For some strange reason this country fascinates me. I hardly know anything of it, the closest I have ever been is a flight back from Costa Rica but I want to visit it. I have bizarre dreams about it. The Miami Vice remake made me want to go even more.

How the hell can I get there? Have any of you eurotrash a-holes ever been? (just kidding guys)

something about the tropics, I would be happy never leaving hotel grounds. Just sipping drinks, sitting, and sweating. I absolutely loved Costa Rica.

Sorry, I got nuthin'. Don't even smoke seegarrs.

Is your obsession connected to politics at all? Don't want to turn this into a political thread on the pros and cons of Cuban politics ... just wondering.

Cohiba is a wonderful Cigar... I can't wait for the embargo/blockade/sanctions (whatever the hell they are) to be dropped, just so I can acquire some of these without having to jump through multiple hoops (including smuggling them in myself, which I have now done on a couple of occasions) to get them...

And yes, there is a Honduran brand of the same name, same logo, but it's just not the same... I want my package to read Habana, Cuba

ACTUALLY, beavis, the US's policy AGAINST communists has ruined the country...NOT communism itself. The trade embargo crushed them.

I went to Cuba with a mate a few years ago; I can't recommend it enough. As an American, you'll have to take a circuitous route because you won't be allowed back into your own country with a Cuban stamp in your passport (so much for freedom of movement).

We stayed in Havana for a few days, then hired a car and drove around the island, staying with families in Cienfuegos and Trinidad before returning to a quieter part of Havana. If you stay at a family's house, you're helping them out financially and eating meals and talking with them is enjoyable - Cubans have a great love of life and passion for their country.

If you just want to sit in a hotel you'll be wasting your time though, because the main attraction of Cuba is the people and their love of life, music, drink and cigars.

Everyone from doctors and lawyers to cleaners earns the same wage (which was about $10/month 5 years ago), so it's a pretty f[]cked up system in that sense, although for such a poor country (thanks largely to the US trade embargo) you won't see any real poverty. It also has one of the best health care systems in the world. The other downside is that freedom of speech (for Cubans) is curtailed, though it's not totally clear to what extent or whether in fact Cuba's human rights record is any worse than Nigeria/Pakistan/Turkey or any number of other countries that have the approval of the West.

Architecturally many of the buildings have a fading Spanish colonial splendour about them, so it's a very colourful and visually appealing country.

It's so different from anywhere else, it really has to be seen. I'd go sooner rather than later, because with Castro about to pop his clogs the future's very uncertain and there's a good chance it will end up as just another Americanised holiday venue for spoilt kids to ruin for everybody else cf Prague/Tallin etc.