Cuba - Lonely Planet [30]
Amarillos When your transportation network collapses overnight, you’ve only got one option: promote hitchhiking. Even better, make it a legal obligation. Amarillos (named for their faded yellow uniforms) are traffic organizers who stand at official hitchhiking points on the periphery of Cuban towns and flag down vehicles for car-less commuters. All cars with government (blue) license plates are legally obliged to stop.
Camellos Though not indigenous to Cuba, camels first arrived on the island in the early 1990s. But far from resembling the graceful ‘ships of the desert,’ Cuban camels were a cross between a metro bus and a Russian truck, Cuba’s ‘two-humped’ urban buses ran along seven metro routes in Havana that were originally earmarked for an urban subway system that never reached fruition. In 2007 they were finally phased out and replaced by sleeker, more comfortable Chinese ‘bendy’ buses.
Casas particulares The Cubans were first allowed to let out their houses as bed-and-breakfasts in 1997 and the new laws quickly created a deluge. By the early 2000s there were literally thousands of family homes renting out rooms to both Cubans and foreigners all over the country. While government taxes have tightened over the years and the government inspections have become increasingly stringent, the trend shows no signs of abating.
Grapefruit steaks You might have tried veggie steaks or even – at a stretch – vegan steaks but, during the lean ’90s, Cuba’s top TV chefs began circulating a recipe for grapefruit steaks. Carefully cut the rind off, cover the fruit in breadcrumbs and hey presto…
Paladares While the initial effect of the Special Period was to send Cuban cuisine (which was already decidedly iffy) plummeting back into the dark age, the long-term consequences for food were surprisingly refreshing. By the early 2000s privately operated family restaurants known as paladares had overcome draconian government regulations and started to produce dishes that were healthy, edible and surprisingly delicious.
Peso pizza In the 1970s, few Cubans knew what a pizza was. By the ’90s, they were cooking up more than the Italians. Oven-baked in makeshift kitchens, peso pizzas (so called because you pay for them in Cuban pesos) reinvigorated a hungry nation during the dark days of the Special Period – and made a pleasant change from grapefruit steaks.
Stretch Ladas It took a unique kind of panache to take the world’s ugliest car and make it into a sexy limo, but armed with a blowtorch, some metal bashers and a lucid imagination, the Cubans came up with the ‘stretch’ Lada.
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POPULATION
The slave trade and the triumph of the Cuban Revolution are two of the most important factors in Cuba’s population mix. From Santería traditions to popular slang, Afro-Cuban culture is an integral part of the national identity. According to the 2002 census, Cuba’s racial breakdown is 24% mulato (mixed race), 65% white, 10% black and 1% Chinese. Aside from the obvious Spanish legacy, many of the so-called ‘white’ population are the descendants of French immigrants who arrived on the island in various waves during the early part of the 19th century. Indeed, the cities of Guantánamo, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba were all either pioneered or heavily influenced by French émigrés, and much of Cuba’s coffee and sugar industry owes its development to French entrepreneurship.
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Habana Vieja is one of the most crowded quarters in Latin America, with more than 70,000 people living in an area of just 4.5 sq km.
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The black population is also an eclectic mix. Numerous Haitians and Jamaicans came to Cuba to work in the sugar fields in the 1920s and they brought many of their customs and traditions with them. Their descendants can be found in Guantánamo and Santiago in the Oriente or places such as Venezuela