Good Morning America in Cuba (right now on TV)

[BamaDoc77]

Sorry, if this has already been posted but its on right now..I thinkits GMA, whichever one has Matt Lauer.

[replicant_argent]

Some of it real, looks like, but a lot of sunshine being blown at us too, I think.
Still a beautiful country, beautiful people, but the boat was missed on a few points. (pun intended)
I think Matt Lauers praise of their economy and health care is laughable, compared to what a good friend told me just a couple weeks ago.
The grain trade loophole the rice growers are using is interesting, though. Seems a bit of a double standard, don't you think? We'll have to ask Arnold and Slick Willie their opinions.
I hope to visit there (legally) someday, and experience a vibrant culture and the beauty that is Cuba without feeling like a hypocrite, with all that is available to me as a free citizen.

[RPB67]

Dammit !!

I missed it !!!

[carni]

hopefully they have some video online after, i missed it too.

[Mikey Ravioli]

I think its ridiculous that every single day we buy oil from countries that not only support terrorism but have pledged themselves to the destruction of the United States. Half the crap sold in Wal-Mart is made in China.

But smoke a Cuban cigar (and lets not forget the excellent Cuban rums and coffees) and you are a criminal.

[dunng]

I was looking for the video and found this one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS-gTNC4JNc

[BamaDoc77]

My MISTAKE, it was the TODAY show.....caught most of it, pretty good. Some guy gave Lauer a Guyaberry (sp?) shirt.....wonder if its coming with him back to the US.. hmmmmmmmm

[CigarNation]

It was interesting. I would really like to go. It seems like Cuba is a beautiful country, but I'm sure there are plenty of crappy spots too.

I found it interesting that Cuban citizens are not allowed to go to certain beaches where tourists are prevalent. I did know that they give tourists special money to buy cigars because the locals aren't allowed to buy the famous brands and other big exports.

[kurly]

I could very well be wrong, and I'm sure there are many more knowledgeable people on this board about Cuba, but in my experiences there they have two unique currencies. Before 2002 (and it may even have been before that) the two currencies were the local Cuban Peso and the US$. After that time they created the CUC which in English is the Cuban Convertible Peso. It is essentially currency used only by tourists or retailers in the tourism trades.

You can exchange Euros and Canadian $ quickly and easily at almost any hotel and most banks, and where you used to have pretty much a crap shoot as to whether the person or business you were dealing with preferred local currency, US$ or something else, now all you need is the CUC. I have never had an issue exchanging Canadian $ and the most recent time I was there it was $1.00 Canadian for $.75 CUC. So it is worth more than the US$ but I'm not sure where it's value is determined. From what I understand you can use US$ but it costs you a fortune in exchange rates (where everything else is pretty much par). I guess it's a bit of a F U, but since there's virtually no U.S. tourism there, it only hurts people traveling from other countries who made the mistake of not bringing a currency that they prefer.

From what I understand, to buy local consumer goods it's infinitely cheaper to use local currency. I'm not very knowledgeable about the economics about it, but basically you can't spend the CUC's if you are a local, and you can't use the local pesos to buy goods or services normally reserved for tourists.

For example:

One of the people I went on my most recent trip to Cuba bought a box of Esplendidos through our resort's preferred cab driver after our tour of the Partagas factory (Havana). His brother worked in shipping at the factory and always was looking for CUC's because that was the only currency he could spend at the disco.

Now whether the cigars were worth the $60 CUC he paid, I think they were. I smoked one, it tasted as close as I can recall to the ones I had just bought from the CDH and came in the same box with the same indicators and everything, but the length was 1/8" shorter than the ones I bought... I doubt they were real, but hey, $60 for a box is still a good deal considering what he got.

[Teninx]

I want an OFAC license to travel to Cuba for journalistic purposes. I'd tell everybody here all about my trip, and even publish a blog somewhere.

I wonder if Michael Moore will wind up in hot water after his little excursion to Cuba.

[kurly]

I dunno how I feel about that.

On the one hand seeing him punished would make me happy (although I fantasize about Moore being killed in a prison knife fight) but if nothing comes from it, it seems like it would be difficult to punish other Americans (with less media power) for trips that are less about medical procedures and more about picking up smokes. I'm not entirely sure how the justice system works there though...