Cuba II: The Road Trip

After a slightly dissapointing first visit to Cuba due to an over-supply of street husslers we had no hesitation in renting a car and getting out of La habana for a few days - destination Trinidad.

With our excellent guide Daniel we were able to have our endless questions answered. Some of the more interesting things we learned are:

- Rum and coke is called Free Cuba (Cuba Libre) in the latin world and I have enjoyed them throughout central America. However, in Cuba they feel so gipped by Castro's failure that when locals ask for the drink here they ask for a Mentira - a lie.

- Having a free health system sounds great but it's not so good when you have to bribe doctors just to recieve treatment without the usual months long waiting list. Having extra money to be able to do this is only possible for people who either work somehow with tourists, or who steal.

- Free education also sounds great but University placement is determined solely by school results, not by choice.

- Cubans know exactly what is going on in the rest of the world. They get access to the internet through friends with government jobs and read the NY Times and Miami Herald.

- Besides the Florida approach, Cubans also head to Honduras on makeship tube vessels braving shark infested waters. Once there, they can arrange flights/passports for the US where they then discard the new passport and declare their Cuban nationality to US authorities. This automatically entitles them to rights and protection under US law (in an attempt to save them from communism). Unfortunately this means that Cuban ID cards are worth thousands to people in Central America and they are willing to kill for them - so even once they beat the sharks, they still have to get past the Mexicans.

- David took me to a restaurant where locals go - something we had found very hard to find. Customers paid in local currency and dishes were between 1-2 dollars. According to Daniel most Cubans could only afford this treat 1 a month (average salary is around $15/m).