In this post, we would like to show you how the life in Cuba looks like. We’ll focus on basic things and later we’ll describe some of our adventures and thoughts. We’ve been there only for two weeks, but one article isn’t enough to describe the whole country.
Before we left Mexico, we had to buy tourist card (esp. Tarjeta de Turista) at the airport to be able to check in and board the plane. Costs 30$ and is valid for 30 days. Be careful with spelling because when you make a mistake you’ll have to buy another one. Good thing is that there’s nothing to worry about before departure, just pop into the airline office and buy one. In Cancun, they even accept card payments.
There are hundreds of articles and posts about Cuba. People are trying to talk/write about a beautiful and natural part of this island, but it’s hard to find details about real Cuban life and their problems.
First punch from Cuban reality we have received right after leaving the plane and trying to withdraw money from ATM. For an unknown reason, our transactions were denied and we couldn’t access our accounts online because there’s no internet. Actually, there’s but you have to buy a special scratch card with a code to access one 1h of very slow public WiFi. That time we didn’t know that.
There’s no industry, so anyone who has a car automatically became a taxi driver. All exits/entrances to the terminal are full of drivers hunting for newcomers to drop them to center for 20-25$ We wrote about a good price for you amigo in our previous post. In here everything looks the same, except cars. Cubans have better, vintage ones from the ’20s – ‘30s and still running pretty well.
Few words about money. They have two currencies: CUC (Convertible Pero) typical touristic which is like a dollar. Exactly 1 CUC – 1.03$. Most prices in stores are in this currency. Every ATM and exchanges will charge you 10% fee if you are changing USD to CUC. We have accounts in GBP and luckily saved some money. Second currency is CUP (Moneda Nacional). Exchange rate to CUC is fixed and 1 CUC – 25CUP. Locals are getting paid for their work in CUP and small shops and street vendors accept it.
Doubtless, plenty of you had seen those vintage old Cuban cars. Of course, on the pictures, everything looks great, so colorful, but in reality, these cars are far away from safety standards which we may know. There aren’t windows, seat belts, locks in the doors work only from outside. They don’t know what suppressor and catalytic converter are. On Cuban roads, we can spot old polish cars like Fiat 125 and 126p, Lada, Kamaz and old American beauties from last century. Last ones can offer a lot of space inside but less comfort. Having a ride you can’t hear your own thoughts and you can forget about having a conversation. Yes, they are god damn loud! Drive on 84 octanes and honestly, we are saying that Havana stinks because of that.
Intercity buses are reserved only for Cubans and they are extremely cheap. We nearly made a ride with it, but suddenly one of the local authorities caught and kicked us out and urged to take taxi colectivo. Of course, there is another company for tourists Viazul, but like in this case, all tickets were sold out for three days ahead. When you speak Spanish you can negotiate the price with drivers and often we had a better price than with Viazul.
In the countryside, little towns and big cities you can still find posters glorifying revolution and the best leader which Cuba ever had – Fidel Castro. Gentleman with the beard appears on walls, houses, and bridges surrounded by his quotes. Just next to him is Che Guevara, who appears on the tail of 3 CUP coin. Cubans are still mental communists. They are happy when government divide goods and “rob” tobacco farmers. We had the opportunity to stay at one doctors’ house in Trinidad and we talked about the situation in Venezuela and Cuba. Firstly he admired, that Venezolanos are lazy and because of that they are where they are at this moment. When we asked him, what he thinks about, that government is buying 90% of tobacco from farmers for 10% its value, he said that’s fair and if they wouldn’t do that they will start buying planes after two years. Which means, equally for everyone.
Earnings in Cuba looks more or less like that:
- Nurse earns 13CUC ( yes, 13$)
- Doctor – 50CUC
- Teacher – 30CUC
- Builder – 100CUC
- Waiter, taxi driver around – 200CUC
As you can see well paid jobs are only those linked to tourism. Many people are just standing on the streets and look for tourists, to sell them a ride, lunch or night to get a fee.
We spend some time with local guys working on the luxury island Cayo Coco. As it came out, only tourists can enter this island. None of the Cubans can’t just go for a sunbathing by the Caribbean sea. Only workers with special work permission can stay on the island.
After Fidel Castro death, his brother Raul signed a decree saying that all Cubans are free and if they want they can leave the country. It sounds hypocritic because passport costs 600CUC and they have to add flight ticket price on top of that. Unreachable amount of money for 90% of the population. We can honestly admit, that this country is a prison for its own citizens. All the people we talked to had one dream – leave and earn fair money.
Store shelves are artificially full because gaps have been filled with bags of pasta and tomato sauce. It’s hard to buy anything there. After hurricane eggs are available only to Cubans and they are distributed by the government directly to people. Cubans still receive ration books with special coupons which can be exchanged for rice and other products sold at subsidized prices well below market value. It looks like during communism in eastern Europe. Rum is the only cheap article, of course, Cuban rum.
Besides that, the country is beautiful and people happy. There isn’t internet at homes, many still don’t have running water at their places. They hang out together, play baseball on the streets ( their favorite sport). They don’t have much, but they don’t know other life than that.
Each year more and more tourists are coming to see this island and certainly, this has a positive and negative impact. From the bad ones, the dollar is taking control of them and step by step destroys human values like unselfish help. On the other hand, incoming money improves their miserable lives.
We recommend to visit this country and talk to people far from the tourist paths to meet their culture and history.
More about that in our next post!