Cuba advice

my experience was completely different.

i found the cuban people extremely informed and educated, and completely engaging

have fun. it will blow your mind. was my favorite trip of all time and i have been (almost) all over the world

I agree. I guess Dennis didn't have an actual conversation with anyone, because if there's one thing Cubans are it's highly educated and surprisingly well informed.

And Dennis says to keep politics out of it while he does everything but in his anti-commie rant. Well, if attitude is everything then that says it all right there.

US citizens can't help but be curious about the differences in politics and culture, but you must be very discreet when discussing politics with Cubans. They have to live a dual life much like teenagers living at home: one face for the street and one for your parents. Change is coming slowly but surely, but folks with privileges don't want to lose them, and others without want to get them, so folks turn others in for being "disloyal" to the government. Think McCarthyism.

Overall after living around Cubans most of my life I find them engaging and warm but also products of their history, which has made them quite enterprising but a bit hard around the edges out of necessity. Kind of like a cross between New Yorkers and Aussies but with a definite upbeat Latin American personality.