel employees is in the form of deodorants and toothpaste.
The Car Collector people are going to be disappointed. Most of the 50's vintage cars are worn out and are owned by the State.
Remember Cuba is a People's Paradise.

[blackhawknj]

55 years of a Socialist paradise and the food is bland and the people rude. Why I'm appalled!

[pickax]

55 years of a Socialist paradise and the food is bland and the people rude. Why I'm appalled!

Yeah, they've wiped out the reef fishing, but I love the chicken and pork dishes.The people are great if you don't bring an arrogant American attitude and can live simply. Got to be one Harley with a Krag in scabbard mounted left somewhere. Lets go!

[Shooter5]

Check out this site:

http://cubanbattlefields.unl.edu/

[Kragrifle]

I would be loathe to follow in the footsteps of the Kenyan Muslim Rookie.

[jon_norstog]

Check out this site:

http://cubanbattlefields.unl.edu/

Thanks, Shooter! I've seen that before, but forgot about it. Las Guasimas was all jungle in 1898, it was kind of a foretaste of a VN ambush; at least that's my reading of the reports from back then. I might not make it any further than that beach at Siboney! War? What is that?

jn

[CJCulpeper]

Come to Cooba, Imperialist Pigs. But bring lots of Yankee dollars Many lots of dollars.

You won't find me going to viet nam, china, or the Soviet Union (russia and the eastern satelites)

[PhillipM]

After watching a short run tv series on how they keep those old cars running, I wish I could show up with a crate of small block Chevy parts. I'd live like a king!