U.S. Travel to Cuba

I've vacationed in Cuba 3 times and loved it less each time to the point where I'd never go back. The first time was in 1987 and that was our first offshore vacation so it was pretty thrilling for us.

At that time I found Cuba to be a marvelous country, poor but clean and safe for tourists. I was amazed at the masses of 1950's cars on the road. these old cars necessitated by the difficulty of acquiring American made cars because of the embargo on Cuba by the United States.

I was under the impression at that time that United States' airlines were forbidden to fly into Cuba but clearly remember being at the Havana airport and watching an Air Florida plane disembark their passengers. Considering that, more than 20 years later, the United States is still making headlines with talk of "finally" allowing their citizens to travel to Cuba. Hmmm!

There were plenty of Americans in Cuba in 1987, some staying at our hotel and some of whom were American soldiers on leave from Guantanamo Bay.

Our next trip to Cuba came in the early 90's but we found the country in decline. The streets were dirtier and the occasional beggar would approach you. Now the Russians were more in evidence, too, and I found them terribly boorish in their behaviour. My husband and I were in a restaurant giving our order to the waiter when a Russian man walked in, pounded his fist on his table and loudly demanded our waiter serve him first. The waiter was very nervous but did ignore him by continuing to serve us.

On our third trip to Cuba in the late 90's, this beautiful country had begun to look like a third world country. Filthy streets, open prostitution and begging, broken down cars (even taxis) along littered highways where long lines of people walked to their destinations. Granted, our trips were always to the Havana area and maybe this was where the economy was hardest hit.

There were old men staying in our supposedly upscale hotel with young Cuban girl escorts. I'd watch these disgusting men with their arms wrapped around a sad faced young girl (they usually looked no more than 15) and be furious with the situation. One large German man who appeared to be about 50 years old had one of the girls with him and saw me looking at them with anger in my eyes. He blew me a kiss. How despicable.

In 1987 I admired Castro for the progress he'd made in cleaning up his beautiful country but by the late 90's it was dreadfully apparent that his way was doing more harm than good for his citizens. Castro had done so well by providing free education and health care but that's where it seemed to have stalled. I don't know what went wrong but I do sort of blame the United States' embargo on doing business with Cuba. They were frozen out of any chance for the country to make progress.

If the United States lifts that embargo I'm sure that life in Cuba will change for the better, at least at first. Who knows what will happen in their future?