Shopping in Havana

I was aware of about food shortages and shopping difficulties before I came to Cuba and was, in fact, advised to bring at least a couple of boxes of breakfast cereal and dry soups as well as whatever clothes I no longer wanted, especially brands, to sell or exchange for accommodation. I didn’t bring either. Not sure how cereal would help me, unless I ate it dry, as there is no yogurt in Havana. The soups wouldn’t be of much use either as I had no way of “bringing them to boil and simmer for a few minutes”. The clothes? Well, I toyed with the idea – need to downsize my luggage – however, I am not that “business oriented” and didn’t want to carry more than I had to should I fail as a businesswoman. (I left all my luggage in Mexico and came to Cuba only with a backpack).

Food Challenge

Long lines for to get a hamburger.

Blandly put, there is hardly any food to buy in Cuba. Not if you are a tourist and, not the one you’d like to eat. Even if you were lucky enough (or queued long enough) to get something eatable you couldn’t cook it anyhow as hotels and Airbnb:s don’t allow kitchen access. After all, the Airbnb hosts make money off the lack-of-food situation. 5 USD for breakfast and about 10 for dinner. Typically, they buy the food from next (or next next) door neighbors who run tiny shops from home. I have no idea where the shop owners get the food from. Perhaps from the relatives living in the country. 

Food is served in small cardboard boxes. No bags, no plates, no utensils.

However, if you’re so called “rich American” (Westerner) having breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one of the three fancy five-star hotels you most probably won’t even notice any food shortages or any other food-related issues. Cheap (12 USD) lobsters will be served to you on a silver platter and once you get back home, you’ll be telling everyone what a wonderful time (and food) you have had.

But if you are a backpacker on a budget, you may and will face some serious challenges… unless you are prepared to survive on pizza sandwiches during your entire stay or hot dogs depending on the area. You’ll get back home mentally drained in need of a vacation. 

Restaurants

No shortage of cigarettes. 1.50 USD a pack

Not only is there a shortage of food there is also a shortage of restaurants. There are some in the Old Town and around the Central Park but this is pretty much it. If you live in other parts of town, you may be wasting lots of time looking for food. On Malecón, for example, which is a few kilometers long Corniche I only saw one ice cream parlor and one restaurant opened during the day. At night, on some nights, a few more bars/restaurants open, and also a few stalls. 

 As in all other cities around the world, the bouncers yell out the menus to get customers in the bouncers in Havana yell “restaurant/bar” just to let you know there is a restaurant/bar… so that you wouldn’t miss it. Interestingly, the presumptive customers never come in, sit down, ask for the menu, order… and so on… but study the menu before they decide to enter… only to leave awhile later as half of the dishes that are on the menu are not available. Restaurants may run out of chicken, meat, vegetables or practically anything else. 

In this restaurant, you either eat right on the curb or bring your own plate for takeouts.

Some restaurants are so popular with locals and attract such crowds that people stand in long lines for hours in the middle of the day just to get in. And they aren’t even fancy restaurants or super hot clubs but very regular eateries.

I came across restaurants offering different menus for tourists and locals. No, they do not serve better food for tourists but they simply charge more. Much more, which brings me to another Cuban challenge – The Money Challenge. 

Tha Money Challenge

Long queues to come into the shop selling Internet Cards

There are two currencies in Cuba; for tourists (CuC) and for Cubans (peso)…. but this is a subject for another post.  However, if you’re on a budget you can eat “dirt cheap” if you pay with pesos. To get pesos do your shopping in Central Havana, pay with CuC, and you’ll get the change in pesos. Then feast on 50 cent meals in Central Havana. 

While planning Havana trip make sure your accommodation is located in an area where at least a few restaurants and shops are also located otherwise you may find yourself in real trouble. The best bet is to stay where the tourists stay like Old Havana and around the Central Park or where the locals live like Central Havana. The latter requires some getting used to as you’ll be shopping and eating in hole-in-the-wall places run from private homes. The third possibility is Vedado, 40-minute walk from the Old Havana, which is now becoming an upscale neighborhood attracting many tourists. There are few good hotels in the area, like the famous National hotel, and a few overpriced restaurants. However, there are no grocery shops. Well, there are a couple but they are practically empty.   

Shops

Local Butcher

Most shops are run from homes and offer 5-10 different items e.g. canned vegetables and ketchup, sold through an iron window grill. There are also butchers selling meat that is not refrigerated but left on display in the sun the whole day, bakeries selling cream-filled pastries and fruit stalls. To get few items together for dinner you may have to go to five different shops and stand in five different lines. Full days job. The longest lines are for freshly baked buns, just made pressed ham sandwiches, sandwich “pizzas”, cakes and hot dogs. Bred, bread and more bread. No wonder people are overweight.  

Make sure to bring a plastic bag

If there is no line don’t even think you’d struck luck but take it as a red flag. Something must be very wrong with that establishment. 

Should you ever want to shop the way locals do make sure to bring a plastic bag (or any bag) with you as no such is provided. Instead, the food is dropped as is, incl chunks of butter, in whatever bag/container you bring with you.

Supermarkets

Some “supermarkets” (there are a few) provide bags, most don’t. In the ones that do not, there will always be a few old ladies selling plastic bags. The bags are brand new and branded. Where do they get them from????

Empty shelves in supermarkets

The variety of food in “supermarkets”, as opposed to shops run from home, is not much different: macaroni, tomato cans, oil, and ketchup. Some may have few pieces of frozen meats and sausages. But for the most part, the shelves are empty. Spookily empty. Yet people stand in long lines to get in.

Before you enter supermarkets, (hmmm) malls or most of the other shops you need to strip from all the possessions you carry with you. To do so, both leave and collect, you also need to queue for quite a while. The bigger the shop the longer line. 

Rum, rum, and more rum. For 5 USD a bottle.

What there is in abundance, however, is cheap rum, vodka, and cigarettes. You can buy alcohol everywhere. And I really mean everywhere including hotdogs stalls, shops selling children’s clothes or shops run from home. No matter where you go there will be a shelf full of bottles within your reach. 

Just like in Russia during communism. When there was a shortage of food or other goods the government made sure to provide plenty of vodkas to make people happy… or to forget.

Drinking rum is a way of living. As there are no disposable cups or glasses people carry bottles of rum with them quite openly wherever they go. Many start drinking first thing in the morning and then continue as long as they can (manage).

And the women are shopping

Queuing is part of everyday life in Havana. People queue for everything; bread, lunch, Internet card, theater tickets, cinema tickets, even travel tickets. As soon as someone ‘opens a shop’ and starts selling e.g. boxed lunch, the queue is forming in no time.  The only item one can get without queuing is rum or vodka. 

Not sure how many hours a day people waste on queuing but I am guessing it must be a few. Tragically the majority of Cubans do not even know any of any other life as they have lived like that for the past 60 years.

Long line to Delta shop

I was under the impression that things may be getting better. The tourists are welcome to visit and the locals can today buy passports. But apparently, things are not better, everything is the same. They say. For what good use a passport can be put if you cannot get a visa to travel anywhere stamped into it? 

One day, while walking in Havana, it struck me: Where are all the men? I almost only see women in the streets. Then the lightbulb went off in my head. The men must be working for money while the women are working to feed the family… they are all go shopping instead.

Or should I rather say while the men are working the women are queuing?

Again. 

People of Havana- slideshow

Murals in Havana – slideshow

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Another era. The (in)famous National Hotel

First there was a past… then WiFi has come.

There is the past and then there is the past. Cuba’s past is definitely the later. 50 years have gone (or is it 60?) yet the distinct feeling of Havana’s glamorous past and its former grandeur is still very much present. The former glitter is still pretty glittery although in bad need of some polish to shine again. The rest is in ruins. It almost feels at the country had been in the war and is now rebuilding whatever can be rebuilt and what cannot be rebuilt is being demolished making room for something new to be built in its place.

A new beginning?

Central Havana

The everyday life isn’t easy. People struggle. There is a shortage of everything. And long lines everywhere. People are queuing up for every single thing. There are new challenges and new mountains to climb on a daily basis. For everyone, visitors included. For no matter how trivial visitors inconveniences may seem in comparison even they need to face challenges and learn quickly how to handle them. The learning curve is steep and not always easily understood but… what do they say?… if there is a will there is a way?

WiFi challenge

Locals and tourists alike queue up for Internet Card

Hadn’t I come to Cuba I would have never known how totally my life is dependent on the Internet. All information, banking, accommodation booking, work, my social life, even editing and spell checking this very post is totally dependent on the Internet. My entire life depends on the WiFi. When the WiFi stops running my entire life stops with it.

This is not all. I have also noticed how addicted I am to WiFi and how miserable my life becomes without it. I need a daily fix of minimum one hour to get out of my misery and begin to fly again.

It was only two years ago that Cubans got some sort of access to the Internet. There is no WiFi, or rather there is no WiFi as we know it. And there is definitely no free WiFi. The talk of the town is so called Internet Card which everybody needs to get connected and which everybody buys on a daily basis. After the initial frustration (panic really) there was no other way for me but to accept the harsh reality, adapt to the new situation and find a way to deal with it. I guess, this is what Cubans have been doing for the past 60 years.

WiFi the Cuban way

A hot spot where locals connect to the network

Hotels and many Airbnbs have, as they advertise it, WiFi. This is not quite true. What they have is some sort of connection to the Internet provider. You can connect to their network but there is no Internet access. To get the Internet access you need to buy an Internet card for 1-5 CUC /hour depending on where you buy it. Most hotels have their networks open but only visitors are welcome to connect to it. Locals are directed to local parks and squares where hot spots are provided. Needless to say, all hotel lobbies are packed with tourists trying to get in touch with their lives “back home”.

Airbnb:s, on the other hand, have their networks password protected. Not only do you need a password to get connected to the network but your host’s computer must also be connected and running. Once the host shuts his/hers computer your WiFi also shuts… and you need to go to a nearby hotel if there is one. But when you get connected to the host’s network then you need to use your newly purchased card to get access to the Internet. As many devices can be used at the same time, on a very rare occasion, a host leaves his/her network (and card) open.

But this grandma, I am sure, doesn’
t care how good/bad the connection is.. as long as she can exchange a couple of world with her loved ones

Unfortunately, as the demand is huge, the connection is so slow at times that it is practically useless. The money/time is ticking but nothing can be done during that time. The other day things were so slow that I couldn’t even shut down my session and lost all my minutes that were left (and a dollar).

On a positive note: to save time and money I have quickly learned how to use the Internet more efficiently and less time consuming by multitasking. The “trick” is to get as much as only possible done offline, and once online, let things run in the background (uploads, facebook/skype/whatsapp message deliveries) so that there is enough time to take care of tasks that can only be done online.

On a more personal note: I am (re)discovering Windows 10 and finding lots of interesting apps that I didn’t know/forgot I had. Perfect opportunity to brush up on somewhat stale knowledge?

A reflection that comes into mind: how is it possible that a hole in the wall cafe run by the indigenous people living in the mountains in Sapa Vietnam has access to free WiFi but a capital town inhabited by (supposedly) five million people has not.

Next: The Food Challenge

National Hotel in Havana established in 1930

Central Havana

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Just a little push

Yes, I am in Havana. And yes, they are really here. The cars. The best 50-year (incidental) investment the Cubans have made? Thanks to the ingenious engineering and likewise ingenious the need-is-the-mother-of-invention maintenance to keep them running these motorized horse powers tirelessly have served their masters for the past 50 years as any four-legged ones would. 

But times they are changin. And once the gates to Cuba began to crack open these frozen in time. mechanical wonders began to make history again and are today undergoing Renaissance together with the American automobile history – not in a museum but on the streets of Havana. For the best, the largest, the best-preserved collection of old American cars in the world is not rolling in the US of A but in Cuba. 

and a bit of Rusian wire

A new coat of paint for the car, a cowboy hat for its owner and off they go into more lucrative business (and future?) – cruising tourists around Havana. And they are coming. In thousands. The Old Havana is jam-packed with tourists. The famous bars like Hemingway’s La Florida or La Bodeguita del Medio where the music plays loud and the rum flows in buckets begin to fill up first thing in the morning. And after a few shots who can say “NO” to a cruise in an old automobile? For 30 USD an hour. Cheaper if you know how to haggle. Or maybe more if you’re too drunk.

The options are endless. Any model, any year, any color. Wherever you look there they are, nicely lined up waiting for you. Just pick and choose. You cannot move a yard before you hear someone yelling at you “Taxi?”, “Taxi?”, “Taxi?” The competition is fierce. Not surprisingly they all want a piece of the cake. Nobody knows how long it (and it) will last. 

Taxi Colectivo

In addition to the “new” old cars, the town is full of “old” old cars running as collective taxis. For 1 dollar (CUC – less if you pay in pesos) per head, you can get a ride to almost anywhere in town. Keep in mind though you may be reduced to a sardine as the driver tries to pack into the car as many passengers as only possible. And there is always room for another one. Then there are regular (official) yellow taxis, official yellow moped taxis and also cyclo taxis. In short, there is no shortage of wheels in Havana. 

As this wasn’t enough there is no shortage of ‘other’ antico particularo. The type from the behind of previous iron curtain. Like Polish Polski Fiat or East German Trabant both of which get the same love and care as their American cousins. Look at that Fiat. It looks almost brand new. 

Polski Fiat

East German Trabant

Nice, no?

Taxis, taxis, taxis

The sheer number of cars and the never-ending calls “Taxi?” felt a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Now I got used to the scene. Strange, how quickly we get used to things. Frozen in time yet after 50 long years of Cuban care (with some help of Russian wire) these old American automobiles are the main attraction for tourists and money making machines (?) for their owners. One ride a day can make all the difference.

So many cars yet so little traffic. No traffic jams. The Corniche by the sea is practically empty. Could it be fuel prices? I CUC (=USD) a litter. Is it much? No idea. But if this is all you make a day… I guess…

I have visited so many countries, yet visiting Cuba feels very special. So special that I wanted to share my first impressions right away. Imagine my frustration when I found out I couldn’t do it. No WiFi. Or rather no WiFi as the world knows it.

But this is a topic for my next post. Let’s hope I’ll succeed to upload this one first.

Welcome to Cuba.

Cars, cars, and more cars

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