| oogle_ad_section_start --> | | | | mid-50's Cadillac's, Fords, General Motors, and other |
| The Caribbean is crammed with delicious and | | | | massive gas guzzlers became entrenched in a time |
| delightful little islands bathed in the warm gentle | | | | warp, so that Havana these days represents a |
| waters of the Caribbean Sea, and long ho sunny | | | | working museum of yesteryear, with all sorts of |
| days, but one of the least visited gems, almost our | | | | home-made repairs and replacement parts on these |
| little secret, is the island of Cuba. | | | | cars, some only running on a few of their 8 cylinders, |
| We first went to Cuba in the early 90's, and unlike | | | | and belching out massive plumes of black exhaust. |
| most other tourist destinations, nothing much has | | | | Mind you, with their links to the East, many small, |
| changed in all those years. What will happen now that | | | | newer but horrible Russian 'utility' cars intersperse |
| Fidel has gone is a matter for conjecture, but Cuba | | | | with these massive American museum-pieces. |
| has it all apart from modern day amenities. Also, I | | | | But the beaches, the countryside, the scenery, the |
| think it is the only country of its size in the world | | | | history - Cuba has them all, and the people are so |
| that does not boast at least one MacDonald's | | | | friendly you can be sure of a welcome wherever you |
| restaurant. | | | | go If you can speak Spanish, (or even if you can't) |
| Since the People's Revolution in 1959, Cuba has stood | | | | you will be inundated by locals desperate to be kept |
| still. In fact, for a while it spun crazily backwards in | | | | up to date with the outside world. |
| time, while the excesses of the American Fat Cat | | | | And cigars! Well, when we first went to the island, |
| hotels, casinos, and many other seedier ways of life | | | | we would very often get approached by people who |
| were swept away in a great puritanical reform. All | | | | would start to talk to you about anything, then very |
| traces of American capitalism were removed, and | | | | quickly the conversation would move around to |
| many of the inhabitants of great cities like Havana | | | | 'Habana's' - Cuban cigars. Now I have never been a |
| were forced to go back to the countryside to earn | | | | keen smoker, but even I succumbed to the taste , |
| their living. | | | | smell, and smoky heaven of a large Cuban cigar |
| What this meant was that vast tracts of cities like | | | | (Bolivar, Cohiba ,Cuaba , El Rey del Mundo , H. |
| Havana fell into disrepair and disuse, and all of the | | | | Upmann , Juan Lopez , Montecristo , Partagas , Punch |
| then 'trappings of capitalism' were frozen for nearly | | | | , Romeo y Julieta , San Cristobal ,Sancho Panza to |
| 50 years as they were when London was just | | | | name but a few), but where in London you would be |
| becoming 'The Swinging Capital' of the West. So, | | | | paying upwards of £25 each, in Havana you |
| while the Austin Mini took to the streets of London, | | | | could get boxes of 25 or so for as many dollars! |