Americas

[Visited: January 2002]

Thanks to its climate, life in Cuba often is lived outdoors, in the streets, parks and squares of its villages and towns. Especially for foreigners, it is very nice to be outside: even in Havana motorized traffic is nowhere near as intrusive as in most other countries. In all other towns, it is often possible to walk in the streets. Only incidentally you'd have to step aside to let a car pass. Much more likely, you will be overtaken by a horse and cart carrying passengers.
In smaller villages (we made an excursion to the rustic village of Remedios), people put their beans and other agricultural products in the streets to dry. You can regularly see old men (never women for some reason), playing domino, just seated at a table and on regular seats in the middle of the street. More commercial activity from Cubans shows when they open up a shutter in their houses to sell home made coffee, pizza, and other things.
Unfortunately, another part of daily life in especially the more visited towns are intermediaries for services ranging from eating at people's home, staying at someone's place, buying some of the typical Cuban products or "renting" a Cuban girl for one day or your entire holiday. In some places, this means that you have to endure a lot of people approaching you, trying to sell you something. It is in these moments that the visitor feels like a dollar cow which most Cubans are desperate to milk.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Cuban streetlife (Cuba). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Cuban streetlife.
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