Sarah: Havana, Cuba - Castro and Cocomobiles

Trip Start Dec 27, 2007
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Trip End Dec 28, 2008


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Where I stayed
Casas particulares
(Havana hotels)

Flag of Cuba  ,
Monday, February 18, 2008

Weīve been in cuba a week and although it has been very interesting, we will probably not leave with an overall positive view of the country. This is due to the rudeness and unfriendliness we have been met with by most of he people in the service industry. The people we have stayed with in the B and Bs have been really lovely and we have bumped into a couple of interesting people on the street, but in the stalls, shops, banks, restaurants, bus and train stations and airports, people have generally been rude, contemptuous, impatient and unfriendly. It gets you down after a while, especially when we also had a week of it in Cancun, which was far worse in this respect than anywhere else in Mexico. And of course WE are always initially smiling and friendly and courteous.

Also, in Cuba, we are constantly hassled by people who want to give us a taxi ride, or beg some money or a pen or show you around for a fee. You canīt sit down anywhere for five minutes without someone coming up and trying to make conversation with you. It seems as if they are just curious, but 5 mins down the track they reveal what they want. People come up and thrust flowers or newspapers into your hand and then demand money from you. It makes you cynical because  you canīt take anyone at face value. Even asking for directions is fraught because theyīll refuse to tell you, instead walking you there and then demanding money for their service.
 
Havana was interesting - we went to all the revolution landmarks and the Museo de la Revolucion. Itīs like stepping back in time in Havana - most of the cars are old Ladas or classic cars from the ī50s, especially Chevies. People still have bank books that they fill in regularly, hence bank lines are phenomenally long and slow. The tills-registers are the ancient pull--the-handle ones....  People still have ration books, a remainder from the Special Period after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Cuba lost 80% of its export market. There are stories of eating fried grapefruit skins for tea and cooking rice with 4 times the required amount of water.
 
There are hundreds of bicitaxis around the city, and heaps of coco-mobiles: tiny open-air three-wheel taxis that look like giant motor bike helmets. We loved riding around in them. The highlight of Habana ( Cuban spelling and pronunciation) was going to a baseball game between Habana and Guantanamo. It cost us one national peso to get in (about 5c) and it was pretty cool, standing for the Cuban national anthem with the whole crowd, and of course Iīd never seen a live baseball game before.  Habana , at least the historic centre, is so old, run down and dirty. Most of the buildings look like they havenīt seen a paint brush in 50 years. However one thing I found really interesting was that there is no graffiti anywhere. This kind of gives you the feeling that the buildings, although old, are respected, unlike in some other cities. However, more likely, it is probably more about the society and culture of the place.
 
I say national pesos because there are two currencies in Cuba - the national peso and the convertible peso. The convertible peso was introduced to make more money off the tourists and was originally pegged at 1 to 1 with the US dollar. Not everyone can access convertible pesos, but at 1 conv for 25 national pesos, they are very desirable.  The double economy is getting out of control and causing a lot of problems and resentment, so a few Cubans told us.

Tomorrow we embark on a long bus trip to a small town in the middle of the country. Unfortunately, we donīt have enough time to see all the best places in Cuba.

Viva la revolucion!!!
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