[posterchild]

Noticed on DU.

[Sacajaweau]

For sure, more antique cars than anyplace in the world.

[Texas Eagle]

Bookings to Cuba jumped 57 percent for one New York tour operator in the weeks after Washington said it would renew ties with Havana. In February, they were up 187 percent; and so far this month, nearly 250 percent.

Wonderful news!

Say, Andrea, Peter, how much have the bookings of Cubans travelling to New York and Washington jumped by?

[dfwgator]

I have no desire to visit Cuba, it’s rundown and smelly. That’s what people really want to see?

[Texas Eagle]

"Cuba has a very authentic atmosphere which you see nowhere else in the world," Gay Ben Aharon of Israel said while walking through Revolution Square. "I wanted to see it before the American world ... but also the modern Western world comes here."

Say, Gay, how many Cubans get to travel to Israel to see the atmosphere in Israel?

[Celtic Conservative]

Yes, by all means let’s capture the charm and grace that is the essence of “third world shithole” before the Americans come and mess it up!

/s>

CC

[Texas Eagle]

Outsiders may romanticize the "time-capsule" nation, but many on the island are ready for change.

Yeah. Many "on the island" want to get the hell OFF the island.

But they can't, can they, Andrea? Nothing changes for them. They're "employers" will get paid in dollars and they will continue to receive their pay in pesos.

[JudyinCanada]

The streets of Calcutta also have a very authentic atmosphere.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Can I ask a stupid question?

The liberals view seems to be that our embargo against Cuba has created great hardship for the Cuban people. Supposedly living standards and economic conditions were terrible in Cuba because of our actions. By isolating Cuba as we have, it supposedly created these horrible conditions.

My stupid question is: if we supposedly are responsible for these terrible conditions there, why would liberals want to go experience the “authentic” Cuba, before McDonald’s and Starbucks and Hilton Hotels arrive? What the heck is up with these people? Shouldn’t they welcome the day when Cuba is no longer isolated, based on their own criteria????

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Using money to purchase food rather than ration coupons.

The horror!

[oh8eleven]

Cuba has a very authentic atmosphere which you see nowhere else in the world
Oh, I don't know ... I'm thinking there are plenty of third world, socialist cesspools that have the same "atmosphere."

Hogar dulce hogar ...

[tumblindice]

Years ago when I would still risk Mexico, down in Cancun, before getting on the sailboat for Isle Mujeres I noticed an old woman selling squares of toilet paper outside the ladies’ room.
She had apparently gone in and stolen the toilet paper for re-sale.
At the Cancun airport, I asked the customs drone where he went on vacation. He gave me a good “stink-eye” and replied, “Kooba”.

” ... after Washington said it would renew ties with Havana”
`Washington’ did no such thing. Like so many bad things coming *out* of Washington in recent years, this can be laid on the doorstep of our Marxist pResident.

[skeeter]

Tourists are flocking to see the Cuba America created in 1959 before the Americans come - got it.

[Yollopoliuhqui]

If we had done this 50 years ago, Cuba would be a thriving capitalist nation state today.

[Blood of Tyrants]

http://therealcuba.com/

[RayChuang88]

There is a LOT of concern that once the sanctions lift, within 10-15 years Havana would be unrecognizable. Can you imagine what Old Havana would look like once there is money to finally clean up that part of town?

I think a lot of people think Havana would look like a larger version of San Juan, Puerto Rico after the place is cleaned up.

[UB355]

“There won’t be enough services to accommodate the Americans who will come like rats on a ship.” says Rogelio Gauvin, a tourist from Canada”. Hey Rog it’s the Cubans fleeing over the years in actual makeshift ships, ask Jinny Carter.

[driftless2]

Yeah, they better get there before McDonald's etc. are deluged by foreigners helping Cuba's awful command economy. It sure would terrible for native Cubans to have jobs that pay far more than the average Cuban commie job.

The only foreign service-oriented businesses that have a chance to survive will be those that cater strictly to foreign tourists. Native Cubans don't have the money.

[dead]

Liberals love the poor in other countries. They romanticize their plight, and dream of visiting them and observing the locals like a sort of zoo exhibit.

"Oh! Look at that! It's so natural and green the way they make a hospital in an old garage and scrape moss off the rocks to eat."

Then they jump on a jet and zip back to the upper east side to host a steak and lobster dinner where they can regale their friends with stories of the noble poor cultures they observed.

[Dr. Ursus]

You have to premium money to visit this s***hole. Antarctica used to be the place you went when you ‘ve been everywhere.

[Hot Tabasco]

Bookings to Cuba jumped 57 percent for one New York tour operator

Only because it's now cheaper than having to go thru Canada.......