Life & Customs

In general, Cuba is a country short of everything, though its people exhibit extraordinary resilience and inventiveness in the face of hardship. So skilled are they, for example, at keeping automobiles from the 1950s in good running and cosmetic condition that Cuba has become a destination of choice for vintage-car collectors from the United States and Europe. Still, the constant food shortages, electricity blackouts, and telephone breakdowns affect people in different ways. Most problems and opportunities are relative and constantly changing, except for the staples of life in Cuba—the inescapable control of the government, the Saturday-night movies on one of the two local television channels, the Monday-night telenovelas (soap operas) imported from Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, or Colombia, and the unavoidable preoccupations of work, home, and family. Socialist ideologies notwithstanding, lifestyles are not equal for everyone, and how one perceives Cuba varies considerably depending on one’s individual situation.

Groups with access to hard currency—mainly U.S. dollars—enjoy a level of comfort not markedly different from that of middle-class residents elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. From two-fifths to half of Cubans have access to dollars. This is a varied group indeed, comprising recipients of foreign remittances from their families, workers in service industries who receive gratuities, tourist enterprises catering to foreigners, members of the armed services, workers in some industries who are paid partly in dollars, and even those working in the sex trade. There is also a group, locally called mayimbes (bosses), who appear to enjoy a good life without the benefit of obvious employment. These people form the faithful local clientele at the upscale paladares, the family-style restaurants officially licensed since 1994; they also frequent elegant state-run restaurants and the international dining rooms, expensive boutiques, and disco clubs of some first-class hotels, as well as the Caracol and Cubalse “dollar stores” scattered throughout Havana and other resort towns. Dollars also enable ordinary Cubans to ameliorate, however slightly, the monotonous routine of their lives. They can supplement the inadequate supplies of their ration books—not only in quality but also in quantity and variety—from purchases in the mercados agropecuarios (general food markets) and creative private sources (including the black market).

The typical cuisine makes wide use of pork, fowl, and rice—cooked with a scarcity of spices—and tropical fruits. Popular dishes include moros y cristianos (black beans and rice), ajicao (a stew of meat and vegetables), and lechón asado (roast pig), consumed with dark coffee and locally produced lager. For family and personal entertainment, the cinema remains extremely popular, and Havana hosts one of the largest film festivals in Latin America each year. In Havana and Santiago drama groups have regular performances. A small number of clubs, like the Casa de Amistad (“Friendship House”) in Havana, cater to tourists and Cubans of modest means by supplying good food and a lively ambiance. Music and dance remain an important part of Cuban life. A variety of classical and popular musical groups offer weekend performances, and many kinds of music are heard on the streets, especially along the Malecón, Havana’s seaside promenade that remains a magnet for youths, especially in the evenings and on weekends. Music is also an integral part of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería, which has contributed much to the culture of the island.