You find yourself ruminating a lot on that dialectic between consumer and producer when you are in a a bureaucratically deformed workers state or hatever name you want to give to Cuban society. A lot of the time the people who are there to provide a service make you feel that you are the worst thing that has happened to them this week. The motto of the service sector here is we like to say no. There is a surprsing lack of attention to detail. The pillow I will be sleeping on tonight is covered in mould. The phone in the room does not work and there are lots of other things I could list. and that is in a state run hotel.

Raul Castro has worked this out. It is no surprise that Cuba has the lowest rate of returning visitors of any major tourist destination and Raul has decided that something has to be done about it.

When I get acess to a more reliable computer, which probably will not be soon, I will provide some observations on the two paralell economies. The contrast is striking. I will throw in some remarks about what seems to be an utterly unfeigned support for the revolution.