samedi 25 février 2017

HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS IN HAVANA

HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS IN HAVANA
AVOID FOREIGNERS AND TOURISTS
Unless you are a tourist or an expatriate, one does not ordinarily encounter them, if you are resident in Miami or Paris or London, You see them but they are not part of your life.
So why should they be in Havana?
In Cuba, there is not a large resident foreign population and all non-Cubans come under the one umbrella of foreigners and they are meted out the same treatment, it does not matter someone had lived here for a while.
With the influx of new tourists, mainly from non-Spanish speaking countries, various types of entrepreneurs have floated up to the top of this society, which puts to use, for personal gain, much of the fundamentally good aspects of the society Fidel Castro had imagined.
I had witnessed it in Baracoa, a lovely city on the other end of Cuba to Havana, where the local cultural representatives, and euphemism for milking the best of what is available, would alter history or events to suit the audience of tourists and visitors. Of course, Havana is the capital of Cuba in more than one sense, and this cultural prostitution has flourished here as well.
I encourage my family to visit me here in Cuba but I have no desire to play host to people I hardly know. First of all, they have slew of questions, often slanted against the Cuban system and I as a foreigner who has lived in USA Australia France UK and Belgium have little interest in the engaging qualities of life in their countries when compared to Cuba (such as for the same money we could get a better place in my country)
I enjoy being with Cubans, these Cubans have nothing to do with tourists on a daily basis and are not part of the mesh of milking the tourists in every way possible. As the writer of the Rough Guide to Cuba said to me once, at the end of the day we are but Dollar Signs in their eyes.
Many interesting visitors arrive here but be aware of the company they keep, if they are with people who exploit the innocence and ignorance of the visitors, give them a big berth and you carry on with your everyday endeavours.

It is a nice day here in Havana, I shall go for a walk along the Malecon, and it is good for the body and the Spirit.

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