Mary's Medical Mission to Cuba

We were lucky to be able to hear about and this time see thru pictures, Mary's most recent trip - this time to Cuba via Key West, Florida...  she found Cuba very clean but at the same time very shabby as they don't have the money to keep up appearances...  she also noted that there is a big push to rehabilitate the larger, more historical buildings figuring that the safer and nicer those buildings are, the more tourists may come bringing more money to the area as they depend heavily on tourism for their economy...  the government even owns the local restaurants and hotels because they can ensure that toursits are properly taken care of...   she found the people incredibly friendly and in fact observed that there is no racism in Cuba - everybody is equal...   she also noticed that there is no decent transportation system which she felt is one of their biggest problems...  the most bizarre fact was that most everyone owned a song bird who they then enter into competitions for the "best song bird" - seemed like a weird hobby for people who are so impoverished...  we look forward to Mary's next trip so that we can live vicariously thru her stories and pictures...