As I predicted, American travelers are finding Cuba to be an interesting and inspirational place. Here is is what one US visitor wrote recently in the Kansas City star:
"In Cuba we never saw police on Paseo or armed guards. In the 20-minute walk to the Riviera and the return to our hotel after midnight, we encountered teens, moms with kids, young couples on park benches and men and women our age sitting outside, where it was a lot cooler than being indoors with no air conditioning.
“This is a country where people still meet face to face,” said Rodrigo Gonzalez, who helped show us his homeland. He also said tourism was up dramatically.
"Rita M. Pereina, who also showed us Cuba, said visitors needed to take some precautions, but Cuba is a country where guns aren’t sold, “and usually here it’s safer.”
"We learned that people in Cuba value families. Bette and I took joy in learning of our hosts’ children and parents and sharing our own pictures and stories of our immediate and extended families.
"Cuba’s strength and its family bonds may be tied to women playing a greater role in governing than in the U.S. Maritzel Gonzalez, with the Federation of Cuban Women, told us that 48 percent of Cuba’s Parliament members are women. If only our Congress were that way.
She said 10 of the 15 Cuban provinces are chaired by women — the equivalent of governors in the U.S., and women head 35 percent of the municipalities. More than 65 percent of university students are women, and about half the natural science and math graduates are women. The population is highly educated, the birthrate is low and Cubans work to combat bias."
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