Double X writer Kerry Howley, while calling for an end to the ban, highlights some stats about the age of those who still support it. “The future belongs to the would-be tourist,” she writes. “[W]hen you exclude the 65-and-over set, the percentage of people who support a change of policy shoots up to 62.”

REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

A classic car passes state-owned farm lands near the village of Quivican, outside Havana.

Andrew Zimmern’s Travel Channel series “Bizarre Foods” has evolved into Bizarre World, and it debuts tonight at 10 E/P. The first show goes where few American travel shows have gone recently: Cuba. Judging from the description of the show, it would seem that bizarre foods still have a place in “Bizarre World”:

Andrew participates in the Santeria ritual that leaves him covered in blood. He devours the biggest tree rats he’s ever seen, and he discovers how to grow world-class tobacco.

REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

A street entertainer in Havana yesterday.

It was built by chocolate baron Milton Hershey in 1916, and, according to Michael Scott Moore, the Hershey Train is a reminder of how much the U.S. and Cuba have in common.

There’s a slideshow, too. See below:

Photo by Eduardo Deboni via Flickr (Creative Commons)

With a possible end to the travel ban in the works, Jason Beaubien takes a look at Cuba from the potential American tourist’s perspective. One tour guide he spoke to acknowledged that, infrastructure-wise, Cuba may not be ready for an American influx. “But,” he added, “if you ask me about the will of the Cuban people, I would say, yes, we are ready. We would like to have more exchange with the American people coming from the U.S. to Cuba.”

Photo by lepiaf.geo via Flickr (Creative Commons)

It’s been more than a year since Raul Castro rescinded the ban on Cubans in local hotels and resorts, but the shift is only now seeing tangible results. Writes Nick Miroff of Global Post: “Given that the average wage on the island is less than $20 a month, the change was largely considered a symbolic one at the time. But this summer, something unusual has been happening up and down the beach at Varadero. The hotels are filling with cash-wielding locals.” Apparently, the influx is largely a result of steep discounts in a recession-hit off season. I never thought I’d say it, but this might be one “staycation” I can get behind.

Several U.S. airports—Tampa’s, Key West’s and Houston’s among them—are angling to be added to the list of locations from which flights to Cuba are permitted. Currently, only L.A., New York and Miami are allowed to handle the charter flights that carry Americans with the appropriate permits to and from the island, but with an easing of travel restrictions seemingly on the horizon, nobody wants to be left out. Said Key West International’s airport director, Peter Horton: “[T]he last thing that we want is to get lost in the shuffle as people scramble to try to fly there.”

Photo by walterbjoern via Flickr (Creative Commons)

And a few refrigerator magnets. And a green and red Che Guevara beret. And some postcards.

Crazy story here about an American freelance entertainment news producer who wants to be fined for his Cuba visits so he can challenge the travel ban. So far, to his chagrin, he has been met with little more than indifference from U.S. authorities.

Here’s hoping that U.S. officials have quietly stopped enforcing the stupid law—and that President Obama and Congress will act soon to revoke it.