the Cubans have security down too. in habana centro, there is a cop in the middle of every single street corner. watching and rotating in place. locals and discreet visitors wait til his back is turned and then do their business in 20 second bursts.
seeing all, watching all. cuts down on crime.
its a great place. too bad the subject sparks argument like abortion. their system ain;t the best. either is ours. ain't seen the best one yet.
too much partisanship in our system. its broke, in Cuba, the people are all broke. what good is political freedom, which they don't have, if you have no money?
wonderful people in Cuba. our governments get in the way.
more people should go there. land in cancun and just go. you will never regret it.
(and i barely got out the first time. their security held me for 30 minutes cause my pa was born in puerto padre cuba and i told them so. they did this eye stare thing where they stared into my eyes and i had to stare into their eyes and if i blinked or looked down we started over. lasted 5 minutes or so. tweaky. strange. freaky. but over soon enuf and off i went on my merry way.)
//AmbergrisCaye.com/havana/
from a friend...
The first thing that shocked my brain when I first landed in Cuba is how
wickedly FINE everyone in Cuba looked. I mean, the Cuban folks are built
sooooo fine, like a thoroughbred race of people. One would have to really
look around to spot anyone with a beer belly or any nano-centimeter of fat
anywhere. And the features of the people are absolutely beautiful. Unlike
in Belize where the Mestizos have a blend of Mayan blood, the Cuban mixture
is of pure European (Spaniard) and pure Black. It is incredible to look
at - smooth faces, great skin, etc. This, on so varied a range of skin
tones. Racism as far as I can tell is pretty much non-existent.
Why are the Cuban people so fine looking? These are my theories: first of
all, everyone and his brother in Cuba is a medical professional of one kind
or another. The health centers are everywhere. Anyone feeling the
slightest affliction (major or minor) of any kind can pop into one of these
health centers as quickly as we pop into a fast food joint to have the
health issue addressed immediately, free of cost. I observed pedestrians
stopping into hospitals on their way to work, etc. to have their blood
pressure, etc. checked. This is so second nature to all Cubans. There is
no reason why any Cuban should suffer from any medical problem at all. In
fact, this is probably why Castro has lived so long (78 years and counting).
The amount of medical professionals in the country are so plentiful all his
valves and aeortas are probably checked daily. Then there is the issue of
transportation. Most of it is done by foot ensuring that any body fat will
remain trimmed. Couple this with a healthy diet and viola! I fell in love
at least a thousand times a day!!
AmbergrisCaye.com 
