Raul Castro: Cuba willing to sit down with US

[commanding]

I bought a case of Cohibas illegally on my first day, met a random guy on the street and followed him into his home. Meeting the locals! I even got a cup of thea and had a chat with him and his sister, in a very basic engrish haha.

Sadly, since "luxury" goods can only be bought with CUC, Cuba is as expensive as ex. France would be. Cuba is actually the most expensive nation I've ever been to! :S

Been to Jamaica but never Cuba...but have seen some great color photos of Cuba in Cigar Aficionado magazine.

[Sashko]

I bought a case of Cohibas illegally on my first day, met a random guy on the street and followed him into his home. Meeting the locals! I even got a cup of thea and had a chat with him and his sister, in a very basic engrish haha.

Sadly, since "luxury" goods can only be bought with CUC, Cuba is as expensive as ex. France would be. Cuba is actually the most expensive nation I've ever been to! :S

I found Cuba to be on the cheap, compared to Jamaica or Mexico. It's almost a McDonalds of vacation world. Now if I tipped every guy that asked for a dollar that would be a different story

[Fallap]

Been to Jamaica but never Cuba...but have seen some great color photos of Cuba in Cigar Aficionado magazine.

Some pictures I took: Note that while a lot of cuban buildings look like crap on the outside, they are actually very neat and tidy inside.







I was riding shotgun^^ I managed to be the passenger in two goergous old american gas-guzzlers!

[T-5 Killer]

Some pictures I took: Note that while a lot of cuban buildings look like crap on the outside, they are actually very neat and tidy inside.







I was riding shotgun^^ I managed to be the passenger in two goergous old american gas-guzzlers!

Nice '55 Chevy. I love seeing all the classic cars. Great photos!

[SiEMpre_Leal]

niiiice photos

[Fallap]

Nice '55 Chevy. I love seeing all the classic cars. Great photos!

Thanks! Here are some more. Yes, it was quite a threat for the eyes to see all those four-wheeled gems still driving!



My BDP and I infront of a T34 tank.


If you look closely, you'll spot some old locomotives. I LOVE to wander around where normal tourist wouldn't dare to go. And my mom and I found a small treasure in the middle of Havana; a junkyard of old locomotives. We had a guided tour by an old man, again; basic engrish. But it was amazing to see old american made locomotives, some of them dated back to the 1880's! I'll try to find my mom's pictures tomorrow


Thats a true "Yellow cab" !

[miguelencanarias]

cuba will ask things like eliminating the embargo,not let felling cubans to stay in the usa,give them tons of money,leave guantanamo and eveyr other place and get rid of the usa army and destroy theyr economy and make the comunist party of the usa being the only govermening party etc etc....

them the usa will say "no" and them castro will say how evil da usa is and how he mistreat the litle independent countryes and made a march of "we hate da usa" in havana.......

He'll just ask for posters in this thread to use better grammar, and Obama will agree. Who wouldn't?

[carbonrod]

I found Cuba to be on the cheap, compared to Jamaica or Mexico. It's almost a McDonalds of vacation world. Now if I tipped every guy that asked for a dollar that would be a different story

I haven't found any part of Cuba to be expensive either. If you mingle with the locals, things are very inexpensive. If you want to stay in top notch hotels(by Cuban standards), and eat top notch food, it is still not too bad. If you want luxury cigars, buy them from the right shops in CUC.

[Ought Six]

Raul Castro: Cuba willing to sit down with US

This can mean only one thing; the Castro brothers want money from us.

[Token White Guy]

This can mean only one thing; the Castro brothers want money from us.

Let's get those casinos open again.

[KoTeMoRe]

Ending the embargo would be an important and generous step by the US. I remember reading that the US could earn billions of $$$ by trading with Cuba.

In exchange, Raul should allow for free democratic elections. Abolish the cuban peso, and yes; steer Cuba into a more western aproach.

Cuba really is an unpolished jewel, with a large potential in terms of tourism. I spend 17 days in Cuba back in 2010. (:

Abolish the Peso? Why? A weak Peso will be an absolute steal if the Economy becomes Market oriented. Think about the Real Estate bought in Pesos with that Inflation Rate in 5 years, you sell your Malecon/Matanza/Giron property and you can die a happy rich man.

Cuba is not Going to benefit from a Western Approach. It will simply chopped in blocks and sold for cheap to whoever has the cash. The Only Viable Solution for Cuba is pulling an outright Deng Ziao Ping. Now what Raul says is one thing what he does is a completely different animal. Not mentionning that I bet the Revolution Kids are not going to get pushed aside like most of the Non State-Police-affiliated Commies were in Eastern Europe.

[drake88]

Realistically, Cuba should just become the 51st state. We already have a military base there. In the past it would have been a problem since Cuba was Communist, but hell, we elected Obama. Obama, Raul Castro .. not really much difference.

The Cubans lives would improve. Cuba is only the size of a medium-large state anyway. Lots of Americans speak Spanish. We can put an MLB baseball team there in Havana.

There'd be tons of investment. Some nice casinos and hotels. Cuba would grow at China like levels for the next 20 years - 8-10% per year.

Half our politicians speak Spanish already, so incorporating Cuba wouldn't be that hard. We can just elect Marco Rubio in 2016 and annex Cuba the year after. We can even keep a small part pristine as some sort of 1950s communist theme park, Commie Disney. It's a win-win.

[KoTeMoRe]

Realistically, Cuba should just become the 51st state. We already have a military base there. In the past it would have been a problem since Cuba was Communist, but hell, we elected Obama. Obama, Raul Castro .. not really much difference.

The Cubans lives would improve. Cuba is only the size of a medium-large state anyway. Lots of Americans speak Spanish. We can put an MLB baseball team there in Havana.

There'd be tons of investment. Some nice casinos and hotels. Cuba would grow at China like levels for the next 20 years - 8-10% per year.

Half our politicians speak Spanish already, so incorporating Cuba wouldn't be that hard. We can just elect Marco Rubio in 2016 and annex Cuba the year after. We can even keep a small part pristine as some sort of 1950s communist theme park, Commie Disney. It's a win-win.

Castro Bros or not, most Cubans are not keen on becoming Porto Ricans.

[Rattfink]

I honestly see no reason that Cuba and America can't or shouldn't reconcile. We have done so with other past enemies in much shorter order and I particularly enjoy Trinidad cigars.

[IconOfEvi]

Cuba nearly was a state - it was buried basically due to racism