Hello from Cuba (9) - Havana Neighbourhoods

Yesterday morning I had arranged to meet one ofin Cuba and every person receives a "libreta"which
the women from the from the university, a very niceallocates a certain quota of basic foods such as
lady in her late 50s, who agreed to show me aroundbutter, eggs, cooking oil, flower etc at very low
the Vedado area and take me through some localprices. I was told that the monthly ration is 8 eggs
markets.Vedado is a beautiful residentialper person and that if you want an extra carton of
neighbourhood with many mansions and villas dating30 eggs, they cost about $2 (CUC) (about Can$2.50),
back maybe 80 to 100 years or so. Before thewhich is equivalent to about 1/10 of a person's
revolution it was the neighbourhood where all themonthly salary. No wonder everybody tries to set up
doctors, lawyers and business people lived, most ofa little side business to obtain extra money, since
whom emigrated around the time of the Revolution.survival in itself takes a lot of energy.We also saw a
(Business people and professionals were expropriatedlocal neighbourhood repair place, where they repair
as part of the Communist reorganization after theshoes with sowing machines that look like they are
Revolution, as a result hundreds of thousands100 years old. This is definitely a society where things
emigrated to the US, where there are substantialare reused, mended, fixed and recycled time and
counter-revolutionary and Anti-Castro sentiments.time again, and it's actually very refreshing to see a
The emigration of thousands of professionals in thedifferent way of living that contrasts so strongly with
early 60s apparently caused a real braindrain in theour modern way of living where we buy stuff we
country).We walked through the neighbourhood anddon't need, just to throw it out later. Of course, the
visited local markets where they sell fruits,recycling here is due to necessity, but it does feel like
vegetables and meat. We saw local vegetables likethere is a great appreciation for life here, not just
yucca, malanga, boniato as well as fruits such asconsumer goods, despite all the difficulties.This 2-hour
frutabomba (papaya), pineapple, mamey, mangos andwalk was a great way of getting to know a little bit
others. Most of the meat that they sell in theabout the authentic Cuban lifestyle and some of the
markets is pork, and there is no refrigeration at all inpractical ways that Cubans try to make do in their
the markets, although the meat is inspected by thedaily lives.Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a
government. It is forbidden to sell beef because beefwebsite called Travel and Transitions( Travel and
officially is only to be used for milk production. EquallyTransitions deals with unconventional travel and is
forbidden in local markets is seafood like lobsterschock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences,
since it is destined for big hotels and exports only,interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights
but we were approached by a couple of people whoand reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and
were selling both lobster and beef "debajo de lamany other features. You will also find stories about
mesa" - under the table. This is one of the things inlife and the transitions that we face as we go
Cuba, many things are forbidden, but there is usuallythrough our own personal life-long journeys.Submit
a way of working around it.I was also taken to ayour own travel stories in our first travel story
special market hall where locals buy food at certaincontest( and have a chance to win an amazing
allocated times on their ration card. Food is still scarceadventure cruise on the Amazon River.