# Cuba



## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Any CMF folks experienced actually living in Cuba

Thinking of an extended stay, maybe some university courses, travel the whole island, learn the language,,,,,,,,,,,,

Me and the missus in our early 60s, I'm a sorta retired pharmacist, health is good I think!

Hoping someone out in ether land has some thoughts on this! PS--we've been to Varadero twice


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

But Islenska, I thought The Pas was "A Tourist Paradise"


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Islenska said:


> Any CMF folks experienced actually living in Cuba
> 
> Thinking of an extended stay, maybe some university courses, travel the whole island, learn the language,,,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> ...


If you go, make sure to visit Vinales and surrounding area.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

m3s said:


> But Islenska, I thought The Pas was "A Tourist Paradise"


Yes we have our moments here but being an "old-timer" this winter was brutal, mind you it was rough all over!

Just always was interested with the Cuban revolution and how the country is evolving today and 28C in January..............


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

Cuba has become one of my favorite vacation spots but I don't know if it is the place for an extended stay. My last trip there I met a couple of people who had spent time on an extended stay in Cuba - a fellow from Paris who spent a few months and a Canadian lady who spends about 5 months a year down there. Some comments I heard:
- The choice of food and consumer goods outside resorts is fairly pathetic. Limited choice and poor quality.
- The choice of activities is poor - you won't find movie theaters, shopping, bowling, golf, etc. in very many places. Cubans tend to spend a lot of the time just standing around for lack of things to do. In general it is not like Europe where you have a historical site around every corner. Much of Cuba, especially Havana, is crumbling. 
- People who are on an extended stay in Cuba are closely watched by authorities. There are restrictions to having Cubans over to your residence or visiting Cubans after certain hours. This is especially so with members of the opposite sex, which probably won't be as much of an issue for you but I suspect you will be watched none-the-less. 
- Communications, transportation, internet, etc. is limited and no where close to the standard in free-market societies. Cell phone communication is expensive, there are frequent power outages, internet service is along the lines of dial up and public transportation is poor or non-existent.

If you are still thinking of going, I would suggest testing the waters with a month or two long stay first. Probably somewhere in Spain or Portugal would be a better bet for an extended stay/travel/study experience.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Spidey said:


> Cuba has become one of my favorite vacation spots but I don't know if it is the place for an extended stay. My last trip there I met a couple of people who had spent time on an extended stay in Cuba - a fellow from Paris who spent a few months and a Canadian lady who spends about 5 months a year down there. Some comments I heard:
> - The choice of food and consumer goods outside resorts is fairly pathetic. Limited choice and poor quality.
> - The choice of activities is poor - you won't find movie theaters, shopping, bowling, golf, etc. in very many places. Cubans tend to spend a lot of the time just standing around for lack of things to do. In general it is not like Europe where you have a historical site around every corner. Much of Cuba, especially Havana, is crumbling.
> - People who are on an extended stay in Cuba are closely watched by authorities. There are restrictions to having Cubans over to your residence or visiting Cubans after certain hours. This is especially so with members of the opposite sex, which probably won't be as much of an issue for you but I suspect you will be watched none-the-less.
> ...


I agree with Spidey about the reality of life in Cuba- it would be a difficult stay for a lot of people, depending on your tolerances. If you are a nature freak/ photographer/ botanist, it could be great as the countryside, jungles, caves, and villages are amazing. Difficult travel though for sure. Power outages, water, food, and sanitation issues, and crumbling infrastructure will test your travel skills. There is indeed a dearth of what many would consider reasonable activities outside of the resorts. Nobody has public internet access except hotels. I found it hard to even eat well many times; the food in government run restaurants can be poor (I got a side of rotten green beans one night at a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant), markets are difficult to find and often don't have much to offer a traveller, (I never saw apples, lettuce, mushrooms, and many other things, and forget convenience foods), and getting around can be a challenge- I remember waiting 17 hours for a late train. The only real museums etc are based on the revolution- wears a bit thin after a few times. I'd travel all day to get to some town like Trinidad or Camaguey and find it was sometimes really not worth the trip. I travelled with some Scandinavian backpackers there for a bit and they were all saying 'yeah, this is all a bit of a letdown". If you want to drink Mojitos, lie in the sun, and listen to Salsa, it's great though.

Having said all that, I'm very gad I went. Great music and a lot of excellent art if you know where to look. I took some school supplies like colouring pencils etc into the country and gave them to a school in a small town- they almost cried. incredibly resourceful people, beautiful architecture and graveyards (if you like that sort of thing). Staying in pensions and eating in paladars (basic 'restaurants' in people's private homes) offer by far the best value. I found the people amazing, the nature, hiking and tiny villages off the beaten path were incredible as a photographer, and you'll find super-interesting people popping up; like the guy I met in a bar in Camaguey who fought beside Gueverra, was captured and tortured. Or the former professor who runs a botanical garden in Vinales complete with concrete T-Rex- amazing dude. And the group of kids in a cafe having a heavy-metal 'name that band' listening party with smuggled in CDs. Vinales was actually a pocket of cool in Cuba- quite hip, some decent nightlife, progressive population, and astonishing nature nearby. 

As it stands right now, I don't think I personally would choose to live there for any length of time- there's just not much to do. Like Spidey says, it's basically everyone standing around on the street because they don't have TV, a stereo, internet, money or anyplace to spend it if they did. People still disappear. In the Caymans, we had a Cuban band come over to play at my nightclub, and not one of them would speak of how it was to live in Cuba or say anything about Castro or anything else remotely political.

Veradero is worlds away from the real Cuba- there is essentially a dual supply chain of goods in Cuba- one for the resorts, one for everyone else. I never felt threatened, even in the middle of nowhere, so that's not really an issue. But just so you're aware of what you'd be getting into.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Thanks to Spidey and Indexx very informative posts and I think my head was a bit in the clouds over Cuba.
Our trip for a week to Varadero this year was simply to escape -30C weather, really enjoyed the place but it is such a shame this beautiful country with a screwed up economy and politics.

Very decent people we had contact with, have to wonder why the USA embargo remains so tight?

Once again we in Canada have to count our blessings...daily!


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

The embargo will bring the Communists to their knees! Any day now! Or, if not in the first 55 years, maybe in the next 55.

No one seems to have noticed that Cuba is the only communist country embargoed by the US, and the only one still communist. If Eisenhower had recognized the Castro government it would never have been communist in the first place.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

Why not consider Dominican Republic instead of Cuba, you have most of what Cuba has to offer sans Castro and communism, same language, weather even better in the winter, plenty of nature, culturally there is maybe a bit less but there is a reason why so many foreigners go there not just for the winter but to live there. Samana area is my favourite, still undeveloped for now and absolutely gorgeous, and it is much easier to purchase anything you need since everything is available as long as you have money ;-)


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I can think of a one-word reason to avoid living for an extended period of time in Cuba or the DR: hurricanes.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

^ +1.

But regardless, I would go out of my mind in Cuba for more than a month.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

brad said:


> I can think of a one-word reason to avoid living for an extended period of time in Cuba or the DR: hurricanes.


I don't know- I lived on Grand Cayman for five years and we only had one hurricane; mind you it was Ivan- devastation for a lot of poor-quality homes. But it would not deter me from living in the Caribbean again. And Cayman is FAR more vulnerable to storm surge than Cuba or the DR due to it being so incredibly flat.


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