Rating: 
Summary: An Honest Appraisial of "El Comandante's Paridise"
Review: My first trip to Cuba was in July, 1999. Like Baker, I too fell in love with the Cuban people. For the last two years, my personal hobby is to read and learn as much as possible about current Cuban culture and politics as possible. From page one, I embraced Baker's work as a window into my own experience in Cuba. Every middle aged American(I'm 41) should take a trip to the forbidden isle. The women of Cuba are a treasure all themselves. Like Bake says, they care more for your character than your age. Quite unlike their American counter parts.As far as El Hefe: I recieve letters and correspondance from my Cuban friends, and each day things get worse. Socialism and Communisim is not natural to the Cuban Culture. This has been an unfortunate accident placed upon Cuba's people by an individial who is not mentally balanced. (There has been at least 97,000 deaths attributed to Castro's direct orders) Lets hope that he goes to see God as soon as possible so the Cuban people can once again be free to live and prosper as God intended. Thanks again to Mr. Baker for this outstanding work.
Rating: 
Summary: A socialist decides socialism isn't that great
Review: This book is not a travel book rather it seems to be about a man who is wanting to travel to a mystical and intriging land to find "The Great Society" of which he believes and dreams of. A socialist and athiest one. But he ends up finding out that the true caring, loving, sincere ones are the religous ones and the ones he feels so uneasy and untrusting are the ones like him, socialist/athiest. This doesn't tell of any intrigue, just of a pathetic, paranoid brutal regime that has brainwashed and tried to destroy a country and it's people. A system that has turned it's girls into prostitutes and everyone else into hustlers and thieves. Too bad the author doesn't realize that the embargo has nothing to do with it.This book is not an easy read. It has a great deal of historical facts and other things that are not very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Open and Honest
Review: This book is really interesting and rings true of the real culture to be had in Cuba. This goes beyond the touristy, Hemmingway Cuba, and into the country to meet the real heart, soul and passion of the Cuban people and culture. It is well written and very vivid in its description of the people and places, I felt like I was there. The only complaint is I don't need to read about every sexual experience that he encounters, but none the less I suppose that is Cuba.
Rating: 
Summary: A wanna-be commie faces reality of communism
Review: This book was hard reading. I think the author must have ADHD. One quarter of the book is filled with words to "add" pages. The editors did not do their job. I am glad to see the author admiting that he is a socialist and an atheist. I just wish all socialist and athiests would visit Cuba(or North Korea) for one month and live "The Life" of Cubans without the U.S. dollar. The author was able to lift "The Mantle" (government facade) that tourists see a little bit. So you do get some of what people "really" think about Castro and socialism.
If Baker wants to see everything that is under "The Mantle" he needs to go back to Cuba and live with people like Juanita. She is living what he is, a socialist/atheist. There is one thing Baker never understands. The embargo is not the problem. Their system is. Any other country in the world can trade with Cuba, and does. Why does Castro want trade with us so bad if we are "evil Capitalists".If it were not for the families and friends from capitalist countries sending Cubans hundreds of millions of dollars Cuba would implode. If you really want to help the country stop the flow of Capitalist dollars to a cruel murdering dictator. As far as all the girls he "bedded", he must know that it is only because they are seeking a better life and would leave Cuba in a heartbeat. Why do foreigners berate our system but want to live here so bad. And to all the socialist, please move to Cuba and "live the life"
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Summary: Motorcycling around Cuba
Review: This is a great travel, political, and adventure book, and one of the first non-fiction books I've ever read that I got totally lost in. I'd love to go to Cuba, if it's anything like this!
Rating:
Summary: A Little Closer to the Truth
Review: This is not a travel book, make no mistake about that. If that's what you expected, read Mr. Baker's other book instead: Cuba Handbook. But then again, the comments you're reading here are not a literary review, either. The book is more like a story a close friend could tell you over dinner; and he would have started something like "Let me tell you what happened to me in Cuba while researching this travel guide I'm writing..." And it is well told. Readers interested in the subject will enjoy Mr. Baker's style and the sincerity of his tale. If the reader happens to like motorcycles, so much the better. The author has great talent for storytelling, knows a good bike when he sees one, and has great taste in women as well. This is also the story of how Christopher Baker -Cristobal for his Cuban friends- got a whack on the side of the head and, against his admittedly "socialist" ideology, realizes that Fidel's revolution is a failure. He does that halfheartedly, though, and still praises "...a system and a political leader whose many accomplishments are exemplary and profound." Mr. Baker fails to consider what greater accomplishments the Cuban people would have made had they enjoyed forty years of freedom afforded to those who left for other shores. Education? Cubans in Cuba are not allowed to read this book- a book about themselves- and many others that threaten the political establishment. Medicine? I wouldn't go to a doctor who cannot afford to read medical literature, or who only has a supply of four Cypro pills to treat Mr. Baker's pneumonia. These are facts stated in the book. Eroticism is prominent in this book. Mr. Baker attributes this to the fact that Cubans are sexually liberated, and the culture, and the throbbing rhythm of Afro Cuban music... Can't blame him, though; Women appear to crawl all over him from the moment he arrives in Havana until the last chapter. It becomes pathetic, though, when the reader realizes that such luck is not a product of Mr. Baker's indisputable charms, but a set of values some (emphasis added) Cuban women have adopted to escape the misery of the isle, or to get a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo at the 'foreign currency only' store. Too bad he was not man enough to marry Daisy, the Cuban woman he truly loved, and who truly loved him back. Perhaps in a future journey Mr. Baker will mature emotionally as he did politically. A book about the Cuban reality is never complete without a chapter on the Cuban Diaspora; those expatriates living in Miami, Madrid, Chicago, San Juan. They could have told you so, Cristobal. No, not the quacks at the helm of the Cuban American National Foundation, but the ordinary working men and women who know first hand what happened to their lives, their disappeared loved ones, and their beloved Island. When the shortsighted US policy toward Cuba is changed more of the truth will be known... on both sides of the Florida Straits. Then the final chapter about this nightmare will be written. And I hope it is included in another one of Mr. Baker's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Mi Moto Fidel, don't cross the Florida Straits without it
Review: What is it about Cuba and how is it that Christopher P. Baker is able to get to the absolute core of the question so effectively? Perhaps it is that rare combination of love at first sight and a love that grows even finer as it ages. Enigmatic? Perhaps, but Baker hammers away at the puzzle in trip after trip, then book after book and we come to know more and more about this officially sanctioned American pariah with each sentence he commits to paper. It's a people-to-people thing, as Baker so effectively points out in his astonishing new book, "Mi Moto Fidel, Motorcycling through Castro's Cuba." I have read no U.S.-based author who has explored Cuba to the extent that Baker has. If you want the details of where to stay, eat, nightclub, sightsee, etc. no guidebooks touch his on Cuba as a whole or Havana in particular. However, in the process of researching these finely detailed works, he found a growing attachment to place and people that transcended the simple exposition of details and that developed into a need to put himself in the midst of things throughout the island. To say that his method for doing so was a bit challenging is substantiated within the first few pages of the book that describes his incredible 7,000-mile journey about Cuba, when you read of his prized BMW motorcycle, lashed precariously onto the stern of a heaving ship, pitching and yawing through the rough seas of the Straits of Florida. "Mi Moto Fidel" is a remarkable account of Baker's encounters with the people of Cuba in the settings that have defined their life, particularly since the ascension of Fidel Castro more than 40 years ago. At times in reminds of the journeys of Steinbeck, Kerouac, and, of course, Pirsig without the over-emphasis on Zen. Unashamedly and unabashedly Baker details his encounters - even the most intimate ones - with Cuba women. With friends from overseas, he takes us on tours about Havana that are reminiscent of scenes from "The Sun Also Rises." Hemingway and his attachment to Cuba are well-known and Baker helps us understand Papa's great attraction to this fascinating island. If you are considering a trip to Cuba and have the wherewithal to get there, do not leave without three books: Baker's guidebooks on the country and its capital, and "Mi Moto Fidel," for a wonderful account of the heart and soul of the country. If you are just interested in a fine read, by all means pick up the latter.
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Summary: Author's Response to Political Reviews
Review: When it comes to writing about Cuba, authors are usually "damned if they do, and damned if they don't." Rigid and ardent political convictions - of both left and right - often preclude fair-minded judgement. Such is the case for "Mi Moto Fidel," which has been attacked by readers from both ends of the political spectrum for author's comments that either praise the Castro government or condemn it.
Nonetheless, "Mi Moto Fidel" has received glowing praise from all quarters. "Hilarious... hair-raising... an entertaining and thought-provoking tale... this account of a marvelously eccentric trip is a very engaging read," wrote Publishers Weekly. "Mi Moto Fidel is a satisfying and complete portrait of Cuba," commented best-selling author Tim Cahill. The Denver Morning Post reviewer wrote: "There are two ways to eat a wonderful pastry. You can wolf it down as you leave the bakery... or take it home, brew a nice cup of coffee, and eat it leisurely, savoring each bite and prolonging the rapture. Readers can approach Christopher P. Baker's book in the same way, devouring his delicious prose at breakneck speed, or reading it slowly and enjoying... the flavors that make up this fascinating travelogue." And Richard Bangs (author of the award-winning The Lost River, and former editor-in-chief of Expedia.com) wrote that "Mi Moto Fidel should be in the briefcase of every man in midlife. The erotically charged adventure through the forbidden island by a man on a motorcycle in his 40s is a fantastic fantasy realized. With its edgy candor, it captures a whole receding time and place with prickly cinematic takes, and makes a map of a hidden world, and of the anima of its soul."
Most significantly, "Mi Moto Fidel" won BOTH major national book awards for travel literature in 2002. The judges of the Lowell Thomas Award found the book so meritorious that they named it "Travel Book of the Year," while the North American Travel Journalist Association gave it the Grand Prize in the Awards of Excellence. "This is a wonderful adventure book," commented the Lowell Thomas judges, "...a meditation on philosophy, politics, and the possibilities of physical love. It has the depth of a novel and the feeling of a great love story."
Unfortunately, as Wayne Smith (author of "Portrait of Cuba") wrote, "Cuba has the same affect that the full moon used to have on werewolves." As the Elian Gonzalez affair demonstrated, even the most apolitical issue becomes divisive and vitriolic when the issue is Cuba. The author has done his best to remain unbiased, describing the good and the bad in equal measure. His goal as a journalist, as he sees it, is "to regulate imagination by reality and instead of thinking how things may be to see them as they are" (Samuel Johnson). Alas, a significant number of leftists, clinging to an idealist's vision of post-revolutionary Cuba, find anathema in my critical words about the Castro government; while the most vociferious of the right-wing, Miami-based Cuban exile community have attacked "Mi Moto Fidel" for its words of praise for the many fine accomplishments of Castro's revolution.
Potential readers of "Mi Moto Fidel" are forewarned to read critical reviews of the book with an understanding of this contentious milieu.
Likewise, the charges that the author is being boastful in describing his sexual adventures in refuted by the numerous words of praise for his honesty in attempting to describe and analyze a truism about contemporary Cuban society - its promiscuous nature, or, as Argentinian journalist Jacobo Tinerman wrote, "the free expression of a high-spirited people confined in an authoritarian world." A female teacher wrote to praise the author's "rapture and sensitivity" and "picaresque quality reminiscent of the beats but less egoistic." And the Winnipeg Free Press wrote that "For all his dalliances, Baker is neither dilettante nor libertine," understanding that his descriptions are metaphors used to demonstrate and analyze the deeper nature and meaning of sexuality in Cuba, and the greater meaning of this for a writer born and raised in the parochial Methodist world of northern England.
Buy this book and hopefully, like the judges of the Lowell Thomas Award, the ultimate accolade in travel literature, you'll be enthralled.
Rating:
Summary: Mi Moto Fidel
Review: Whether you're traveling to Cuba or just dreaming of exploring this enigmatic island, "Mi Moto Fidel" is a remarkable read. Encounter by encounter, author Christopher Baker's adventures and insights travel deeply into the long-shrouded avenidas of Cuba's psyche. Initially infatuated with Castro's grand commitment to communism, Baker's explorations gradually cause him to experience a profound, political shift. After surviving a near shipwreck crossing the "widest, deepest moat in the world," the ninety-mile stretch of sea separating Key West, Florida from Cuba, Baker exclaims, "Havana! I can't wipe the grin off my face." Havana is Baker's jumping off point for a 7,000 mile trek across Cuba, his chariot a bodacious red BMW Paris-Dakkar motorbike. Baker's black leather get up, his exuberance, his flaming red motorcycle fascinate all who encounter him. Part travelogue, part memoir, part political treatise, Baker unabashedly records not only his impressions of Cuba but also those of his more private thoughts and experiences. This was not the writer's first attempt to uncover the reality of today's Cuba. As the author of two comprehensive and practical guidebooks about the island, he had made several previous trips. But, in the more personal "Mi Moto Fidel," Baker cuts to Cuba's core, laying bare the island's more intimate ways. He calls his travels both "disheartening and uplifting." Baker is at his best on his motorcycle, his senses completely at one with the island's unfolding landscape. Transporting the reader with him, he cruises the country's coastline and inland terrain. Impressions riff and rumble, creating verbal snapshots of Cuba's people and places. As one recedes, another more vivid unfolds. During his three-month odyssey, Baker and his bike consistently engage and attract the locals. Farmers, fishermen, former doctors, flamenco dancers, all contribute to the writer's political " coming of age" in this sweet and sour stewpot of police state and sultry paradise. Ultimately Cuba itself, its people, its history and geography propel the narrative. Too, Baker's "moto fidel" proves itself a fitting companion as it comes to represent the journey's one faithful and sustaining relationship. Often poetic and poignant, "Mi Moto Fidel" illuminates the dynamic mix of socialism and sensuality that is Cuba.
Rating:
Summary: Mi Moto Fidel
Review: Whether you're traveling to Cuba or just dreaming of exploring this enigmatic island, "Mi Moto Fidel" is a remarkable read. Encounter by encounter, author Christopher Baker's adventures and insights travel deeply into the long-shrouded avenidas of Cuba's psyche. Initially infatuated with Castro's grand commitment to communism, Baker's explorations gradually cause him to experience a profound, political shift. After surviving a near shipwreck crossing the "widest, deepest moat in the world," the ninety-mile stretch of sea separating Key West, Florida from Cuba, Baker exclaims, "Havana! I can't wipe the grin off my face." Havana is Baker's jumping off point for a 7,000 mile trek across Cuba, his chariot a bodacious red BMW Paris-Dakkar motorbike. Baker's black leather get up, his exuberance, his flaming red motorcycle fascinate all who encounter him. Part travelogue, part memoir, part political treatise, Baker unabashedly records not only his impressions of Cuba but also those of his more private thoughts and experiences. This was not the writer's first attempt to uncover the reality of today's Cuba. As the author of two comprehensive and practical guidebooks about the island, he had made several previous trips. But, in the more personal "Mi Moto Fidel," Baker cuts to Cuba's core, laying bare the island's more intimate ways. He calls his travels both "disheartening and uplifting." Baker is at his best on his motorcycle, his senses completely at one with the island's unfolding landscape. Transporting the reader with him, he cruises the country's coastline and inland terrain. Impressions riff and rumble, creating verbal snapshots of Cuba's people and places. As one recedes, another more vivid unfolds. During his three-month odyssey, Baker and his bike consistently engage and attract the locals. Farmers, fishermen, former doctors, flamenco dancers, all contribute to the writer's political " coming of age" in this sweet and sour stewpot of police state and sultry paradise. Ultimately Cuba itself, its people, its history and geography propel the narrative. Too, Baker's "moto fidel" proves itself a fitting companion as it comes to represent the journey's one faithful and sustaining relationship. Often poetic and poignant, "Mi Moto Fidel" illuminates the dynamic mix of socialism and sensuality that is Cuba.
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