Why visit?

(I thought I would start with an easy question!)
The weather. The music. The beach. The rum. The people. The architecture. The romantic, neoclassical decay. The last really communist regime, in the Caribbean but possibly on the planet. And definitely, the lobster and the camarones!
Add to this a stroll in an old timer with your hair flying as you smell the sea at Malecon and the  choice is easy!

Why now?

In this Christmas 2016 the whole planet seemed to have stormed the island, eager to take home a last souvenir of a country slowly (very slowly…) opening up to the modern world, after the death of Fidel: El lider maximo and his scorn, his endless speeches, his cigars and his obsession with power that cost the country as much as the US blockade. The guy that survived hundreds of assassination attempts, some of them really weird: explosives in his cigar, and sea shells painted bright and filled with explosives to attract his attention and kill him as he would collect them while  scuba diving.
There is no doubt that Cuba is the ultimate Caribbean experience, mostly due to its rampant poverty: lack of resources has left Cuba in a sorry state for its inhabitants, but kept the vintage flare for the tourists looking for an "original" place to spend their holiday. It may not feature the top beaches in the Pacific (somehow the beast beaches are on the Atlantic side of the island), but it does feature something old and dusty that definitely appeals to tourists of a certain age, who still remember the bay of the Pigs as the incident that nearly ended the world as we know it, Ché and his lucha  and his cigar,  and of course Fidel entering Havana in an old timer, surrounded by happy girls and men dreaming of a bright future.
In other words, what may bring you to Cuba is the nostalgic love of your own younger years.
There are of course younger visitors in Cuba. But their interest can better be compared to what one feels when visiting the Parthenon, the Easter Island or Angkor: a history book, something they learnt but never lived.
But you do not need to rush. My idea is, the country will not open easy and quick to the USA. Trump will take care of that, so you have (at least...) another four years to avoid this frankly bothering crowd invading every corner, beach and rumeria of the island.

When again?

During my stay in Cuba I often thought, this is the last time, things have changed in a way I don't like, what about pollution, hassle, human rights etc etc, I am too old for this and never coming back.

Less than a week after my return, all I dreamt of was getting lost again in the Cuban maze, wander and walk and talk, feel alive...

I hope you get this same feeling too after your visit to Cuba!

Last but not least, a huge thanks to Moby for licensing the use of these songs for my slideshows. I am a huge fan, and his music makes me dream, wherever I am...