I was fascinated with transportation in Cuba – especially how people move from here to there to work, shop and visit. I also enjoyed seeing how people used transportation to make money, for work. Above is a man who was selling eggs on this residential street in Trinidad. I also took a photo on the fly of a man driving his horse and cart past. When I edited the photo I realized he had eggs in the back. These are cobble stone streets – a rough ride for an egg.
As in all cities, we saw many people walking. It took me a few minutes to figure out that this man is carrying a cake. I wonder what type of celebration is planned.
Bicycles are a very common form of transportation. This man has turned his taxi bike to a delivery bike, at least for today. The government controls most forms of production and services, while keeping wages very low. Consequently people are very creative and resourceful in finding ways to make money, seemingly outside of government control.
I acted quickly to get the next photo when I realized the cargo was a hind quarter of a hog. It could be on its way to a restaurant or someone is planning a big gathering with roast pork. I bet there will be beans and rice – a staple of Cuban meals.
This farmer’s cart with fresh produce is obviously bringing joy to this women as she is thinking about supper for her family.
One of the reasons Trinidad was my favorite stop on our trip, was because three of us had time to walk around a neighborhood to see people living their day. We observed many working hard and throughout the trip learned that most people have a hard time supporting themselves and their families. They are having to live their day-to-day lives with major shortages in basic materials and very low wages.
I’m not sure how I came to the conclusion that the U.S. embargo beginning in 1960 is to blame for the severe poverty in Cuba. However, the more I listened to descriptions of daily life and thought about this issue, I came to the conclusion that the U.S. government policy cannot be blamed. U.S. domestic laws don’t apply to other countries – so Cuba is free to trade with the whole world, minus the U.S. What appears to be creating the poverty in Cuba are the economic policies of the Cuban government. I will share more observation on this topic in future posts.
I liked Trinidad a lot.
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I’m ready to go back and repeat the tour but do different things. I would spend more time in the small towns – and find more ways to interact with the residents. I would stay in homes instead of resorts.
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Ah…but you must remember that the U.S. government has in the past pressured other governments not to trade with Cuba…even the Russians were pressured to withdraw support…but recently the US pressure has been ignored by more and more governments…thus the Cuba situation has begun to change…a good book which I read before going to Cuba was Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana, to be published in October, ©2015 University of North Carolina Press…you might find it interesting.
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Thanks for your observations and tip on the book. Very interesting to think about.
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A wonderful glimpse of life in a foreign land. Thanks so much for publishing this.
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You’re welcome, Dawn. Many more to come.
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This is a timely post given the death of Fidel Castro yesterday. I wonder if the country will change now.
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I don’t expect it to, because his brother has a pretty tight hold on everything. There are changes taking place but they are very slow and very much controlled by the government.
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Yes. It would seem so.
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Great post. I was amazed by all the types of transport when I was in Cuba for a week in January. I enjoyed Trinidad, it was not as hectic as Havana. And I didn’t worry about getting run over. 🙂
While many of Cuba’s economic problems are home grown, the embargo did have some impact on Cuba. But the economy really collapsed in the 1990’s when the Soviet Union fell apart and Cuba no longer received subsidies from the Russian government. I admit I felt a bit like a colonial when I was in Cuba, being able to afford things the Cubans can’t.
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