Socialism in Cuba provides limited food rations (rice, beans, oil, scarce meat, milk for kids under age 7), and marginal housing. Average wages equate to about $20 a month, so there isn’t a lot of room for the extras that Europeans and Americans typically consume. The media is very controlled, including social media. The internet is slow, censored, low bandwidth with limited connections permitted (educator, journalist, etc). Cuba has been shielded from the developed nation consumer mentality.
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- With a tip of 1 Cuban CUC per photo, she makes significant supplemental income. In Cuba, bellhops make more than doctors due to tourist tips.
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- 100% government control of all media. That’s one national newspaper, one radio station and two TV stations.
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- No Barbies or American girl dolls here.
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- Cuba boasts a high literacy rate. Education is 100% free, with continuance tests for college.
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- Soccer? Yes, but we never saw kids playing baseball, or even catch
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- Cuban senior rappers – life expectancy here is 79 years, one year longer than the US
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- Music pulses from every doorway – Cuba has an undeniable rhythm
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- La Floridata Bar, where Hemingway drank frozen Daquiris, invented here in the early 30’s.
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- Stall after stall of souvenirs with identical government produced goods.
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