CUBAN TRANSITIONS

Wandering the streets of Cuba in the free time we were given, Hannah, Lauren, Zan, and I discovered a different way of eating. An incredibly more personal, more frugal, and more exciting way of eating. With a pocket of only 2 or so cuc in coins, we began our journey around Old Havana looking for something to satisfy our sweet teeth! We started off with fried sugary chips–we got a bag that was enough for each of us to have two, for what we confusedly gave 25 cents.

Later that night, we decided to try the many different chocolate bars that were being sold at the mini window liquor store right across the street from the Hotel Plaza.

The Rigochoc was the better of the two–it was two milk chocolate coated biscuits and cost 45 cents. The Privilegio cost the same 45 cents, but was a chocolate bar filled with caramel. In comparison to your typical US candy, they weren’t as rich, but were definitely still good! They were also much cheaper than the M&Ms and Snickers bars that were being sold at the shop for 1.50 CUC.

The next place we went was part of a strip of shops selling fried dough balls. It was more savory than sweet, but the man asked if he could get a picture with Zan so of course we obliged.

At this place we also picked up some delicious soft serve that was being sold for 1 CUC–surprisingly expensive but we figured that because it was being sold right next to Obispo street, they were expecting tourists. Do Cubans just have to pay a price that isn’t posted to the tourist public?

The next day the adventure continued. This sweet was my favorite by far. It was made with spun honey and peanuts. I asked how much, and as I started to pull out  my change to pay for it, Hannah stopped me when he asked for “2”. Initially I had thought he meant 2 CUC which I was more than happy to pay, but he was working with Cuban pesos, so instead we just handed him 15 cents and were on our way!

As Hannah and I continued walking, we met a man on the street, standing next to who we assumed was his mother. He had with him a little boy, who shyly hid between this man’s legs as we spoke broken spanish to him. After chatting for a few minutes, we turned to the woman next to him and asked how much for the guava empanadas she was selling. Before she could say, the man hushed us both, and payed the woman using his own Cuban pesos. She seemed annoyed with him, but handed Hannah and I each our own delicious empanada. We were pretty bewildered, especially because we hadn’t experienced that kind of agenda-less generosity from anyone on the street yet. We thanked him repeatedly and he simply smiled and assured us that it was no problem.  The crust was a soft cookie like consistency, almost like shortbread. The inside was guava jelly of course–the whole thing very sweet. They were the best empanadas I’ve ever had in my entire life.

This next one looked so good that we bought two. False alarm it was pretty gross. Not only was it extremely difficult to bite into (mine cracked and basically exploded all over me) but it was sickeningly sweet. It tasted like Havana Club and coconut but to a gag inducing level. Needless to say we threw them away, but seeing as we payed only 25 cents for both of them, we weren’t too bothered.

While we were walking around the giant indoor market down by the water, we happened to stop at the small cafe window by the entrance. I bought this cinnamon bun for 70 cents in CUC. It was also extremely sweet, but the brown sugar like frosting on the top was the selling point and we gobbled it down in less than a minute.

These last snacks weren’t necessarily from off of the street, but we walked into a tiny grocery store while hurrying back to the Hotel Plaza for an afternoon lecture. I got way too excited because this was the first time I’d seen peanut butter! For 12-20 CUC! I figured I’d be able to make it one more day without the best spread on earth so I passed on 20$ peanut butter. As soon as we picked out our things we ran to get in line. There were two or three people in front of us, but the cashier was in absolutely no hurry. In fact, it was astounding at the glacial pace that she was moving in and the less than chipper mood she was in. We automatically jumped to the conclusion that she had no reason to ensure customer satisfaction because of the fact that she was working for a publicly owned grocery store, and would be receiving the same pay regardless. However, in hindsight this might have been an assessment that we made  to try to understand the foreignness of such a socialist work force.