The Internet in Cuba

Previous guidebooks remind that it was impossible to get on the Internet as little as three years ago. Internet connections are available at major hotels and special booths where you buy prepaid minutes. I looked in cybercafe.com before going to Cuba and they did not have any listings. I bought a prepaid 3 hours card for $6.00, which is pretty reasonable as some hotels charge $5.00 for 15 minutes (although many are much less). Several Cuban professionals said that they did have interconnections via phone lines although this was still mostly black market. One friend Noel said his brother had down loaded a lot of international music and was burning CD's. Despite the American embargo Cubans could get music. Also Canadian and American broad casts were easily picked up in Cuba. Another friend Mario who specializes in French and Portuguese languages regularly tuned into the Francophone CBC radio broadcasts. Black market sports gear was alive and well in Cuba. The Nike swoosh was literally used Noel was proud of his "Reebooke" t-shirt. Ironically many of these bootleg trademarks were made in China and Japan possibly along side their namesakes.