Cuba

In November I went to Cuba for a vacation.

It was intended to be a cheap holiday in a hot destination at an all-inclusive.  Have you been to one of these?
All the food you could ever eat, all the booze you could ever drink, lots of sun, lots of blue ocean, lots of skin, and lots of fun.

After about 3 days of this, we decided to get out of the resort and go into the closest town.  We were not in Veradero (the main tourist/resort area) we were in Cayo Coco which is an island in North Central Cuba and the closest town is called Moran.  Initially I was semi-skeptical of leaving the resort because every single tourist website had said things like: don't rent a car, don't leave the resort, don't do this, don't do that.

I'll tell you the honest truth about Cuba, the more I found out about this beautiful country with beautiful people, the more I fell in love with it.  It is one of the safest places on earth.  They have a 100% literacy rate.  They have low property crime.  You can leave your camera on the table and when you come back it's still there.  Other countries (like Canada perhaps) not so much.

So we met an amazing resort worker named Pirez who said he would give us a tour of his town on his day off.  You have to realize something, these people work usually 6-7 days a week. I don't know why the people of Cuba, Mexico, etc get labeled as lazy.  Most of the people I have met in these countries work harder and for longer hours then I do. To continue, Pirez was being very generous with his time to show us around.  Obviously his ulterior motive was to make a little money on the side, but still, I felt that he went out of his way to show us around and spend time helping us see the culture.  He took us to all of his family's houses and took us to all the famous landmarks in this little city.  He explained the local culture and did the best to describe what Cuba is all about.  I won't bore you with the details but let me put it this way and this is the point of this post: we as Canadian's take everything for granted.  I learned so much about the country and communism and feel like I can now form better opinions of the rights and wrongs of capitalism vs. communism and developed an opinion for myself about the world I live in.

The things we take for granted?
- Borrowing money.  In Cuba and other parts of the world, people can't just borrow money from a bank.  They can't just fill out some forms and get a Visa and pay with future earnings.  This is a huge advantage that we have in the modern world.  It means that you can own a house.  It means that you can buy a car.  It means that you can go on opulent vacations once a year.
- Quality food.  Cuba doesn't trade with the US.  In fact it wasn't until the late 90's that Canada started trading with Cuba.  They have to import from Argentina, Russia, & China.  They don't always have quality food and if they do they can't just splurge on higher end beer.  Or cheese.  Or olives.  Or bread or or or or...
And it's not like they can just go to Safeway.  There is no Safeway.  There is no Future Shop.  There is no McDonalds/Subway/bullshit fastfood restaurant.
- Travelling abroad.  Canadians are accepted into just about every country (unless you have a criminal record or something).  Some citizens of some countries, like Cuba, cannot leave their country.  They cannot experience the world like we can.
- Freedom of information.  I can access google.  I can access facebook.  I can access CNN.  I can access world news.  Unbiased or Biased.  Whatever I choose.  Is it like this everywhere?  No.

I could keep going literally forever. 

Basically this trip changed my life.

The other point I would like to make is that Cubans are incredibly generous people.  They also seem extremely happy even though they do not have things we have.  They are an extremely family orientated society and put family first in almost all situations.  The Cuban people live on the equivalent of $40 per month.  They cannot buy property.  They can't buy vehicles.  Sometimes the country runs out of even the most simple household items such as toothpaste. 

I learned a lot. 

I grew.

I want you to experience Cuba.  Maybe you'll feel the same.  Maybe you'll think I'm out of line.

Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra