The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines was built decades ago, but was never put into use. The facility’s maintenance is quite an expense, but its owner, the National Power Corporation, has turned the site into a tourist attraction! You can take a tour of the nuclear reactor (something you certainly cannot do in the U.S.) and stay in a cabana on the beautiful beach nearby, which also serves as a turtle sanctuary. Relax, there is no uranium here! But if you can’t just pick up and go to Bataan, take a tour with a gallery of photographs and information from National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

(Image credit: Jay Directo, AFP/Getty Images)

From the eruption in the background and the weapon of choice, you can see that being a park ranger at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not like the job your local park ranger holds. These rangers must protect themselves and the park’s mountain gorillas from both poachers and warring factions. And now the huge eruption of Nyamulagira volcano has opened up opportunities for the park. They’ve set up a camp from which tourists can get a good view of the volcano’s activities! Read more about it and see a gallery of pictures at National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Cai Tjeenk Willink, Virunga National Park)

Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cub has been inching towards capitalism -mostly in the form of tourism. Can Havana once again become “the Latin Las Vegas”?

Communist countries aren’t known for being vacation hot spots, and for good reason. To have a thriving tourist sector, you need luxuries to offer and visitors willing to spend money on them. That’s the stuff of capitalism. And yet, Cuba attracts about 2 million sightseers every year, mostly from Europe and Canada. That number is especially remarkable considering that two decades ago, Cuba’s tourism industry was not only nonexistent, it was outlawed.

FROZEN DAIQUIRIS

Cuban tourism was banned in 1960 as part of the Communist Revolution. Shortly after Fidel Castro came to power, his regime closed the island’s internationally renowned hotels. He also cracked down on prostitution, gambling, and illicit drugs -trades that had made the country a den of hedonism. As Castro saw it, tourism was a form of capitalist exploitation in which the rich pleasured themselves on the backs of the poor. He felt that Americans used the island as a playground with little concern for the welfare of those who lived there. In his new country, Cuban citizens would be equal; no one would stay at luxury hotels until everyone could stay at luxury hotels.

(Image credit: Flickr user Tom Graham)

Cuba got by without tourism for nearly 30 years, mostly by exporting sugar to its top trading partner, the Soviet Union. But after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, billions of dollars disappeared from Cuba’s coffers overnight. To keep the country from going bankrupt, Castro announced a five-year era of austerity, which he dubbed the “special period.” Never in the history of politics has the word “special” been used more euphemistically. Castro cut mass transit and food rations by 80 percent -moves so drastic that they caused the average Cuban to lose 20 pounds. But cutting costs alone wouldn’t make the country solvent again; Cuba needed new trading partners and new industries. So, very reluctantly, Castro re-opened the tourism sector.

THE TOURISM APARTHEID

During the 1990s, the Cuban government poured $3.5 billion into rebuilding the tourism industry, restoring old hotels, nightclubs, beach resorts, and churches, some of which date back 500 years to the Spanish colonial era. Still, because tourism is antithetical to the communist ethos, Castro tried to keep the sector as separate from most Cubans as possible. Cuban citizens weren’t allowed to enter tourist establishments, and by the same token, tourists weren’t allowed into areas designated for regular Cubans. To further distance citizens from foreigners, Castro’s regime created two separate currencies: the peso for Cubans, and convertible pesos, or CUCs (pronounced “kooks”), for tourists.  Most businesses in Cuba accepted one currency or the other, but not both.

In effect, Castro had blocked contact between tourists and the vast majority of the population, Suddenly, Cubans were second-class citizens in their own country, just as they had been before the Revolution. The new system became known as “tourism apartheid.”

(Image credit: Flickr user somebody_)

But the creation of the tourism sector in Cuba had some progressive aspects to it, as well. As vice-president during the 1990s, Raul Castro ushered in some small but significant reforms that allowed for limited private enterprise. For example, in 1995, Cuba legalized paladeres -privately owned, family-run restaurants. Two years later, the country started allowing citizens to turn their homes into casas particulares -bed-and-breakfast hotels open to Cubans and foreigners alike.

Tourism has also brought back the capitalist practice of tipping. Taxi drivers, musicians, tour guides, waiters, bartenders, and bellboys are coveted occupations because they receive tips, one of the few ways to get ahead on the island. A Cuban guitarist earning just $200 a month in tips makes 10 times the average government wage -far more than most Cuban doctors.

THE POWER OF THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

Since assuming the office of president full-time in 2008, Raul Castro has continued to make small changes to foster free enterprise. Aside from ending tourist apartheid, he’s also granted hundreds of thousands of new licenses to family businesses. Outside the tourism sector, he’s passed massive agrarian reform, allowing farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers. And now that a few people in Cuba have disposable income, Raul has made it easier for them to spend it. In the past three years, he’s made it legal for Cubans to rent cars, renovate their homes, and buy computers, cell phones, DVD players, and other electronics -all of which had previously been banned. Although Cuba is still not a market economy, it’s impossible to deny that times are changing.

The American government has been responsive to the expanding freedoms. In 2009, president Obama made it easier for Cuban-Americans to send money to their families back in Cuba. Then, in January of 2011, Obama made it legal for any American to send up to $500 every three months, so long as the money goes toward funding private enterprise in Cuba. In other words, if you have a friend in Havana, and you want to help him start a restaurant, all you have to do is write him a check. The embargo may soon come to an end, and not because Americans renounced the Cuban economy, but because they helped rebuild it, one small business at a time.

(Image credit: Flickr user Frans Persoon)

CAN AMERICANS VISIT CUBA LEGALLY?

Yes, they can, and it’s getting easier to do all the time. Although it’s still illegal for Americans to visit Cuba simply for pleasure, since 1999 the United States has allowed Americans to travel to Cuba for journalistic and educational purposes. If you’re a reporter on assignment or a doctor attending a medical conference, it’s perfectly legal to fly there. Also, as of 2009, Cuban-Americans are allowed to visit their relatives in Cuba as frequently as they’d like. Under the old rule, they were only permitted once every three years. In fact, today, there are nonstop flights to Havana from New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, and that list stands to expand.

There are plenty of ways to visit Cuba illegally, too. Tourists simply fly to Mexico or Canada and then catch another plane there. The Cuban government won’t stamp your passport anymore; they know that some Americans have gotten into trouble when they returned to the United States with a Cuban seal on their books. These days, Cuban officials at customs simply hand you a tourist visa, which gets stamped instead. So unless you try to smuggle a carton of cigars back in your suitcase, odds are, the government will never know you were there. An estimated 20,000 to 60,000 Americans travel illegally to Cuba every year.

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The article above, written by Jennifer Drapkin, is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2011 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!

During my first visit to the USA I was put up at Hotel Hilton Garden Inn in Atlanta…being from India where generally there is only one hotel of any chain no matter how big … it was a shock for me when my cabbie drove me across the city for half an hour and I spotted 7 different hiltons before I reached the one where I was booked. I could spot the same pattern repeating every few miles … same Mc Donalds and KFC’s … same walmarts, circuit city and best buys …. it was very weird

If you have a story about your first thoughts upon arriving in the U.S, you are welcome to leave a comment here or at Our Delhi Struggle. Link -Thanks, Dave!

(Image credit: Flickr user Nick Sherman)

Atlas Obscura is hosting the second annual International Obscura Day on April 9, 2011, in partnership with Hendrick’s Gin. This is a day set aside for “expeditions, back-room tours and hidden treasures” in places near or not-so-near. Events will take place in 61 cities (so far). Here are some of the most popular:

In London Go out for adventure films and cocktails in the historic Royal Geographical Society Map Room

In San Francisco The National Parks Service is leading an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of Alcatraz followed by drinks at a speakeasy

In Los Angeles Wander the Magic Castle and mingle with Magicians while sipping Cocktails

In Brooklyn Marvel at a recreation of Coney circa 1910, see the worlds best sideshow performers, and meet the stars of Discovery’s Oddities

In Florence Explore the macabre and beautiful La Specola anatomical museum

In Paris Join an expedition into the abandoned ruins of a Victorian-era tropical botanical garden

In Rome Go underground to explore ancient catacombs

In New Zealand Tour the museum of extraordinary visual design company WETA best known for their work on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

In Antartica Join in a celebration of the hundred year anniversary of the heroic (and tragic) Amundsen and Scott race to the South Pole.

If none of these events are near you, there are plenty more to find at Atlas Obscura. Make a point to participate in an expedition you’ll never forget! Link

Space Adventures provides the opportunity for you to blast off in a Soyuz spacecraft for a circumlunar mission. During the seven-day space flight, which reaches top speeds of 17,000 mph, you’ll see stars, the illuminated far side of the moon, and the Earth from 250,000 miles away. Candidates must train for four months alongside Russian cosmonauts at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Two seats are available for $100 million each.

Now that’s a way to fund a space program! Link

Pablo’s old country estate, the Hacienca Los Napoles, where he kept his collection of exotic animals, threw wild parties, and drowned enemies in the pool, is now a theme park with rides and the trafficker’s giant dinosaur models. The main attraction of the national police museum in Bogota is a reverential display of Escobar’s possessions: his custom-built Harley Davidson, gold-plated pistols, and desk with hidden compartments. The Escobar family home in Medellin is slowly being turned into a museum complete with Pablo memorabilia, and exotic animals from his private collection are on display in the city zoo.

Medellin, once the world’s most dangerous city, has become a poster child for urban regeneration. Instead of trying to hide from its notorious past, the city is turning its notoriety into profits by trading on the dark old days.

“Medellin has moved on,” says Jamie Gerig, who runs the meet-the-Escobars tour. “It’s now a beautiful, safe city, but we can’t ignore what happened.”

Hannah Stone of Prospect Magazine has the story: Link

Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters.

“As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren’t any big people and everything we do is for us,” said spokesman Fu Tien.

You have to wonder if there are exceptions to the community rules for normal sized children of the current residents when they pass the height limit. Link

There’s so much to see and do, so you’ll have plenty to write about in your weekly blog. And with so much life above and below the water, you’re sure to capture some entertaining moments for your video diary and photo gallery. To keep you busy, Tourism Queensland will organise a schedule of travel and events on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Your schedule could include sampling a new luxury spa treatment at qualia on Hamilton Island, trying out new snorkelling gear on Heron Island, or bushwalking on Hinchinbrook Island.

The job includes use of a three-bedroom home near the beach with a pool, and pays $150,000 Australian. You must send a video to apply for the position. Watch videos of other applicants at the website. Link -via Metafilter