A friend of mine from high school posted on Facebook a beautiful pic of cyclists riding along the Malecón in Havana, Cuba. She made the comment, “looks beautiful, but just off to the side, it’s total devastation.”

I thought “what does she know, she’s never been there” (I have). I searched her profile and discovered that indeed she had been there with a mission trip from her church.

I’m thinking that they probably lied to travel like that to Cuba from the USA. I don’t know. If I worked for the Cuban government, I would have sent their asses packing. lol. Keep your religious agenda at home, gringos.

I decided it was not worth interacting with her. I know she’s pretty far gone.

Anyway, my thinking:

— every country in the world pretties up for the international camera

— every country in the world has pretty areas and messed up ones

— let’s talk about how Cuba survives at all with all the sanctions it has to deal with

I went to Cuba in 2005 as a tourist. As a tourist, I can never see that much or really know how things are, but comparing it to other places I’ve been in the world, I just didn’t see much that was out of line or odd. I was impressed. I stayed with friends part of the time and covered a lot of distance.