Tag Archives: CUP

January 6, 2017 · 9:22 am

El Paquete: Opiate of the Cuban Masses

I’m not a particularly heavy consumer of the “package” (love the typically Cuban double entendre) but I know what I want, my ‘Paquete’ guy knows what I want, and I stray only for research and on recommendation. Samantha Bee; Transparent; Lie to Me (swoon, swoon Tim Roth); The Lobster; Sully; Captain Fantastic – here, we get any series you’re watching for $1 a season. Another buck gets me six or seven films playing in a theater near you.

What first turned me on to The Paquete in a hot and heavy way was when I discovered it also contains all manner of professional sports. My Paquete guy, Yuri, knows: any Knicks or Golden State game and all pro tennis, bring it on! I’ll take a Redskins game or any old Monday Night Football once in a while, too. I’m a life-long sports fan and active participant, still, and if you ask me, sports transcend. Watching and playing sports – the most democratic and unequivocal of all human pursuits – thrills me. I know some of you don’t get it and actively reject organized athletics. That’s cool, but I do think it’s your loss.

Enjoying sports via The Paquete however, has its quirks and downsides. Lots of it comes from ESPN en español, so none of the sportcasters are familiar, they’re using Spanish sports slang I’m still learning, and they can be terrible chismosos. Listen, I don’t want to hear about Carmelo Anthony’s new car – just call the game asere! Another downside is when you’re fast forwarding through the commercials, the total length of the program is indicated on the menu bar. So if Team X or Player Y is getting walloped, the length of the menu bar serves as spoiler and at a certain point it becomes obvious that a mid-game rally or late match come-from-behind is impossible. Knowing which side will reign victorious before or mid-way through the game takes a lot of the fun out of it. But ‘del lobo un pelo’ as we say here: something’s better than nothing.

For a fairly new phenomenon (within the past 8 years or so), The Paquete is making a huge impact. When I moved to Havana in 2002, most neighborhoods had a person – young, old, home-bound – with an impressive VHS (remember those?!) collection who made a few extra bucks renting them out. Their bread and butter was mostly Hollywood blockbusters several years out of date and the latest soap operas from Brazil and Mexico. The more technologically savvy and those with more financial resources eventually transitioned to DVDs and soon thereafter, businesses cropped up where the movies or series or soaps you wanted were copied directly on to a memory stick (‘pingüitas’ in Conner slang, for their form and propensity to catch viruses). The soaps and flicks were then re-copied and re-copied as you shared them with friends. The final stage of this digital evolution is The Paquete.

In the simplest terms, The Paquete is one terabyte of media downloaded (mostly via a super speedy connection provided by the State and motivation a-plenty for some people to hang on to their low-salaried State jobs) every Monday and then shared the length and breadth of the island via private businesses dedicated to just that. I’m fairly certain this is a ‘grey market’ activity, but according to ABC News, The Paquete is the #1 employer in Cuba today.

Accessing The Paquete is easy: within a 5-block radius of Cuba Libro, for instance, there are no fewer than half a dozen private businesses – usually in the entryway to a residential home or building rented out for this purpose – where you can go every Monday to download the entire terabyte of new offerings on an external hard drive. Or you can pick and choose what you like. Different distributors organize their offerings differently and prices and quality vary. Some folks I know price by the gig – 8 gigs for 10CUP (about 35 cents) is one of the cheapest I’ve found – others, by the number of movies or episodes you want. Some movies have been hand-filmed in cinemas (where you can hear audiences laughing at the funny bits and get a glimpse of the guy returning from the concession stand with his popcorn), while others are BluRay or high definition. There is also home delivery service of The Paquete where the distributor arrives at your door and copies directly on to your computer whatever you request (free anti-virus included).

It’s worth mentioning that The Paquete contains more than just sports and Hollywood movies and series – the funny (and not so) tapes from Havana’s police cameras; digital magazines produced in Cuba (of which there are many, Vistar being the most high-profile); erotica (AKA soft porn); La Voz; music videos; computer games and more. Super events like the Stones concert in Havana and the Chanel show are also popular and usually available in days following the actual extravaganza. Recently, Zoológico, a Cuban-produced soap opera deemed unfit for broadcasting on state-run TV has been a popular Paquete request.

Games of Thrones, The Walking Dead, West World: visitors are often shocked at how plugged in and current Cubans are. Me? I’m still shocked at the pervasiveness of the ‘Cuba frozen in time/stuck in amber’ myth. There’s now Wifi the entire length of the Malecón (to give you an idea of the type of tourist here nowadays, I actually had someone ask me last week what the Malecón was. Dios mío) and in parks from Mariano to Nueva Gerona, Quivicán to Guantánamo. A pilot project will install broadband in 2,000 Habana Vieja homes soon and Cubans will begin receiving data on their mobile phones this year. Every medical professional has full internet access via Infomed and those accounts are often “shared,” multiplying users two- or three-fold. In universities, the national network of Joven Clubes, at work: Cubans are way more connected than you ever imagined.

I know a lot of readers may have expected and wanted my new post to be about Fidel’s death and I’m sorry to disappoint. Rest assured, I’ll get around to it (once I’ve further wrapped my head around it). But I will provide you with this bit of intel straight from my friends who work distributing The Paquete: during the 9-day national mourning period, these folks made money hand over fist, working double time, until midnight most nights, copying movies and series and sports for Cubans anxious to watch anything besides the ‘round-the-clock Fidel documentaries being shown on State TV.

I gotta go.There’s a hot Murray-Djokovic match I’m in the middle of watching.

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Filed under Americans in cuba, Communications, Cuban customs, Cuban economy, Fidel Castro, Living Abroad, Travel to Cuba

Tagged as Cuban sayings and slang, CUC, CUP, dichos, digital access, double economy, Fidel Castro, grey market in Cuba, pirating in cuba

June 13, 2013 · 8:07 am

Series #1: Cuba, A Visitor’s Practicum

With this quartet of posts, I’m initiating a novel concept at Here is Havana: a series of old and new writing, linked by theme. While reading every post in the entire series is only for the anal/OCD among us (and by linking posts thematically, I clearly qualify), each also stands alone. Read one or read them all: I hope you take away some insight. This first installment in my serial post concept focuses on practical tips and strategies for making the most of your Cuba trip – whether it’s your first or 40th visit (yes, some people like it here that much).

In the following posts, published here and elsewhere over the past couple of years, you’ll find everything from how to navigate the double economy and 10 peso taxis to throwing a dinner party:

DIY Dining in Havana

Trip Tips: Havana Independently

Conner’s Cuba Rules

As for new content, I offer this post dedicated to how to shop at a Cuban ‘agro’ and not get fleeced.

Cuban Agros: The Basics

There are several options for where to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and meat in Havana, but grocery stores aren’t one of them (see note 1). No matter where you find yourself shopping, my advice is bring your own plastic or other reusable bags for carting away your goods (though at many markets, little old ladies sell plastic bags for a peso apiece). Also, once you’ve had your produce weighed and have paid, look for the ‘Area de Consumidor’ – this is where you can have your purchases re-weighed to see how much you’ve been ripped off (see note 2). When this happens – as it does to everyone, Cuban and foreign – you simply go back to the seller and they’ll rectify the error without batting an eyelash.

Where to Shop:

Agropecuarios – There are two types of these markets: those with price caps, heavily subsidized by the state, and those where supply and demand dictate price. You can see side-by-side examples at Tulipán, where the chaotic EJT (price-capped) market has long lines and lots of root vegetables mostly, while a block away, the tidy supply and demand market offers stacks of carrots, mounds of tomatoes and all the fruta bomba, watercress, red peppers, limes and string beans to get mouths watering. Not surprisingly, prices are higher at the latter.

Organopónicos – These organic markets are heavy on the veggies, but light on fruit; prices are reasonable for the (mostly) organic produce – not all of it is grown on site. Much of it is however, and I’ve bought just-harvested lettuce, bok choy, okra and basil frequently at organopónicos. The area around the Plaza de la Revolución is peppered with these markets. Two farther afield favorites are the one at 5ta Avenida and Calle 44 and the so-called ‘organopónico japonés’ out on Avenida 25 in the Cubanacán neighborhood. The latter has an awesome orchid selection, as well.

Ferias agropecuarios – There used to be monthly (or more often) neighborhood ‘produce fairs’ where trucks heavily laden with bananas, onions, garlic and anything else in season rolled in for a weekend to sell as much as possible at great prices. Two popular ones occupying blocks and blocks included the one on Avenida 13 in Playa and along Carlos III in Centro Habana/Plaza. Fish, house wares, artesanía, and prepared foods (chicharrones!) were also sold at these fairs, where locals flocked to load up for the week or month. I haven’t seen one of these in at least a year; I’d love to know what happened to them. Anyone?

Mobile vendors – These are a new phenomenon made possible by the economic reforms initiated in 2010. While convenient, these door-to-door produce sales chap my ass. First, they’re gutting state markets (often the price capped ones), snatching up merchandise to resell at a markup – usually by 100-200% (see note 3). Second, some of these agros-on-wheels sell pre-bagged and weighed goods. Of course, when you open that sack of okra/potatoes/peppers in your kitchen, rotted and otherwise inferior produce lurks.

How to shop for some specific, perhaps unfamiliar, items:

Quimbombó (okra) – A popular vegetable in these parts, to ensure you’re getting fresh okra, snap off the tip of a few (or do like we do and test every single one before committing – don’t worry, sellers won’t mind). Tips should snap off crisply, not bend over.

Melón (watermelon) – Watermelon halves are a no brainer. When you’re after a whole one, however, things get murkier. In this case, bring the melon to your ear and give it a few hard taps with your fingertips. A good one will return a “dry” pok, pok, pok sound, according to my local expert. Most sellers will also offer to cut out a small triangle so you can sample before buying.

Limones (limes) – A staple in many Cuban dishes (and mojitos of course!), most cooks have been duped by limes that look luscious but then turn out to be dry and worthless. To avoid this fate, choose limes which have smooth, shiny skin. Most sellers will prove the juiciness of their limes by cutting one open and squeezing out a long stream with a dramatic flourish.

Guayaba (guava) – I remember the first guava I ever ate, off the tree, in the Costa Rican jungle. It was delicious for the first, second and third bite. On the fourth, I bit into a little white worm. I didn’t eat another guava for decades. Cuban advice on how to avoid guava worms? Don’t think about it: the majority has them, even if you don’t know it.

Fruta bomba (papaya; see note 4) – Unlike in other latitudes, there’s only one variety of papaya sold in Cuba – bigger than a loaf of bread and orange as a basketball. Choose one that is uniform in color and smells sweet; if it has a few over ripened black spots, don’t discount it. Instead, ask the seller to cut out a small triangle to taste.

Mamey – I ascribe the licorice axiom to this odd fruit: either you love it or won’t touch it. Mamey look like mini footballs and have brown skin. The flesh is a deep coral color, with a distinctive, slightly perfumed, taste. Mamey diehards scoop it up with a spoon but it’s mostly used in fruit shakes and ice cream. Sellers will flick off a piece of skin to show you it’s ripe.

Yuca (yucca) – A ubiquitous root vegetable, these long tubers are brown to reddish on the outside, blindingly white on the inside. When cooked, yucca is soft and always served with an addictive garlic sauce/bitter orange sauce called mojo. Fresh yucca “weeps” from the cut end – you should see little droplets of gathered moisture. Some sellers display a dish of already cooked yucca at their stalls to prove that “se ablanda” – it cooks up soft.

Malanga (taro) and boniato (sweet potato) – While consulting friends for this post, I asked how they distinguished the good malanga and boniato from the bad. Everyone agreed: these root vegetables a caja de sorpresa. Translation: you never really know what you’re going to get. The same can be said for zanahoria (carrots), any bunch of which can contain a few that are sweet and toothsome and others that taste like soap.

Miel (honey) – Fresh honey is sold in repurposed Havana Club bottles at many agros and is a real treat. To make sure the honey you’re buying hasn’t been cut with sugar (an old trick in these parts), invert the bottle; the honey should try your patience it moves so slowly and importantly, have a large air bubble making its way to the top.

Notes

1. In my experience, many visitors think, logically, that fresh produce and protein can be purchased at grocery stores. Not so here in Havana.

2. So widespread is the practice, each market now has an Area de Consumidor. Old hands come to market with their own hand scale to weigh their purchases in front of the seller, before paying.

3. This is also happening in other sectors, whereby ‘cuenta propistas’ (freelancers) buy light bulbs, cleaning products and hardware in state stores to re-sell at a steep markup.

4. In Havana and many surrounding areas, ‘papaya’ is not used to designate this fruit, but is instead reserved for a certain part of the female anatomy. In the Oriente, papaya means the fruit.

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Filed under Americans in cuba, cuban cooking, Cuban economy, Expat life, Living Abroad, Travel to Cuba

Tagged as authentic cuba, cuba, CUC, CUP, havana, moneda nacional, organic food in cuba, travel, travel like a local, trip tips, vegetarian in cuba

February 28, 2011 · 11:29 am

Trip Tips: Havana Independently

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Havana is hot and I’m not talking about mulatas or the weather: from Cayo Hueso to Regla, Cementerio Colón to Ciudad Deportiva, you can’t swing a dead gato around here these days without hitting a tourist. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve seen this many foreigners in Havana since the 2006 Non-Aligned Meeting (see note 1).

There are reasons of course. The Cigar and Young Filmmakers Festivals are going strong as I write this, we’re getting a couple of monster cruise ships docking each week, and all-inclusive packages from Canada are mad cheap (see note 2). But most importantly, Havana’s streets teem thanks to Obama’s rollback to Clinton’s policy whereby US college students and select others can travel “legally” to the island. I’m surprised the effects have been so lightening fast – the new/old regulations were just announced in January – but everywhere I turn these days there seems to be a fresh-faced co-ed in Wesleyan gear or a Teva-shod geek. I hope they all have iPads.

Many of these people won’t end up liking Havana (hell, even I don’t like Havana some times). Starting with poor air quality, negative travelogues grouse about the expense of this place; perceived levels of state control; difficulties scratching below the surface +/o contextualizing their experience; and of course, crappy goods and even shittier services.

The dramatic economic changes happening around here – legalizing 178 types of private business from clown to cook, masseur to manicurist – are altering the travelers landscape (see note 3). So that Here is Havana readers can maximize their visit to this enigmatic city, I dedicate this post to travel strategies designed to get you beneath Havana’s skin.

#1. Talk the talk. There is no better way to maximize an independent holiday here than to speak cubano, with all its chopped off words, odd pronunciation and slang (see note 4). Even if ¿que bola asere? and ‘la heva está enpinga’ isn’t in your repertoire, try at least to dust off that high school Spanish since surprisingly few Cubans dominate English (and many of those that do are unusually accomplished charlatans). Not speaking Spanish doesn’t mean you’ll have a bad time – on the contrary. But it will limit your ability to get information, negotiate, learn and arrange logistics.

#2. Embrace pesos cubanos. As soon as you’re able, get some moneda nacional, also known as pesos cubanos and CUP. There’s a myth out there as tenacious as herpes in a whorehouse and which no amount of posting, commenting, and conversing seems to dispel: that tourists can’t use this ‘local’ currency. Complete rubbish. The truth is, most visitors simply don’t know how to use CUP. I suggest starting your trip by changing $5 of hard currency (24 CUP = 1 CUC = 0.82 USD) into this funny money to use for fixed route taxis, movies, food, condoms, cigars, and stepping out.

#3. Roll like a local. Long-finned Pontiacs, Capone-era Dodges, and other ‘Yank tanks’ leap to most minds when Cuba is mentioned. Undeniably cliché, these cars are everywhere, plying Havana’s streets working as communal, fixed-route taxis. For 10 pesos cubanos (about 0.40 USD), you can hail one of these endearing jalopies (I climbed into one yesterday that had packing tape upholstery and a ceiling lined with old refrigerator boxes) between Playa and Vedado or Habana Vieja, out to Miramar or Marianao. Longer routes – from Habana Vieja out to the Playas del Este beaches for example – will run double. To grab one, just stick out your arm parallel to the ground and ask the driver if he’s going to where you need to be. It helps to be on the right thoroughfare: 23 or Línea in Vedado, San Lázaro or Neptuno in Centro Habana, Avenida 31 or 41 in Playa, Calle 51 in Marianao, or 3ra Avenida in Miramar.

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Even lower down on the transportation food chain is the guagua (pronounced wa-wa) – the Cuban bus. A ride literally costs pennies and while not especially comfortable or efficient, riding the guagua gives a real taste of Cuban daily life with all its attendant humor and hardships.

If these options don’t appeal, consider renting a car and driver. Part of the new regulations stipulate that licensed freelance drivers can now be contracted (by anyone, including foreigners as I understand it) to provide transport islandwide. There are no set fares, with rates to be determined between driver and client. Already nearly 6,000 choferes in Havana have applied for the freelance license; 2,000 have been granted. If the market has its way, the increased competition should make for more bargaining power and improved service. At the very least, it provides visitors an alternative to renting a car for $100 a day (which will somehow end up costing more when the agency is done with you). I predict that freelance drivers who speak English are going to do very well under these new regulations.

#4. Make yourself at home. One of the great benefits presented by the new regulations for travelers is the possibility to legally rent an entire house. This means you can shop at the agro (using those pesos cubanos) and cook for yourself, throw a dinner party, or introduce Cuban friends to the concept of brunch. Having your own private space means you can channel surf Cuban state TV (University for All! Little House on the Prairie! Seinfeld!), take mojitos on your porch to the delight of the neighborhood gossips, or stumble in carefree at 4am.

Another idea for a different Havana experience is to take lodging in more off-the-beaten-track places like the beach towns of Guanabo or Baracoa or Cojimar – the fishing village made famous by Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. These are close enough to enjoy Havana but just far enough removed to give a taste of small town life.

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#5. Get primped & pampered. The new regulations approve all sorts of services which visitors can now enjoy without any sneaking around. Now your visit can include a 1-hr massage for $20 (really $10, but you might be charged double – the foreigner tax digamos), manicures for $2, and haircuts for $5 (careful with this last however).

If you’re interested to learn if someone – driver, masseuse, pizza maker – proffering these and other goods and services is licensed to do so, ask to see their licencia de cuenta propista. Most people are proud to flash their spiffy new ID cards.

#6. Spread the wealth. Frankly I weary of travelers asking me how they can avoid patronizing state businesses. That’s like asking how to avoid death or taxes. From the moment you buy your $20 tourist card to enter the country, to the minute you’re paying the $25 tax to leave, you’re supporting the Cuban government. What’s so evolved about this place is that paying into government coffers does in turn support the Cuban people (maybe not how or to the extent you’d like, but in my book the Cuban approach is fundamentally better than subsidizing bombs in Afghanistan and spies in Caracas). If you have a problem with this, do us all a favor and go to Cancun.

Having said that, I do recommend spending your hard-earned cash at a mix of state and private enterprises, but how to tell the difference? With eateries, there are some telltale signs. If your server is wearing a uniform or hairnet the place is probably state-owned. If your food descends from a balcony in a bucket it’s definitely private.

With taxis it’s even clearer: 99% of the old Motor City monsters (and many of the Ladas) brandishing taxi signs are privately owned. When in doubt, do like the Cubans do and look at the license plate (see note 5). There’s an entire code for plates here, with the first clue being the color: blue is for state-owned, yellow is private. All hotels, meanwhile, are at least 51% state-owned, but casas particulares (rooms or independent houses for rent) are privately operated. Look for the blue ‘arrendador divisa‘ sign.

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If you’re interested in learning more of the Havana ‘mécanica‘ including bus and fixed-fare taxi routes, the best spot for 75 cent whisky shots and $1 lunch, Cuban line etiquette and more, please check out my iapp Havana Good Time.

Notes

1. It’s highly doubtful we’ll reap the same benefits however: when Cuba hosted the meeting as is customary for the country holding the rotating presidency, Havana’s main roads were repaved, trees were planted (including many of the trees lining Boyeros every visitor zooms by on their way from the airport) and house facades all along the arrival route were painted up nice and spiffy for the visiting delegations.

2. These 7-day all inclusive deals are oftentimes cheaper than just a Toronto-Havana Cubana flight. Savvy travelers just book the package and stay a day or two at their resort and then travel independently. As an aside, tourism figures for January indicate a 16% increase for the same period last year. Top countries visiting Cuba: Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Argentina, and Mexico.

3. I say travelers here instead of tourists because I believe there is a fundamental difference between a person who passively observes a culture and someone who desires to actively participate in it. If you’re one of those disposed to take issue with the tourist vs traveler terminology, I invite you to focus on the phenomenon/philosophy I’m talking about rather than the etymology of the terms used to describe it.

4. Those interested in Cuban slang and phrases should check out this Dichos iapp. I haven’t been able to get it yet (the US government blocks iTunes from operating in Cuba) but am loca to try it.

5. This national reflex is widespread and wild to watch: no matter what type of car you’re in, observe how passing Cubans immediately drop their eyes to check out the license plate. Via the coded plates, they’ll know if your car is from Havana or the provinces, whether you’re a foreign resident or visiting, even if you work for the state, a mixed Cuban-foreign enterprise, a church or an NGO.