Cuba Libre Redux – Waking Up to Reality

I awoke confused.  Some of you might posit that you have never seen me in any other state but opening my eyes I see only varnished teak slats three or four inches directly ahead and I do not know where I am.  I have taken many, many long transits via planes. trains, and cars to weird corners of the world and awakened confused and needed a few minutes to determine where I was.  That has never happened to me on a boat regardless of the length of the passage.  So this is a bit worrisome since the last two day’s sail has harshly reminded me of my advancing age.  Suddenly it comes to me that I am in Cuba and age advancement no longer troubles my conscious. Adrenalin and expectation are wonderful antidotes to old age symptoms. 

  

Billowing clouds and a deep blue sky greet me on deck.  The wind still howls but we are safely in harbor and the palm trees bending to the wind are a graceful exclamation point to a brilliant first January day in Cuba and we have errands.  Changing money in most foreign countries is quite straight forward.  You go to a bank or money changer and do the exchange.  Depending on your tolerance of tediousness the exchange rate will not be an issue.  It is slightly different in today’s Cuba.  The government has installed a two tier money system in which tourists use one type of peso and residents use another.  The tourist peso is worth about $1.25 while the resident peso is worth about 15 cents. Citizens may not use tourist pesos when they purchase something but instead must turn it in to the bank for resident pesos.  A clever system to insure tourist money whether dollars or euros or anything else is all funneled through the government owned banks.  Remember there is no private property or private business in Cuba, everything belongs to the State.  (in the past two years, the State has allowed citizens to open 'palidars' which are merely a restaurant you operate out of your living room or back yard)  The State takes a 50% profit tax (they do not call it  "profit") but still, it is income the family would not otherwise have. Will this change with the pending influx of US tourists?  Of course, but control by Raoul is not going away anytime soon and the State will have its cut of every financial transaction be it groceries or cigars or taxi rides.  

Taxi to Old Havana

We need to stop at a bank on our way to downtown Havana and exchange some dollars for Tourist Pesos.  We must also remember that US law currently allows US citizens to spend only a total of $400 per person while in Cuba.  There are ways around this but since we are in a gray area vis-a-vis our travel permits to begin with, we will see how far we get before investigating less legal exchange methods. Upon entering a Cuban bank, you must first be admitted through the locked door by a minder.  When he lets you in, he will take you to a waiting area and point out another waiting customer.  Your turn will be after that person.  Do not forget that person or miss when they go up to a teller window because you may not get another opportunity for a long time.  Everybody waits and watches because the lines were long every time we went regardless of the time of day or location of the bank. Yes a simple numbered ticket dispenser would work but there are few mechanical devices in Cuba that are not in desperate need of replacement parts that are non-existant.  And this method is replacement-part free and quite inexpensive if one does not consider the minder’s salary.  That is the beauty of the Communist system… everyone has a job. One need not ask if it is a job that needs to be done, suffice that someone receives a salary paid by the government who in turn, gets paid by every financial transaction including those of tourists.  OK that’s your dialectical materialism lesson for today.  And we are still five miles from downtown Havana.  But we now have pesos to spend.  Stay tuned...  or not.