Uncle Fidel...

[Tonchi]

The problem is you are thinking of "trade" as a national capitalistic effort. No such thing exists in Cuba. Fidel will be gone one of these days, there are plenty of rumors coming through the Mexican Embassy that he has Parkinsons, is drunk all the time, etc., but still he trudges on. He has no successor. But as I said above, there are interests more powerful than our consumer goods temptations which have an agenda for keeping the status quo in Cuba and they use the Castro script of America villification and tell their own people that the US will invade their sovereignty at any minute so they have to be prepared to fight the agressors..... etc. etc. Please do not delude yourself as to the power of your good will. It means absolutely nothing in a country where your "new friends" may be arrested the same night and emprisioned without trial or visitors for the next 20 years, IF they are not simply "disappeared". Unless you have had family or close friends who lived under Communism, you will not have any concept of the possibly fatal damage you can do by trying to "spread the joy of freedom" where somebody else holds all the guns.

I do, however, have a suggestion for anybody who insists on going to Cuba, for whatever reason you have. The University in Havana is still somewhat open. I worked for a professor who was allowed to visit there because he was the world's formost authority on animal husbandry in the Third World. He was given the red-carpet treatment, allowed to send them books, call teachers there, and receive mail which (apparently) had not been opened. I translated much of his correspondence for him, and I concluded that the situation at the University is dire, because of the shortages of good texts and equipment, but the people there are as well educated and informed as possible, some have been abroad, they have underground internet rings which research what the rest of the world is doing, and they deeply desire change. They are patriotic to CUBA, not Fidel. This is where I hope the new Cuba will rise.

I've had several close friends who were Cuban refugees, and they are very sharp people. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to return to Cuba for precisely that reason. Good luck to anybody who thinks they can accomplish anything for world understanding when the best of the best outside Cuba have been struggling with that for more than 30 years.

[Cyclefrance]

In and around the resort
------

The Cuban economy and culture will be a subject of endless debate, I'm sure. I'm not ducking out for good, a return to this subject is promised in the next section, but for now it's time to move on to the reason why we went to Cuba - the need for aa damn good holiday! And this resort lived well up tio expectations

If you didn't catch the link before then check out the guest reviews here, plus there are plenty more photos of the place. I'll just post a few obvious shots to prove that we really did enjoy ourselves.

I've been to a couple of other Caribbean resorts, and really chose Jibacoa because of the reviews on Tripadvisor. The price was so much lower than anything else around that we didn't ecpect to have the quality of holiday that followed. I know there are issues about the government taking the lion's share of the revenue, but taking an objective view on resort for resort basis, this one is extremely hard to beat.

The place is kept exceptionally clean and tidy. The rooms are slightly bare-looking, but well-equipped, spacious, and absolutely spotless. Jibacoa was opened in 2000 ,but it looks like it was opened yesterday. It's hard to beleive that it has endured the wear and tear that 5 years of operation should cause. It makes Sandal's Antigua (another place we have stayed, and costing twice as much) look old and very tired.

A couple of pictures of the beach before I move on to another post and more info - and remember this is at a time when the hotel was full!

[Cyclefrance]

I know that when you take one of these holidays you are in a semi-sealed environment, but the staff seemed genuinely friendly and happy - I'm not sure that you could maintain that indefinitely if you weren't genuinely that way inclined, and most of the employees we met and talked to had been with the resort since it opened (they live in the surrounding countryside anyway and know each other since childhood).

You could venture outside, by taxi, by bus, on foot and even... well take a look at the photo below - what could you expect from mje? I jut had to dig one out, didn't I, and a real plus to get the wife on one as well!

Once outside, the landscape was as poor-looking as anywhere else we had seen so far. Dilapidated houses and shacks with no lighting, decor or furniture of any merit. Whole familes amounting to 15 or so people would occupy a small single dwelling. But there was still this balance that was hard to disturb. Yes, the people wished for more opportunity, particularly to travel, but set against this was the concern that values they cherished would disappear with change - the return of a drug culture, crime (no drive-by shootings or drug related killings here), a return to an under-privileged class (some we met believed that a situation could arise with change that could leave them far worse off than they currently are).

Not very often I encounter a couple of large bulls pulling a 'harrow' (made out of old truck tyres) when I'm pedalling away, either. The bikes were something else, as well. I'm not sure what held them together, and mine needed no bell or other form of warning sound as a means to let pedestrians n]know I was approaching as every turn of the pedal was accompanied by a rather worrying grating sound...

[Cyclefrance]

Still, the cycling was at least exercise, as was the hike into the hills embracing the resort, available on a daily basis and good to get the heart rate moving. In fact there was plenty to do in the way of sports and activities.

Snorkelling for those who wanted it and a chance to see the myriad fish around the coral reef close by the resort; Salsa classes for the Fred Astaires amongst us, even the opportunity to learn Spanish. And a few beach sports, as well - have a look at the Tripadvisor photo for some beach hockey, but I will save you the trouble of searching for a picture of the daily volley-ball match. Plenty of opportunity here to listen to Canadian voices at full volume!

[Cyclefrance]

As is our preference, we liked to take our daily walks along the beach crossing bays, for regular daily exercise - yes that was a rear view of the wife in the second picture I posted. A better view below (I was really trying to get a shot of the waves, but she just had to get in the way!) . And then there were our little blue friends... You wouldn't see any for a few days and then the wind would turn, and there they would be...

[Cyclefrance]

Last, but not least, a couple of pictures that typify the resort.

Our room was facing the beach and a mere alcohlic haze away from the beach bar. This is what holidaying is all about. twenty paces from the room to a nice sun-lounger on a white-sanded beach, and then another twenty paces to pick up a Mojito, or Lime Daiquiri, or Cuba Libra, or.... well whatever you want really - and, who'd have thought, wheelie bins even here!. An hour's sunbathing and then down to the holiday read. I'd taken the book my son bought me at Christmas. Lance Armstrong's autobiography 'It's not about the bike'. I couldn't have asked for a better read - I'll put more info about it on the book thread.

Then there was our room and te attention to detail that the staff gave to cleaning it. I know it's cheesy, but where else would you get your towel turned into a swan (other days it would be a heart or a boat). It's those little touches that make the big deifferemce and make you like one resort over another. Jibacoa has a lot to offer, and there are times you have to put the political situation to one side - after all we come on holiday to escape our own drudgery, don't we...

[richlevy]

Please tell me that's supposed to be a swan on the bed.

BTW, are the beaches clothing optional or are the commies as puritanical as us freedom lovers?

[BigV]

Heart, swan, boat, and you choose COBRA as your example of their goodwill-inducing towel-folding expertise?! ( :snicker: )

A word about those little blue guys...they are pretty. They are delicate. They are tiny. They are immobile on the sand. They are the beachfront's answer to your bedroom cobra. Except they're a lot meaner. DO NOT TOUCH! They will leave a red stinging welt like you've been lashed with a cherry red steel cable. [/voice of experience]

That thing looks like a cobra to me! Hmmm... Are you really sure the natives were THAT friendly?

[Cyclefrance]

Well, they said it was a swan... but now you've got me wondering.....

And as for the blue guys - we heard they were mean and kept a safe distance. They were quite plentiful when they came though, see below:

[barefoot serpent]

Originally Posted by BigV

A word about those little blue guys...they are pretty. They are delicate. They are tiny. They are immobile on the sand. They are the beachfront's answer to your bedroom cobra. Except they're a lot meaner. DO NOT TOUCH! They will leave a red stinging welt like you've been lashed with a cherry red steel cable. [/voice of experience]

Yes, the Portuguese Man-O-War is a type of jellyfish... avoid it!
http://www.key-biscayne.com/beach_pa.../manowar.shtml

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think the towel is an elephants head if you look down on it.

[Cyclefrance]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I think the towel is an elephants head if you look down on it.

That might explain the enormous lump in the mattress.....

[djacq75]

Fidel Castro is a good for nothing, brutal, loathsome murdering commie bastard. Which is why I totally agree with the consensus here that we ought to do to his country what we did to the Vietnamese: trade with them until they are bursting at the seams with Chicken McNuggets and iPods.

Free trade is the greatest barrier against war that has ever existed or ever will exist.

[Cyclefrance]

Originally Posted by djacq75

...we ought to do to his country what we did to the Vietnamese: trade with them until they are bursting at the seams with Chicken McNuggets and iPods.

Don't mention iPods in the same breath as mentioning Cuba. My wife insisted on taking hers and because she has one that only charges via a USB port, she talked me into taking my laptop on holiday too - great fun lugging that around along with everything else!

Come the second day there when, after much bobbing up and down on the sun-lounger with phones firmly wedged inside her ears (and causing endless amusement for passers-by), the iPod faded into oblivion, I was called upon to fire up the laptop. It was only then that my wife discovered that she had left the USB lead at home. What fun and merriment that inspired - you can imagine how much we laughed about it. Oh, yes, I'm sure you can...!

BTW djacq75 - glad I didn't catch you on an irrational anarchist day!