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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Cuba: a few impressions |
| 2008-02-25 |
| I've just returned from a 10-day trip to Cuba and I must say that the misery and decay I encountered in Havana (Habana Vieja) exceeded my expectations by a wide margin. . . . Havana has two markets. One for Cubans, who pay with pesos, and one for tourists who pay with "pesos convertibles" (1 CUC = 1/0.9 USD = 1/1.3 EUR). The latter offers hotel rooms, gastronomy, good cigars, cabs, and souvenirs (interestingly, often made out of Coke-cans). Prices are the same as in developed countries and are actually even higher when adjusted for quality. When it comes to food, there aren't too many items I'd recommend. Salad is tasteless and beef is unchewable most of the time. So you'd better stick to fish. Cohibas are a bit cheaper than abroad, except if you live in tax crazy Canada. The market for Cubans is a dispersed fleamarket. Even the "big" stores look like closed stores with a couple of items forgotten in the window. I highly recommend not visiting a local butcher: You wouldn't feed your dog with that stuff. . . . Unfortunately, Cubans don't have access to "world news" (no foreign newspapers, no internet, no satellite dishes), so the people I talked with were actually quite happy with their situation ("We don't earn much, but as opposed to other countries education and health care is for free!" (translation mine)) and couldn't see that people in developed countries who are considered as dirt poor have a way higher living standard (I didn't have the impression that they were afraid to speak openly). More at the link, including photos. |
| Posted by:Mike |