For our first day in Cuba we arranged a tour with a local company that had a great reputation. It was an all-day tour in one of the old classic cars.
Classic cars are definitely a real thing and not just on the tourist brochures here, they are everywhere. Just amazing what great condition they are in and that they have managed to keep the running for 50+ years! Ours was the chassis of a 50’s American car, but apparently the engine had long since given and so it was actually running on a diesel engine robbed from a Russian truck.
We saw all the popular sights and spent a lot of time talking to the guide about communism, what daily life is like, and how the black market works for getting the things that the government is not able to provide. It was fascinating! Even Kenzie had questions really good questions (some of which probably shouldn’t have been asked in a communist regime, but you can get away with a lot when you are 7 years old…)
The guide explained the black market like this. Let’s say we all work at a government-run hotel (everything is owned by the government), and we’re “working together”. One in the bar, one in housekeeping, and one at the restaurant. As the bartender I’m given 12 bottles of rum at the start of the day. I’m supposed to pour 200ml in each drink I serve. But I only pour 180ml. So at the end of the night, my receipts show that I used all of the alcohol. But really, I have a spare bottle of two which make their way into my bag and out of the hotel. Everyone else does the same thing (with the soap from the housekeeping cart and meat from the kitchen), and now we all have products which are not on any government record and not part of our monthly rations. So when I need meat, I call my friend who works with me and he grabs some extra pork that day, which I trade him for some rum. Now when I need something that none of us have (say a shirt), that’s when you call the taxi driver. Because the taxi driver is the guy who knows everyone. He’s the man who can broker a deal and knows the guy with a shirt, who wants some pork, which you can provide via your friend working in the restaurant, in exchange for you giving him a bottle of rum. All that so you can get yourself a shirt. And the taxi driver, of course, gets a cut of the action for making it all happen.
My head was spinning trying to keep up with the complexity, time, and energy involved with just getting a shirt.
Another interesting moment was when we sat down for lunch and instead of the waitress reading off the daily specials, she instead read what was NOT on the menu that day as a result of the government grocery store being out. No beef that day (which meant no Ropa Vieja…I have to admit I was slightly crushed having come all the way to Havana only to find no Ropa Vieja, but I’ll survive…). Our guide explained that beef was pretty rare in Cuba because years ago the government determined that the cattle population was low. So they announced that all cattle now belonged to the government and now they control how many are slaughtered for meat. Farmers could raise a cow, but it belongs to the government and when it comes time to slaughter, the government slaughters it and then releases it for sale to the people. If your cow gets sick, you call a government veterinarian who comes to check out the cow, and if necessary, calls a government truck to pick it up and dispose of it. And if your cow goes missing, good luck to you, because you now owe the government 1200 pounds worth of beef.
Pretty fascinating to hear what it’s like day to day here. The bad, and in some cases the good too. As an example, for the most part, there is really no homelessness. You may not live in the place you want to live, but the government does provide housing to everyone.
A very interesting day visiting someplace so different from home!
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