Well the first leg is over. We experienced some great things. We went to Cuba for 3 days - wow what an eye opener. We experienced 10 foot seas crossing the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and Costa Rica. We took a trip into the Costa Rican jungle on the Caribbean side and saw some animals we have never seen in the wild, such as large iguanas, two fingered sloths, spider monkeys and holler monkeys. We then saw Panama City where the skyline now looks like a large American City or Shanghai. The old town that juts out from the Pacific is really charming and fun. We then did the Panama Canal transit for the first time in our lives. The two most interesting experiences were Cuba and the Panama Canal, so I am going to discuss those in more detail.
Cuba
Cuba was a real eye opener in many respects. I have never seen such a degree of poverty. The old American cars all all over the country (not just Havana), just as you have heard and would expect. What I did not expect was so many horse and buggies. Outside of Havana, even in the larger cities, horse and buggy is more prevalent than old cars as means of transporting people and goods. There are virtually no machines/equipment used in the fields for farming. Horses pull plows and men used machetes to chop grass/hay to feed their animals. The streets are dirty and were filled with roaming dogs. The houses and business establishments were shabby and run down. Everything in Cuba is run down.
The people are beautiful and so friendly and sweet. It’s is impossible to spend any time there and not fall in love with the people. They love to try and communicate with foreigners and many can understand or speak enough English to talk with you. If you speak any Spanish at all they are all over you! They love music. It seems that everyone is a musician of some sort. You really felt safe walking around anywhere.
It is also easy to feel some pity for them. What is interesting is that they seem to be so closed off to the outside world, that they are not really aware of how bad it is. They have no internet in their homes. There are WiFi spots in the town squares where people congregate in large numbers - all just staring at their phones. They have very limited internet access and very limited site access as well.
We had several different tour guides for various activities - one for walking through historic Trinidad, another for the state botanical gardens and another for our kayaking trip - which by the way was phenomenal. They are were “well educated” in Cuban schools, spoke good English and touted the standard required government line for tour guides that Cuba has the best “free” education and “free” healthcare in the world. That great free education probably did not include basic economics.
One of our guides pointed out the “beautiful villas and mansions” that lined a certain street in Cienfuegos. They were big older homes that at one time were beautiful, but now were run down, shabby, overgrown yards and numerous families living in them. By our standards they sad and dilapidated old houses, but in her eyes they really were beautiful - she had never been outside of Cuba and was too young to ever remember any of it looking nice. She simply does not know what she does not know! We also had one nice fella tell us in an almost proud way that by 2019 the Cuban government promised to have internet service to “many” homes!
Overall we had a great time and a very educational experience in Cuba. Cuba has so much potential to be a great country but only after they rid themselves of the Castros and get rid of the terrible economic system that have had for too long. I believe that will happen soon. I pray that it happen soon.
The Panama Canal
What a cool experience! The trip took about 7 hours to cross from the Atlantic into the Pacific. We had to go through a set of 3 locks to take us up 85 feet into the lake. Each lock took us up about 28 feet. We then traversed about 50 kilometers of the made made (dammed) lake into the Calebra cut that took us to the locks on the Pacific side. A set of three locks took us down 85 feet’s into the Pacific Ocean.
Cuba
Cuba was a real eye opener in many respects. I have never seen such a degree of poverty. The old American cars all all over the country (not just Havana), just as you have heard and would expect. What I did not expect was so many horse and buggies. Outside of Havana, even in the larger cities, horse and buggy is more prevalent than old cars as means of transporting people and goods. There are virtually no machines/equipment used in the fields for farming. Horses pull plows and men used machetes to chop grass/hay to feed their animals. The streets are dirty and were filled with roaming dogs. The houses and business establishments were shabby and run down. Everything in Cuba is run down.
The people are beautiful and so friendly and sweet. It’s is impossible to spend any time there and not fall in love with the people. They love to try and communicate with foreigners and many can understand or speak enough English to talk with you. If you speak any Spanish at all they are all over you! They love music. It seems that everyone is a musician of some sort. You really felt safe walking around anywhere.
It is also easy to feel some pity for them. What is interesting is that they seem to be so closed off to the outside world, that they are not really aware of how bad it is. They have no internet in their homes. There are WiFi spots in the town squares where people congregate in large numbers - all just staring at their phones. They have very limited internet access and very limited site access as well.
We had several different tour guides for various activities - one for walking through historic Trinidad, another for the state botanical gardens and another for our kayaking trip - which by the way was phenomenal. They are were “well educated” in Cuban schools, spoke good English and touted the standard required government line for tour guides that Cuba has the best “free” education and “free” healthcare in the world. That great free education probably did not include basic economics.
One of our guides pointed out the “beautiful villas and mansions” that lined a certain street in Cienfuegos. They were big older homes that at one time were beautiful, but now were run down, shabby, overgrown yards and numerous families living in them. By our standards they sad and dilapidated old houses, but in her eyes they really were beautiful - she had never been outside of Cuba and was too young to ever remember any of it looking nice. She simply does not know what she does not know! We also had one nice fella tell us in an almost proud way that by 2019 the Cuban government promised to have internet service to “many” homes!
Overall we had a great time and a very educational experience in Cuba. Cuba has so much potential to be a great country but only after they rid themselves of the Castros and get rid of the terrible economic system that have had for too long. I believe that will happen soon. I pray that it happen soon.
The Panama Canal
What a cool experience! The trip took about 7 hours to cross from the Atlantic into the Pacific. We had to go through a set of 3 locks to take us up 85 feet into the lake. Each lock took us up about 28 feet. We then traversed about 50 kilometers of the made made (dammed) lake into the Calebra cut that took us to the locks on the Pacific side. A set of three locks took us down 85 feet’s into the Pacific Ocean.
Keep those posts coming! Sounds like an adventure.
ReplyDeleteWow! What an adventure!
ReplyDelete