Hello From Cuba (5) - Another Mind-Twisting Experience

Hotel Havana Libre, Friday, April 8, 2005, 2:47 pmowner of his bed and breakfast who has a new
I am sitting here at one of the most famousmountain bike. For 4 days I have been trying to
hotels in all of Havana, after I just withdrewreach this individual until I finally connected with
Can$250 (200 CUC, Pesos Convertibles) from myhim yesterday and I rented the bike for $3 a day.
Mastercard. No big deal, you say..... Until you realizeBut of course, you absolutely cannot leave the
that the average Cuban makes between US8 andbicycle alone anywhere because it will be stolen
US30, not an hour, not a day, but for a wholeand resold in a second. As a matter of fact, I
month!"tipped" my hotel security guards a few dollars to
My professor for instance told me that shelook after my rented mountain bike particularly
makes about US$18 or so a month, so thewell, because anything of value "disappears".
amount I withdrew is more than a year´sYesterday, my friend Pedro and I went to eat in
salary for a university professor.... I am feelinga Paladar (a privately owned restaurant). As a
really weird about this and I also want to getgesture of appreciation for his time and his
most of the cash into a safe as soon as possible.insights I had given him a red baseball cap with
I am simply unable to walk around with a"Toronto" written on it. He forgot it at the
year´s salary in my pocket...They talk aboutrestaurant, but within a minute and a half we
the "inverted pyramid" here, where a waiter in abecame aware of it and returned to the
hotel makes much more (due to tips fromrestaurant. The baseball cap was already gone,
tourists) than a brain surgeon in a hospital...which made him very sad. He told me that it
The economic situation here definitely is thewould be resold today for $8 (almost a monthly
dominating topic. Just standing in line a young blackgovernment salary).
man started to speak to me and told me that heFor the most part, people here are unable to
has a degree in physical education, teaches martialtravel, even locally. Due to the "periodo especial"
arts at the national level and inevitably thesince the collapse of the Soviet Union (and the
conversation came back to the dire economicassociated financial support for Cuba) gasoline is
situation: the local refrain is "Hay que luchar", -expensive and scarce, and there is not even
daily life indeed is a struggle around here.enough for the local Havana transit system. So if
There is no toilet paper around here, so havingyou want to take the "GuaGua" you sometimes
read about the shortages I brought my own littlehave to wait for 2 or 3 hours since there are so
Kleenex travel packs from Canada. At themany people lining up for the local bus and there
University and in the whole country there isare not enough buses available.
tremendous shortage of writing paper. BasicHaving a private car or access to the Internet is
things simply dont exist, or if they do, they costa luxury that only extremely few people have
a lot of money for locals on the black market.access to and I have heard different stories on
As a result, a tourist is always pretty much athe street that a regular Cuban person actually is
target. There are "jineteros" who try to lure younot allowed to have access to Internet. As a
to a restaurant or bed and breakfast (in returnforeigner, it´s very difficult for me to gauge
for a commission from the owner), therer arewhich of these stories are true, whether it is truly
"jineteras", local young and good-looking Cubanprohibited or simply extremely difficult to get.
women that seek contact with tourists, some ofEither way, I have noticed that people are still
them straight prostitutes, others just looking forvery careful about what they say around here.
the occasional financial favour and entertainmentOn the other hand, despite all these hardships and
opportunity.limitations on personal freedom, I have noticed a
Many local tourist employees try to takereally amazing friendliness and a great sense of
advantage of their contacts with tourists andhumour in the people. People approach me, ask
there are definite rip-offs. 2 days ago I went to ame questions, without the immediate possibility of
state-owned restaurant at the far corner of theselling me something or expecting money from
famous Coppelia Park. The food and service wereme. There seems to be a natural curiosity about
horrible. I chose Arroz Congri ($3), a salad ($3),foreigners around here, maybe because the
and a mango juice ($1), totalling $7. When the billpossibilities of travel don´t exist. The
came I saw a total of $9.85 ($4 each for theprofessors at the University have been great and
salad and the rice and $1.85 for the juice). I madetruly seem to enjoy the interaction with all the
the waitress aware of the situation and she actedinternational students. When you get to meet
as if it had been an error and did correct the billpeople one-on-one (not in a government-owned
after all. But a less alert tourist would have paidrestaurant), it is indeed a fabulous experience.
40% more than what was stated on the menu.Last night my friend and I took an extended walk
Sometimes it feels like you are a "walking wallet"in a park after sunset, talking, discussing,
and I have developed a certain suspicion as to tocomparing notes about our respective cultures.
the sincerity of some of the approaches by theAnd it was completely safe, something that you
locals. On the other hand, I realize, that with thewouldn´t dare to try in a park in Toronto.
$10 or $20 people that people make here aEven downtown, you see young, very attractive
month, they are unable to live for more than awomen, dressed up in really sexy clothing, walking
couple of days, so their economic reality forcesaround by themselves at 11, 12 at night.
them to try to make money any which wayImmersing myself in this ultra-unique contradictory
they can.culture has been such a precious, unique and
Services for tourists and even locals barely exist.paradigm-shattering experience, and even though
I have been trying to rent a bicycle for the last 4I have only been here for a week now, I feel like
days. There were 2 contact phone numbers forI have absorbed and learned so much....
bicycle rental places in my Lonely Planet TravelIt is so different from regular life in Canada that it
Guide. I have been trying to call both numbersfeels like everyday I am entering into a foreign
numerous times - no answer. A co-student ofuniverse, a completely different world, but I have
mine has been trying to link me up with theto say, I have never felt so alive......