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Last week I went to Cuba for a week. It was for a wedding. I've never been to Cuba and was intrigued.
What would it be like? How does their society function under Castro? Would I get to go on any adventures?
It was a fun week. We stayed a resort with a number of people for the wedding. I was impressed with the resort (Melia Los Dunas) and the beach was also amazing. I ended up going on a couple fun trips throughout the week but unfortunately didn't get the chance to get into any cities. We went on a Catamaran through the Atlantic Ocean which was fun. I even tried snorkeling but I wasn't very good at it. I guess trying to snorkel in the Atlantic Ocean with huge waves probably isn't the best place to start. I found that it was hard to breathe.
Another fun trip was renting a scooter to cruise the island that we were staying on Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba. We ended up going down a dirt road to a conservation area which eventually led to this really quiet area near the ocean. It was amazing..... white sand ran for miles. I couldn't believe the amount of wildlife that I saw; fish galore, jellyfish, all type of birds, crabs and geckos.
The wedding was lots of fun as well. This was my first time at a beach wedding and it was fun to see all the spectators watch along the beach with drinks in hand.
While the Cuba trip was fun I don't see myself going back to Cuba for a longggg time. There are a few reasons. The people are poor and make around $20/month. The first thing I noticed when we were being bused into the resort was the older buses which were leaving. Those were the workers going home for the night. For the entire vacation they served drinks and provided remarkable service while all of the tourists had a blast. The only problem here for me was that I was in their country enjoying the life that they should be enjoying but couldn't. There were tolls on the bridge to get to the resort and the hotel had big gates; I'm assuming this was to keep the Cubans out?!?! I had a conversation with a black guy that thought I was Cuban, I spoke to him then he realized that I wasn't like him. To be honest, watching the Cuban men in the garden in blistering hot 30 degree weather felt a lot like slave labour to me.
At the airport they had a $25 surcharge to leave the country for tourists. But what is that really for? Their airports are old and look like they haven't had work done in years. Where is this money going? I totally understand that tourism subsidizes the life of the Cubans but there are so many things that just don't make sense to me.
Would it be different if the Cuban people were totally free? YES, because then they would control the path of their destiny but they are not totally free. So yes it was fun but no I won't be visiting for a while.
