Have any Americans traveled to Cuba?

[Dee*Jay]

I understand there are a number of organizations that facilitate travel to Cuba in the course of humanitarian aid...have any of you gone in this way, and if so, would you mind sharig the org and your experience?

 

[Cehrabehra]

No, but we thought about it since we could come from outside of america but decided it was too risky for our situation.

 

[Blackpaw]

Im sorry dee-jay, im not american so i havent had any trouble visiting. Im curious though, what is the purpose of the humanitarian aid? is it kinda the sneaky way to get in to see the place?

and if it is actually aid what kind is it? there's certainly a lower standard of living there but then Cubans average lifespan is longer than Americans so it education, housing etc?

 

[chemgirl]

Im sorry dee-jay, im not american so i havent had any trouble visiting. Im curious though, what is the purpose of the humanitarian aid? is it kinda the sneaky way to get in to see the place?

and if it is actually aid what kind is it? there's certainly a lower standard of living there but then Cubans average lifespan is longer than Americans so it education, housing etc?

I'm curious as well since I know the general education level in Cuba is fairly high and I don't know how keen the government would be on foreign aid. There is definitely a lot of poverty, but its hard to picture how aid would really help given the state of the government.

 

[Dee*Jay]

There are a variety of religious and humanitarian organizations that sponsor trips. The one that I'm looking at in particular is related to education, however as far as I can tell about the only educational thing you do is bring some crayons and elmer's glue into the country, hand it out at a local school, and you're on your own for the rest of the time. Of course it's a leeeeetle more than than, but not much... A friend of mine did this same trip late last year and she said they saw the inside of a school for about two hours and then spent the next eight days drinking rum and smoking cigars.

Even though this is one of those things where you're basically "getting around the system," it seems like a better option to me than entering from Mexico or Canada.