Long queues to come into the shop selling Internet Cards<\/p><\/div>\n

There are two currencies in Cuba; for tourists (CuC) and for Cubans (peso)….\u00a0but this is a subject for another post.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0places 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.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Shops<\/h3>\n

Local Butcher<\/p><\/div>\n

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. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Make sure to bring a plastic bag<\/p><\/div>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0bring with you.<\/p>\n

Supermarkets<\/h3>\n

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????<\/p>\n

Empty shelves in supermarkets<\/p><\/div>\n

The variety\u00a0of 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rum, rum, and more rum. For 5 USD a bottle.<\/p><\/div>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

And the women are shopping<\/h2>\n

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.\u00a0 The only item one can get without queuing is rum or vodka.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not sure how many hours a day people waste on queuing but I am guessing it must\u00a0be 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.<\/p>\n

Long line to Delta shop<\/p><\/div>\n

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?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One day, while walking in Havana, it struck me: Where are all the men? I almost only see women in the streets. Then the\u00a0lightbulb 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.<\/p>\n

Or should I rather say while the men are working the women are queuing?<\/p>\n

Again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People of Havana- slideshow<\/h2>\n

<\/div>\n

Murals in Havana – slideshow<\/h2>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previous: WiFi Challenge 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\u2026<\/p>\n

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