RAMBLINGS OF A TRAVELER IN CUBA #1 Getting There

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RAMBLING OF A TRAVELER in CUBA

#1 GETTING THERE

I really really really wanted to go to Cuba for so many reasons I knew of before going, and most reasons I learned after I was there. I couldn’t wait to go to Cuba. I dreamt about it, and read about it. It’s a country that, right now, is unspoiled and virtually untouched by USA tourism. The very thought of going to Cuba made me feel giddy all over – call it a traveler’s sickness. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and only 90 miles from Florida. We all know that, I think.

However, Cuba is a BIG MYSTERY to most USA travelers because we, meaning you and me without family in Cuba, are not supposed to go there.

Problem is, the USA government has not wanted you or me, or any one like us going to Cuba for the last 50 or 60 years. So what’s that about, you might ask? I don’t want to get all political here, but it has something to with USA imposed embargo.

I do recommend a very good paperback, award-winning novel that gives a good overview about the time leading up to the ousting of American Enterprise (namely Sugar Cane) in 1958 and prior years leading up to Castro’s revolution. Book title is, “Telex from Cuba” by Rachel Kushner. It isn’t a history/political book, but it will answer a few questions in novel kind of way, good story, and easy reading. Looks like there might be some sort of movie coming out with the same name. I haven’t seen the movie, so I’ll refrain from comment.

The USA government loosely says (not an exact quote) if you are a legal USA citizen, and you have no family in Cuba, you are not going to legally enter Cuba. No way, no how. There is a loop hole/exception however, as there seems to be in a lot of US laws. Oh, I know & have researched a good number of ways you can go to Cuba illegally. I know as well as you, you can swim from Key West to Havana Cuba, its not that far, only 90 miles. However, you do have to be able to swim around & through multitudes of very hungry sharks, and I hear the currents can make mush out of you also. Remember Diana Nyad, who is a world-class endurance swimmer, and who became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage on Sept. 1, 2013? She tried 4 times before and finally made it. She was only 64-years-old at the time and did it in a mere 53 hours. I saw a video of Diana right after she made history, and she looked very salt-water-logged and close to death. For the rest of us, however, swimming is probably is not an option. OK, back to my blog.

Any United States citizen that tries to enter Cuba without special permission, is breaking USA law and can be fined $20,000+ and/or maybe incarcerated in a not too pretty USA jail. From what I am told, the Cuban Government doesn’t really care about us visiting their country as long as we don’t do bad things that are illegal most every place else in the world, like being really, really stupid. I am sure the Cuban government has bigger problems to deal with than you or I as long as we behave.

Read more at: http://thethrillsociety.com/ramblings-of-a-traveler-in-cuba/