greymouser7
Well-Known Member
you know billy, I have never heard of a souped up Russian powerplant either -except K-19
Cuban mopars
- Thread starter slant6billy
- Start date
you know billy, I have never heard of a souped up Russian powerplant either -except K-19
kkritsilas
Well-Known Member
Cuba is a major winter vacation destination for Canadians. Most major cities in Canada on the eastern side of the country have direct flights into Cuba. There are vacation tours there as well. I remember, back in high school, one of my teachers talking about going to Cuba, a major point was that cash tips were not permitted (a Cuban being caught with foreign currency was a long jail sentence, or worse), so they used to leave behind things like Levi's jeans, school supplies for the kids, anything except cash. This was probably around 1974-76. Canadians have been traveling to Cuba for at least 40 years that I know of, probably longer. A lot of the time, but definitely through the 1980s and 1990s, because the Canadian dollar was very low vs. the US Dollar, it was far cheaper to go to Cuba than to go to Florida (another huge winter vacation spot for a while) or Mexico (increasingly popular winter vacation spot), as the Canadian dollar would go a lot further. Florida lost a lot of visitors when the criminal element in Miami started targeting tourists. Remember 5-6 Canadians being held up at gun point, and another 4 of them were shot dead and then robbed in the same year.
It is very common to have guys come up from the US on business, and go to Canadian smoke shops to get Cuban cigars, and I have brought them to those smoke shops myself on multiple occasions. I also used to have a couple of guys that I used to work with from Genrad (newer name for General Radio of Boston, Mass.) who would come to town, and buy cases of HP sauce. As background, HP is a steak sauce, fairly common up here, and HP (Hewlett Packard) was the major competitor to Genrad in the ICT (in-circuit tester) market. They would bring the stuff down to Genrad headquarters, and have a huge barbeque featuring the HP sauce.
To back up the snide comment from above regarding letting in US citizens into Canadian hospitals: growing up in Montreal, my brother ends up dating this girl. This girl had a pretty big family, some in Canada, some in the US. Two members of the family were twin brothers, and looked it. One settled in Montreal, one in Chicago. The brother in Chicago got cancer, couldn't afford treatment in the US. Flies to Montreal, his brother gives him his health card and ID, and he gets admitted into a hospital in Montreal. Starts undergoing treatment, but ends up dying. problem now is, the hospital starts writing up death certificate, notifying the provincial and federal gov't, and indirectly, banks, insurance companies, the whole nine yards. The brother from Montreal probably got into some serious trouble about that. Never did hear what happened at the tail end of that. This isn't an isolated case, although the number of people pulling that routine isn't large. It was enough of a drain on the health care system that health cards started to come with pictures, and fingerprint records in Quebec for a while.
Just different ways things are done on each side of the border.
Kostas
It is very common to have guys come up from the US on business, and go to Canadian smoke shops to get Cuban cigars, and I have brought them to those smoke shops myself on multiple occasions. I also used to have a couple of guys that I used to work with from Genrad (newer name for General Radio of Boston, Mass.) who would come to town, and buy cases of HP sauce. As background, HP is a steak sauce, fairly common up here, and HP (Hewlett Packard) was the major competitor to Genrad in the ICT (in-circuit tester) market. They would bring the stuff down to Genrad headquarters, and have a huge barbeque featuring the HP sauce.
To back up the snide comment from above regarding letting in US citizens into Canadian hospitals: growing up in Montreal, my brother ends up dating this girl. This girl had a pretty big family, some in Canada, some in the US. Two members of the family were twin brothers, and looked it. One settled in Montreal, one in Chicago. The brother in Chicago got cancer, couldn't afford treatment in the US. Flies to Montreal, his brother gives him his health card and ID, and he gets admitted into a hospital in Montreal. Starts undergoing treatment, but ends up dying. problem now is, the hospital starts writing up death certificate, notifying the provincial and federal gov't, and indirectly, banks, insurance companies, the whole nine yards. The brother from Montreal probably got into some serious trouble about that. Never did hear what happened at the tail end of that. This isn't an isolated case, although the number of people pulling that routine isn't large. It was enough of a drain on the health care system that health cards started to come with pictures, and fingerprint records in Quebec for a while.
Just different ways things are done on each side of the border.
Kostas
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greymouser7
Well-Known Member
I need a twin f*king brother! Do you think any of those Canadians are as good looking as me?
kkritsilas
Well-Known Member
Probably not.
Kostas
Kostas
Yellowdart69
Well-Known Member
There is only one country that boycotts Cuba. When I arrived at the Veradero airport, I noticed flags flying from the ceiling, to welcome tourists. There was a U.S flag as well. Americans were welcomed. I soon discovered that there were several Americans on our Air Canada flight. They had flown to Toronto, and then boarded a Canadian plane. What they were doing was illegal, only in the United States. I learned that this was a fairly common ocurrance. As for who goes - Greymousser - people from all over the world. Most hotels are Spanish, owned in partnership with the Cuban government. Tourist areas are well equipped. But in less travelled areas, the poverty is equally shared. Doctors are plentiful, by the way.
