First tatse of Cuban life...

[A little addition... to understand the following post I should introduce everyone to the Cuban monetary system. There are two currencies: convertable pesos (CUC) and national pesos. Convertable pesos are used mostly by tourists and used to be pegged to the US dollar, but are now worth a bit more £1 GBP = $1.75 CUC. National pesos are used by most Cubans for everything, they are paid in this currency $1 CUC = 26 National Pesos or £1 GBP = 45.5 National Pesos. Takes a bit of getting used to.]

Had a fairly busy day yesterday, all things considered, however it was still fairly slack considering my normal pace. I went over to Dale's house to check my email and his wife took me shopping at the grocery store (Palco, the posh store for overseas people). Food was fairly expensive, the prices varied widely from item to item. You would find UK prices on some things and extremely high prices on others. For instance, a bag of Nestle mini chocolate bars were $15 CUC. Oddly enough, most of the food in Palco were 'Our Compliments', which is an in-store brand for a large Canadian supermarket called Sobey's. Reminded me of the close ties that Canada has developed with Cuba.

The remainder of the day I spent cooking in the flat and repairing the cooker which had a problem with the gas igniter.

Julio came over in the evening and explained more to be about the money and day-to-day life in Cuba. I have also had a similar conversation with Dale and his wife, giving me 'a well experienced outsiders' perspective. It is interesting to see the contrast. There is certainly no comparison between Cuba and Canada. In Cuba, visiting a store would give you the impression that there has recently been a natural disaster. Not much selection and usually just 'bare essentials' on the shelves as compared what seems like an un-ending selection in most grocery stores in Canada or the UK. That being said, no one seems to be lacking for the essentials. Julio explained why.

He and his wife both have good jobs. They make their pay in National Pesos. He explained that a few things are provided to everyone by the state for free. The first big one is housing, which costs nothing. Nearly everyone in Cuba owns their own home, about 90%. If you wish to move house, you can trade your house with someone else. Otherwise it is difficult to move, as there is a dearth of new build homes. Even if you inherit a home, you may not be able to keep it, as the old adage of posession being nine-tenths of the law is very nearly the law in Cuba. If you aren't living in a house, you probably don't have much chance at owning it.

All utilities are owned by the state, so it is very cheap. Giving prices in CUC, a good estimate for a month might be $0.60 for gas, $3.00 for electricity, $3.50 for water and $0.50 for the telephone. That is less than $10 CUC for all the utilities for the average family with two teenage children.

As for food... Every person is allotted a basket of food per month for free. It isn't really 'enough', but is sufficient to stave off hunger, should that be the case. It is mostly beans, pulses, and rice with a small amount of chicken, meat and fish. Other food you would have to buy, most likely at the street markets. Food at the markets is much cheaper than at the stores. All food in the store is price controlled. Street markets operate on a 'free market' system, more or less. About $5 CUC can feed a person for two weeks on market food.

That brings us to wages. Being a socialist country, the wages are all set by the government and there is not a lot of spread between the lowest wage and the highest. $10 - $30 CUC month per person is about it. A doctor makes about $30 CUC and an unskilled worker probably makes $10. This means the average family brings in $20 to $40 CUC, roughly speaking. Given this and the cost of living, there is enough left over for a few odds and ends, but not enough to save. Saving money is not something Cubans usually do. Hence no Credit cards or bank accounts.

The disposable income left over after utilities and food would most likely be spent on transport and consumables like tobacco, alcohol or petrol.

Speaking of tobacco, Cubans smoke a lot of the stuff. Nearly everyone smokes and nerely everyone smokes cigars. Julio often said I am missing the two most imortant things in Cuba, rum and cigars. I would wager that there are other, less expensive, pleasures... namely music. It would seem that there is music everywhere, even as I sit and write this, I can hear music playing. In old Havana, live bands are everywhere. It makes for a very nice atmosphere. I should also be said that with the exception of a weekends the music usually dies down by 9 pm and doesn't cause any loss of sleep.

Other noise obervations... there are a lot of stray dogs about. It would seem that they probably have owners, but they aren't confined to their home lots. They are usually small dogs that keep to themselves with humans but like chasing other stay dogs and the odd cat. It would also seem many people have roosters, as they usually do a good job of waking me up in the morning. The electrical power also doesn't stay on very consistantly. It flickers now and then and seems to go out most every night for a minute or two.

I think Julio summed up life in Cuba. It is very day-to-day. You know that you have a certain things provided for, but you do not have credit or bank accounts. If you have money it is to provide for the next day. All Cubans seem to have relatives in Miami... Julio got a text message at Christmas time from a friend in Miami saying: "Lots of presents this year, but not much fun". He sent one back: "In Cuba, not many presents, but LOTS of fun." I am going to see if I can visit the Museum of the Revolution tomorrow to see if I can learn more about the socialist way of life here.