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Once we stopped skiing some eight years ago, we tried to,find a warm spot for winter break  every year. In the past we have been to Costa Rica http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-212508.html , Guatemala http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-295558.html , http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-295560.html , and Panama http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-959341.html , http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-959341.html . This February we chose Cuba having recently opened up after the resumption of US-Cuba diplomatic relation  http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-964501.html .
We visited both the country side (Cienfuegoes and environ) and metropolitan area (Havana) of Cuba  for seven days. The experience is very much like time travel. We experienced almost the same happenings  in this newly opened up Cuba as China was after 1979 and the early 80s. For examples ,
1. 外滙卷 Tourist cash.  In Cuba they are called CUCs which are the pesos tourist     must use  in place of the national  pesos the natives use for cash. This cost 25 times more than the national  currency Pesos. Thus, tourist have to pay 25 times more for everything that the regular Cubans pay.  Of course ,with CUCs you can buy many things not available to regular Cuban unless you are the more privilege class.  A single " Churchillian" size cigar of a name brand can cost between 19 to0 25 US dollars.   Three  quarter of the cost I suspect is simply an extortion  tax  by the government  on the tourists for  bragging rights since outside the licensed cigar store, a street character approached me with  a offer much lower  for the same cigar. But I was afraid to accept the offer for breaking the law or walk  into another scam. I also know equal size and equally good Phillipine or Nicaragan cigar sell for 10-12 US dollars in the US including the  20% federal tobacco tax.
2. 糧票 ration tickets. Yes,food and meat are rationed for ordinary Cubans.   But with CUCs tourist are exempt from this.
3. 三䡢車 Pedicabs. Yes, pedicab are very where. But more of them are the motorized  kind rather the the human powered kind.
4. Absence of 维俢, i.e.Maintainence. I have previously touch on the subject of 裝備及䏜務 ( furnishing vs. service) . http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-895341.html   To this you can  add "maintanennce". Most Chinese can remember what happened to the small exquisite hotel  designed by the famous architect, I.M. people, in the early 80s called 香山飯店 near Beijing.   Because of lack of experience in maintainence, the hotel fell Into disrepair just six months after  opening.  Example of such lack of maintainence in newly built hotels can be seen particularly in the Cuban country side.
5. Forms and forms for entrance and exit 填表. This is another form of extortion of money from  tourists and to defused responsibilities when things go wrong. As I said before http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1565&do=blog&id=7233   multiple forms  and signatures are bureaucrats'  way of avoid responsibilty.
6. One unique feature of Cuba is the prevalence ofautos made in the US during the 50s. These classic cars areexcellently preserved and still functioning in the streets as taxis orprivately owned transportation. When I first returned to China, I have seen afew Buicks made in the 40s still working. But in Cuba, there are literallythousands of 50s vintage US cars.
7. While one can say 1949 is the 分水嶺 between the old and new China,  1959 is basically the same   for Cuba when the US and Cuba  broke off diplomatic relation and sanctions were imposed  by the US. Many things became frozen in the Fifties until very recently. If Fidel Castro is compared to Mao, then Raoul Castro can be liken to Deng who opened up the country.


Anyhow given the experience of China, and the proximity of Cuba to the US, I am confident that these  above practices will disappear in due time ( just like they were in China in the 1990s).  We can argue and debate over political ideology or socialism vs, democracy , but private incentives  and market economy triumph over centralized planning of socialism always as far as economic  developments  are concerned. This has been proven again and again over the past half  century in Russia, China, and now Cuba.

Below are some photos chronicle our trip

Snow Scene in Boston when we left

Welcome Sunshine inCeinfuego, Cuba Temperature 84⁰F

Outside Hotel

Typical coffee house scene

Dinning afresco

Bay of Pigs Invasion Museum poster (note Fidel with Che Guevera)

Bay of Pigs museum exhibits 2

Flowers everywhere

Music and Dancing groups aplenty

in  next 6 photos

Classic American cars of the Fifties

Fidel portrait on side of building

Giant Jesus statue erected in pre-revolution days

Havana Harbor from Old Havana town

Inside and outside of the Museum of Fine Arts

Art combining cement and Nature

Vegtable Market

Typical coastal scene of Cuba

I close this article by quoting one statement and one joke told to us by our Cuban tour guide in   public in Cuba

" Under socialism, every Cuban are equal except some are more equal than others"

"A US diplomat and a Cuban diplomat are conversing at the United Nations.  The US diplomat proudly says that freedom of speech is a basic right of American citizens. I can go to Washinton stand in front of the White House and say anything bad about  our President and criticize him without fear of bother or be put in jail.  The Cuban diplomat responded  by saying, in Cuba we enjoy the same right. I can go to the Revolution  Square in Havana stand in front  of the Presidential palace and say equally bad things about the President of the US without fear of being put in jail."

This statement and joke openly told show how far Cuba has come in the last years and something Chinese  ScienceNet readercan appreciate,