Lifestyles of the Rich and Flagrant

I guess I'll give you guys a quick guide as to how the holiday went:

Toronto was alright. The highlight of Toronto was probably seeing 300 on a 6 storey imax screen in high definition. It was an experience of such flagrant sensory overload that it pretty much literally blew my mind. They really need to bring the imax back to Dublin (but no more fish documentaries narrated by Sting!). I arrived in Toronto on a Friday night, but the downtown seemed to be pretty dead at night, there was no buzz around the place.

Cuba is where the real action is. The place is so feckin good. People are great, Havana is great, it's just so much more interesting than Toronto. Old Havana is beautiful but crumbling. Even though they have restored some of the buildings in Old Havana, they seem to mainly only restore buildings in the tourist areas.

Cuba has the friendliest people I've ever met, they seem happy and look healthy but in reality are ridiculously poor. The rations the people get are a joke, e.g. 5kg of rice a month, enough meat for 1 meal per month, 1 bar of soap a month, 1 tube toothpaste per family per month, and anything between 5-10 dollars a month depending on job. In 1992 a second cuban currancy was created, which US dollars/euro etc is exchanged into. These Cuban dollars can be used in the various shops, hotels, restuarants, supermarkets. There is basically a very small capitalist economy within the communist system. The problem is that the only way for a Cuban to get Cuban dollars is either to have relatives in the US sending money, or working around the tourist industry getting tips. A 2-tier society has been created, consisting of those who have access to Cuban dollars and those who don't. Everybody needs to have them in order to supplement the useless rations that they get, so people in rural areas struggle the most. Remember farmers aren't allowed to eat the food they produce. They live on rations just like everyone else.

As a result of this crazy situation, all the well educated people have tried to move into the tourist industry. For instance, apparently there is such a shortage of teachers that they've cut the training period for a teacher from 6 years of University in-order to teach 1 subject, to 6 months training to teach 8 subjects. Apparently today many of the teachers are poorly educated 18-20 years olds, so the standard has really dropped. The average Cuban seems very well educated though, and I couldn't believe how much English was spoken, considering the countries political isolation. One can still get their child a decent education if they secretly send them to an ex-teachers house for private classes. But of course people have to pay for it with scarce cuban dollars.

What really made the holiday though was that we met a guy named Carlos. He was our private tour guide of Havana on our 2nd day there, he was really interesting and honest, he even showed us his own house. He's a former state prosecutor who has moved into the tourist industry. Hes a cool guy and he really helped us out. Carlos basically became our personal guide for the whole holiday. Thanks to him and his 'contacts' we saved money in pretty much everything we did, like moving into the National Hotel (which has had a ridiculous amount of cool celebrities stay there since 1930, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, I can't remember them all. Strangely they seem to most cherish Michael Keaton. Can't argue with Batman!!), saw Bueno Vista Social Club, and he and his wife took us on a trip out to an amazing part of the countryside called Vinales. Vinales was probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to, it was full of glaciated valleys. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park.

Randomly staying in my hotel was that dude Ade Adepitan. he's the black guy who does the wheelchair hiphop dancing on the BBC between programs. I think he was also a paralympic basketball player for Britain.

I had a great time, especially in Cuba, probably one of the best holidays I've been on. I'd recommend it to anyone. Although its definitly not a perfect place, my opinion of communism has improved a lot (from a very low base!). There is a strong community, its safe, the people clearly have an easy going lifestyle, and in fairness its by far the most stable country in the carribean. Oh and I have to mention the cars. Many of those old 1950's cars were in fantastic condition. What I was suprised by was the amount of the old Soviet Ladas, they were EVERYWHERE. And I have to admit, the Ladas don't even look that bad anymore. Infact, I'd love to have a lada. In my opinion they were so legendarily shit that they now should be regarded as the musthave retro-icon of 1980's flagraliciousness.