Hello from Cuba (9) Havana Neighbourhoods

Hotel Havana Libre, Sunday, April 10, 2005, 12:30 pm

Yesterday morning I had arranged to meet one of the women from
the from the university, a very nice lady in her late 50s, who
agreed to show me around the Vedado area and take me through
some local markets.

Vedado is a beautiful residential neighbourhood with many
mansions and villas dating back maybe 80 to 100 years or so.
Before the revolution it was the neighbourhood where all the
doctors, lawyers and business people lived, most of whom
emigrated around the time of the Revolution. (Business people
and professionals were expropriated as part of the Communist
reorganization after the Revolution, as a result hundreds of
thousands emigrated to the US, where there are substantial
counter-revolutionary and Anti-Castro sentiments. The emigration
of thousands of professionals in the early 60s apparently caused
a real braindrain in the country).

We walked through the neighbourhood and visited local markets
where they sell fruits, vegetables and meat. We saw local
vegetables like yucca, malanga, boniato as well as fruits such
as frutabomba (papaya), pineapple, mamey, mangos and others.
Most of the meat that they sell in the markets is pork, and
there is no refrigeration at all in the markets, although the
meat is inspected by the government. It is forbidden to sell
beef because beef officially is only to be used for milk
production. Equally forbidden in local markets is seafood like
lobsters since it is destined for big hotels and exports only,
but we were approached by a couple of people who were selling
both lobster and beef \debajo de la mesa\ - under the table.
This is one of the things in Cuba, many things are forbidden,
but there is usually a way of working around it.

I was also taken to a special market hall where locals buy food
at certain allocated times on their ration card. Food is still
scarce in Cuba and every person receives a \libreta\which
allocates a certain quota of basic foods such as butter, eggs,
cooking oil, flower etc at very low prices. I was told that the
monthly ration is 8 eggs per person and that if you want an
extra carton of 30 eggs, they cost about $2 (CUC) (about
Can$2.50), which is equivalent to about 1/10 of a person\'s
monthly salary. No wonder everybody tries to set up a little
side business to obtain extra money, since survival in itself
takes a lot of energy.

We also saw a local neighbourhood repair place, where they
repair shoes with sowing machines that look like they are 100
years old. This is definitely a society where things are reused,
mended, fixed and recycled time and time again, and it\'s
actually very refreshing to see a different way of living that
contrasts so strongly with our modern way of living where we buy
stuff we don\'t need, just to throw it out later. Of course, the
recycling here is due to necessity, but it does feel like there
is a great appreciation for life here, not just consumer goods,
despite all the difficulties.

This 2-hour walk was a great way of getting to know a little bit
about the authentic Cuban lifestyle and some of the practical
ways that Cubans try to make do in their daily lives.