Lesson in affirmative action

All education in Cuba is free. Nothing has to be spent on books either, they are lent out to students who return them once they finish the course.

All education in Cuba is free. Nothing has to be spent on books either, they are lent out to students who return them once they finish the course. Even graduation, medicine and higher education of all kinds including courses in dancing or bartending are free. Graduates do three years of social service after that in their chosen area. So if you are training to be a teacher, you teach at a minimal stipend for three years, as payback to the state. How8217;s that for affirmative action?

Home cola Tukola

I don8217;t know if Coca-Cola here has any pesticide, but it certainly is drunk here, smuggled 8212; it would appear 8212; but they do their own cola too, a pleasant, but less fizzy version called 8216;Tukola8217;. So, there is nothing foreign about Rum and Coca Cola here.

David vs Goliath

Just on the seafront Havana8217;s Marine Drive Malecon, there is a property which the US uses. As there are no diplomatic ties between the two, and Cuba feels hemmed in by big brother, they have decided to retaliate and surround this property with at least 60 absolutely huge Cuban flags, huge billboards just outside equating the US state to terrorists. Sometime back the Cubans had also put up an electronic board here that read 8216;David Must Continue to Defeat Goliath8217;.

Tale of two currencies

Who says Cuban currency is not convertible? It is, but within the country. There are two monies here, the Cuban Peso 8212; through which you buy all that the government produces and what is locally produced 8212; and the CUC or Cuban Currency Convertible pronounced as 8216;Cook8217;. The CUC fetches Cubans some things that are available in special shops, like special toothpastes, sometimes even things like floor-cleaning solutions, etc. Tourists, of course, are expected to use the CUC. And predictably, it nearly trades at par with the dollar. Remember, US sanctions have been in place since 1961 and has gotten worse as the years have gone by.

Granma the ship

The official sarkari paper here called Granma a tabloid with its red headlines on the front page, and a very smart website refers to the ship called Granma, which the revolutionaries sailed up in. Those who sailed in went on to chase Batista away on the New Year8217;s eve,1959. The remains of the ship are still preserved in the museum.