Afterwords

It was a great trip, but it is good to get home.  As I've said before, two nice things about traveling:  It's good to get away and it's good to get back.

A few final thoughts, first about the trip itself:

• People-to-People does a great job.  The hotel, food and program are all outstanding.  While it's not cheap, you get what you pay for and with People-to-People, you get your money's worth.
• Who you travel with is more important than where you go and what you see - bad companions can make any trip miserable and good ones can make a trip wonderful.  Once again, we are in the latter category.  All members of our delegations either were already friends or are now friends.  Great people - they made being a leader easy.
• As Yogi Berra once (supposedly) said: "You can hear a lot by listening."  To which I would add, you can learn a lot by being there.  While one week does not make any of us experts about Cuba, we learned an amazing amount about the country, its people and its culture.  I even picked up a bit of Spanish!

About Cuba:

• While I can't speak for the whole delegation or People-to-People, why in the world are we boycotting the country?  (Cubans use the term "blockade" which is incorrect, but shows their thinking).  I mean, even if Fidel is evil and should be deposed, this policy has not worked for over fifty years.  What's the saying about the definition of insanity?
• Every meeting had at least one Cuban official sitting in, but not speaking.  Not one speaker was in the least critical of their government, their laws or any policies.  Think these might be related?
• The issue of the Cuban Five is incredibly hot there, but not one person in the delegation had heard of it prior to our trip.  We will have to deal with it if relations are to improve.  By just by reading the wikipedia article on it, it is, as we suspected, not as simple as the American government railroading innocent people to jail due to the financial resources of the American Cuban community.  I suggest that anyone interested in American-Cuban relations familiarize himself or herself with this issue.
• When relations improve (and they will) this island will be overrun with tourists.  I'm glad we got their first.  For one thing, it's nice to get there before McDonald's and Starbuck open all over the place.  Second, those old cars are fun to see and might disappear.
• The country desperately needs better infrastructure.  Internet was expensive and unreliable.  There were few cell phones seen.  Our guide told us that the train system was terrible and the road east of Havana were terrible. 
• The Cuban people are warm and friendly.  The CDR party was a highlight of the trip and the hugs at the end were genuine.
• What a great trip!