Monday, April 06, 2009

so... Cuba

My trip to Cuba has come and gone. Guess it took me a while to get around to posting about it. In fairness (as all my blogs start with excuses), I did finish university with an Honours BA in the mean time (finally).

Cuba was pretty much as I had expected. Our resort looked pretty much like those pictures below. It wasn’t terribly hot there, despite it being June, nor was it terribly stormy despite it being hurricane season. It did rain every day at four and there were invisible bitey bugs in the evenings, the true sting of which was not apparent until I was back in the Canadian air.

Aside from some good reading an general lazing about, I did get in some snorkeling - I’m a mouth-breathing pro, it turns out. We also got in some paddle-boating, catamaraning, drinking, dancing and sleeping.

Some observations:
1. Cubans like Canadians, except les Quebecois for some reason.
2. They’re not so keen on the British and really don’t like Americans (obviously).
3. They like Germans, but not German tipping.
4. As with China, they think white skin is attractive.
5. Everyone at the resort was monstrously fat.
6. One woman looked like a worn leather bag, reaffirming my love of sunscreen.
7. They seem to think that foreigners do not possess the ability to understand what living in Cuba is like. Granted, I have a lot to learn about Cuba, but I’m not that naive. I do understand the basic concept that Cubans resorts are for foreigners only and that the rest of Cuba looks nothing like them.
8. Apparently, Cuban health care is not actually fully free. They’re still better off than the American indigent [fat baby defenders: that’s indigent, not indigenous].
9. I can’t make change in currencies which have $3 bills.

I’m going to post later about something slightly more politically significant, but I’m hungry right now.

As a side note to some of my readers, I’m actually female, as evidenced by my profile picture up there on the right. Also, it’s no coincidence that my blog is called “Confusing Jessica,” if you catch my drift.

1 comment:

J.M. Spence said...

Relevance of my appearance to Cuban commentary?

Observations are not criticism, though I do admit I was fairly hard on American tourists.

I actually think Cuba is a beautiful country and was extremely impressed by Cuban people. As a Canadian, I am certainly impressed by any country that successfully resists the US.

However, no place is perfect. Change starts with dialogue. Productive dialogue is based in mutual respect. I'm afraid you've let me down there.

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