Cuba's changing?

morphus says on Jun 4, 2008, 04:51:

Cuba changes week by week except for the regime.

CheersTerry, where are you?

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jun 4, 2008, 05:06:

my husband did a charity cycling in Cuba in 1995, he wrote story about his travel there, he said he never has never seen so many beautiful old cars

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morphus says on Jun 4, 2008, 05:17:

The old cars don't rust due to the hot climate.

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Jun 4, 2008, 06:06:

uhmm but if they are by the sea they will, the salt will rust them in no time

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morphus says on Jun 4, 2008, 06:54:

Well, the old cars in Cuba are'nt so beautiful. They have been modified and are used for basic transportation. The fist time I went to Cuba, I saw car fenders coming out of the baggage carousel while I was waiting for my bags.

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Peter Perez says on Jun 5, 2008, 17:38:

There hasn't being any changes at all, except for more repression on dissidents.
People can buy computers , but not access to the internet.
You can buy electric goods, but half of the time there is no electricity.
You can buy cooking pots but food is gone up and hard to find.
Changes ? No my friends only smoke and mirrors.
As we say in Cuba
Same Cat different collar"

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morphus says on Jun 6, 2008, 04:42:

Some Canadian economists are advising Cuba to charge Cubans in pesos for consumer goods so they will have an incentive to work harder.

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Peter Perez says on Jun 7, 2008, 12:00:

I didn't understand that Morphus, Cubans do get pay in Pesos !

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morphus says on Jun 7, 2008, 16:04:

There are 2 different pesos in Cuba. The worthless CUP peso that the Cubans get paid in and the CUC convertible peso that tourists and some Cubans use if they are lucky to get their hands on them. The CUP peso does'nt have any buying power outside of select ration goods. If the regime would sell computers, DVDs,TVs, ect priced in CUP pesos then Cubans would theorectically work harder and Cuba will have a better economy. Lets say there is a $500 dollar computer. The regime could sell it for 500 CUP. Although, that is only about $50 dollars, the Cubans will work harder and increase productivity on the island.

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Peter Perez says on Jun 8, 2008, 12:59:

Morphus are you cuban ?

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morphus says on Jun 8, 2008, 18:01:

No

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morphus says on Jun 9, 2008, 09:54:

Anyway, here is one of those nice Cuban cars:

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Peter Perez says on Jun 10, 2008, 22:05:

How many Miles per Bushel ? LOL

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morphus says on Jun 12, 2008, 06:27:

That Pinar del Rio..muy muy pobre! The people in Pinar del Rio seem very nice though compared to Havana and Cienfuegos where the rip offs and shakedowns are much more prevalent.

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Peter Perez says on Jun 12, 2008, 14:14:

It has always being the same, the large Cities attract the riftraft and shake downers, even before Castro Havana was for the opportunists.
In the east are even more friendly and nice.

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sandman0011 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 16, 2008, 16:00:

morphus says on Jun 16, 2008, 16:48:

They seem to always find a way to get them running again. We broke down midway Cienfuegos to Havana.

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morphus says on Jun 24, 2008, 06:25:

It looks comfortable. At least he has protection from the sun and a seat to sit in.

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Peter Perez says on Jun 24, 2008, 19:13:

Who says there aren't changes in Cuba ?
Men can now become women and women men, all free .
Thanks to Mariela Castro as far as improvements and political changes it is worse now tahn ever.

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morphus says on Jun 25, 2008, 07:37:

Thats a big step from locking them up in prison...LOL

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morphus says on Jun 25, 2008, 07:38:

What about the jineteras? When will they get their freedom back?

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bradk says on Jun 27, 2008, 21:31:

has anyone on here flown to havana from colombia and back are you required to get stamped returning to colombia i would not want to as i am an american citizen thanks

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morphus says on Jul 1, 2008, 04:47:

Don't worry about the stamps. They will be more worried about what you were doing in Colombia. If they ask you if you have been to other countries, just say "no". NEVER say you went to Cuba and they won't pursue it. If questions do happen to get too hot for you tell them "I have nothing to say" over and over. That way you are not lying to them and not giving them any information at the same time. I have several Cuba stamps in my passport and never had a problem. I have to re-new my passport at the end of this year. Then I will be revirginized :)

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Peter Perez says on Jul 7, 2008, 13:11:

Here is some advice Peter, I would be very careful in giving instruction how to break US law concerning Cuba in this open forum;
Read this; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/05/us_kills_european_based_cuba_w...

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Ken says on Oct 3, 2008, 23:27:

When We were in Trinidad working, my friend from Houston and I went to Cuba. They didn't stamp his passport (I'm Canadian, no worry)


Its a real stupid dumb law anyway, even if the regime there is bad , there are a lot worse places that the US supports. Stupid laws are made to be broken, Punto Cerrado,

I think it even says somehing like that in the US constitution.

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Lostgringo says on Oct 16, 2008, 06:31:

Here is the deal guys. Cuba DOES NOT stamp ANY passports. None. Nada. I have flown to Cuba many times. From Canada and from Colombia. I even asked customs to stamp my passport as I wanted a Cuban Stamp on it. They would not do it. No I am not giving Americans (US Citizens) information on how to break law. And just for everyone's information allot of Americans go there. Also, the Cuban people like Americans but hate their government.

What has been done however is the US "Big Brother" style of government have actually gone into the passenger lists and got information on US citizens going to Cuba. Like they have nothing better to do!

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babygirl says on Oct 16, 2008, 17:43:

Hmmm I would say Cuba has changed for those that work in the hospitality industry and have access to convertible pesos or Canadian friends that bring them stuff. (I say Canadian because there is a ridiculous volume of Canadian package tourism to Cuba year round). The Canadians loooove to shower the Cubans with gifts (mostly useless dollar store stuff though).

My last trip to Cuba, I was chilling with a bartender and he was actually insulted that someone had given him an old no name brand cd player..hahaha. He tried to buy my full keyboard cell phone from me. That same trip, another bartender wanted to buy my iPod from me. I once gave my flat iron to a sweetie bartender that wanted to start her own business as a hair stylist. Next time I go I'll probably bring the bartender the cell phone as I don't use it anymore. He'll probably not want it because I dropped it and it has scratches on it now..hehe.
I was at a rock fest my last visit and a lot of the kids were wearing Converse runners and branded shirts. Anyway, so my opinion things have changed quite a bit from my first visit to Cuba years ago.

Canadian Girls Kick Ass!

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babygirl says on Oct 17, 2008, 06:28:

I suppose this is going to make a little bit of a difference.

Cuba claims massive oil reserves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7675234.stm

Canadian Girls Kick Ass!

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morphus says on Oct 19, 2008, 22:12:

Oil in Cuba? We'll believe it when we see it.

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morphus says on Oct 19, 2008, 23:55:

"The Canadians loooove to shower the Cubans with gifts (mostly useless dollar store stuff though)"

You got that right. They sell the gifts to other Cubans too. One time my friend burned a bunch of CDs. He printed out the alblum covers and everything. They looked like real Cds from the store. Each one was around 30 cents to produce. He gave them to some Cuban guys he knew and they sold them for 5 bucks each.

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babygirl says on Oct 20, 2008, 15:25:

hehe. I think I might have bought one of your friends cds ;) lmao.

Canadian Girls Kick Ass!

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