- Pure Blue Sea and Beach

In my almost daily masochistic ritual, I came across this article from a UK newspaper regarding a British couple’s “holiday from hell.” If you are guessing they vacationed in Cuba, you guessed right!

The story is full of some very entertaining quotes, such as:
 

“We went to Thomas Cook for them to recommend a good holiday. We wanted somewhere with a pure, blue sea and beach. They said they had a good deal on Cuba, and a guy came up and said he’d had a good holiday there, so we paid the money right away…”

“We pulled back the bed covers, and there was blood all over the bed. My girlfriend was crying. We went and asked for another place, but everything there was damp. There was mosquitos spraying out through the air conditioning. When we went for a meal, there were birds flying around the restaurant and eating the food and it was covered in flies. Water was pouring through the roof of the bar.”
 

The Cuban government, however, was not through with them yet. Finding blood on their bed, mosquitoes spraying out of the air conditioning and flies in their food was just the warm-up. Then came time to give them a real taste of what life is like in the pure blue sea and beach!
 

They were moved into a third chalet. James said: “That was the one we were robbed in. We’d spent about £500 on new clothes and our stuff was going missing.” The couple realised that the key for the chalet was the same as the one used for the safe, which the cleaners had access to. “We called the police, and they were all speaking to the hotel staff in a different language I didn’t understand. Then they told us that if they fingerprint and find nothing, me and my girlfriend are looking at two years in jail each for wasting police time. They were all in it together — the cleaner, the gardener, everyone. Right away, we were like, let’s just go home. It’s the worst holiday I’ve ever had.”
 

What a travesty! This poor couple after waiting so many years to have a holiday in a pure blue sea and beach were given inhospitable accommodations, fly infested food, dirty bed linens and a mosquito infested room by the Cuban government run resort! What a horrible thing to do to these poor tourists! I am sure that when they signed up for their Cuban holiday they were expecting a Cuban Tourist Holiday, not a Cuban Native Holiday! Then again, what can you expect when you invest your money in a vacation spot that is ruled by a totalitarian monarchy? Did this poor couple think they were 100% exempt from the misery the Cuban people live under day-in and day-out?

As long as people continue to exploit the dire situation in Cuba, they will continue to have these experiences. You cannot take away every shred of hope and dignity from the Cuban people and expect them to acquiesce to these insensitive tourists who are there to take advantage of their situation.

Babalublog has a great post by CubaWatcher regarding this interesting phenomenon going on in Cuba with its tourists titled, Your Camera—My Meal.