Cuba: Open For U.S Tourism But Not Prepared

BY RAY HANKAMER

Havana:  A beautiful natural port, 90 miles from Key West, and our ship was the only vessel I saw moving about the harbor for two days.  We docked at one of what were once three parallel cruise ship piers.  Today, 58 years later, only one is usable, and the other two are falling into the water, with no roofs and no traffic.

Old Havana begins at the pier. There are four big plazas in Old Havana, and many of the buildings facing these plazas have recently had their first coat of paint and first fresh plastering since the 1950s, as the government is trying to create some eye appeal on what is otherwise a tired, terribly antiquated neighborhood.

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