Rebuilding isn’t the only thing that’s been slow to recover.

Today in travel news-that’s-not-news.

Amid speculation on the state of Fidel Castro’s health, and whether or not he will be able to remain in control of Cuba’s government, come reports that the new Democratic majority in Congress may push for a “new direction in Cuba.”

Not the real kind, the kind that come and spend their dollars in Rio and Buzios, but rather the new slasher movie about a group of hot-but-dumb Yanks who get carved up by organ harvesters on a trip to the Amazon.

The travel pages kept it real this weekend, with stories on stunt trips and secret destinations, tips on how to find and avoid political hotspots, and news about how growing numbers of people are changing some beloved destinations.

The tourist boards of some countries (I’m talking to you Kazakhstan) will fight tooth-and-nail against stereotypes of their country and citizens; Sweden, however, in a typically pacifistic move, has decided to embrace theirs as a marketing gimmick.

Travel headlines for the weekend of 10/8/06.

The broadband-enabled, linked-up world isn’t sitting well with the powers that be at the major broadsheets’ travel desks, who opted for some very literary and elegiac navel-gazing about the ghosts of travel past this weekend.

The snows of Kilimanjaro are melting, Machu Picchu is about to slide into the abyss, and tourists are carting off pieces of the temple at Luxor on a daily basis.

A recent story from CNN Travel, has me thinking that Iceland — party location du jour for global hipsterdom — may have finally jumped the fermented shark as a destination.