A month in Cuba - reprinted
Aug 30, 2002 | 4:19 pm
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A month in Cuba - reprinted
For many years I have used a travel agency that specializes in "adventure travel". The principal (who has led many tours to Cuba) stayed for an extra month recently living like a local, following one of her organized tours. She just sent this to the recipients of her agency's mailing listserver. This person has probably visited over 80 countries (a significant number of these in the third world) and I respect her opinion 100%:
TRAVEL EXPERIENCES: MY MONTH IN CUBA
We had 12 wonderful people in our group, and delivered medicine and children's items to various very needy organizations. Is there any organization in Cuba that is not needy? I don't think so. We saw a lot of Havana Vieja, the famous now mostly restored old area of Havana with its wonderful architecture, old cars that serve as taxis, and delightful music on every street corner. We went to Trinidad, a city founded in the 16th Century by conquistadors that came right after Columbus, with incredible old buildings and sites.
All was well for us until the group left and we moved into an apartment in Vedado, just outside of the tourist area of Havana Vieja. We wanted to have time to work with and get to know what parts of Havana needed help the most and where our contributions would be most important. What we did not realize
was that life as the Cubans live it is very, very hard. The biggest problem was finding food. I figured that with dollars, I could buy anything. Dollars are the mainstay of the Cuban economy. The peso is worthless. Dollar stores supposedly can provide everything. Not true. I could not find eggs,
tomatoes, cheese, apples, etc, etc., even though I had plenty of dollars. It is just not there to be bought except on the black market. I did not know how to hustle my way into the black market. I'm a Albertson's/Safeway kind of shopper. Where is the black market anyway? Is that a chain?
We never overcame that challenge. We did find the agro-produce stands, but only found green beans and sometimes cabbage. Great mangos and pineapple!
But you can't live on mangos alone. Meat looked awful. Fresh milk was last seen in 1956. The selection in the markets was minimal compared to our bountiful stores.
Did I mention that nothing works in Cuba? The elevator in our apartment building is pre-revolution (1959) as is most everything. It has been broken for years. I was grateful we were only on the 4th floor of a 9 floor
building. The transportation system in the city is a bad dream. We settled for taxis. The government does not believe in putting money into building maintenance so other than Havana Vieja the rest of the city is broken, in ruins except where tourists are. And because the average salary is $12-15
per month, all is government owned and government run, there is no motivation, no incentive. It was a shockingly different experience than my two previous visits escorting groups and taking medical supplies. This was a different Cuba, and not a pretty picture at all. the good part was we knew we were leaving in a few weeks. How the Cuban people survive is beyond me?
Everyone is hustling something, everything can be gotten on the black market, everyone wants and needs dollars to survive.
The worst hit were the old people who had no family or US support system. We visited some of these living on a $3 pension per month! And slowly starving. Our main focus for future groups (see list above) will be to find these old people and help them as best we can.
The moral of the story: if you plan to go to Cuba, go as a tourist only. Nothing less will do. Did I mention that we did not have hot water in our apartment, but we had a shower (sort of) so that was better than most. Boy was it exciting coming home and turning on the hot water in the kitchen. I
don’t have to boil water anymore!
TRAVEL EXPERIENCES: MY MONTH IN CUBA
We had 12 wonderful people in our group, and delivered medicine and children's items to various very needy organizations. Is there any organization in Cuba that is not needy? I don't think so. We saw a lot of Havana Vieja, the famous now mostly restored old area of Havana with its wonderful architecture, old cars that serve as taxis, and delightful music on every street corner. We went to Trinidad, a city founded in the 16th Century by conquistadors that came right after Columbus, with incredible old buildings and sites.
All was well for us until the group left and we moved into an apartment in Vedado, just outside of the tourist area of Havana Vieja. We wanted to have time to work with and get to know what parts of Havana needed help the most and where our contributions would be most important. What we did not realize
was that life as the Cubans live it is very, very hard. The biggest problem was finding food. I figured that with dollars, I could buy anything. Dollars are the mainstay of the Cuban economy. The peso is worthless. Dollar stores supposedly can provide everything. Not true. I could not find eggs,
tomatoes, cheese, apples, etc, etc., even though I had plenty of dollars. It is just not there to be bought except on the black market. I did not know how to hustle my way into the black market. I'm a Albertson's/Safeway kind of shopper. Where is the black market anyway? Is that a chain?
We never overcame that challenge. We did find the agro-produce stands, but only found green beans and sometimes cabbage. Great mangos and pineapple!
But you can't live on mangos alone. Meat looked awful. Fresh milk was last seen in 1956. The selection in the markets was minimal compared to our bountiful stores.
Did I mention that nothing works in Cuba? The elevator in our apartment building is pre-revolution (1959) as is most everything. It has been broken for years. I was grateful we were only on the 4th floor of a 9 floor
building. The transportation system in the city is a bad dream. We settled for taxis. The government does not believe in putting money into building maintenance so other than Havana Vieja the rest of the city is broken, in ruins except where tourists are. And because the average salary is $12-15
per month, all is government owned and government run, there is no motivation, no incentive. It was a shockingly different experience than my two previous visits escorting groups and taking medical supplies. This was a different Cuba, and not a pretty picture at all. the good part was we knew we were leaving in a few weeks. How the Cuban people survive is beyond me?
Everyone is hustling something, everything can be gotten on the black market, everyone wants and needs dollars to survive.
The worst hit were the old people who had no family or US support system. We visited some of these living on a $3 pension per month! And slowly starving. Our main focus for future groups (see list above) will be to find these old people and help them as best we can.
The moral of the story: if you plan to go to Cuba, go as a tourist only. Nothing less will do. Did I mention that we did not have hot water in our apartment, but we had a shower (sort of) so that was better than most. Boy was it exciting coming home and turning on the hot water in the kitchen. I
don’t have to boil water anymore!
