Rosa Martinez’s Diary

When they say “go to your classrooms”, these uniformed bodies all look the same: clean, ironed, straight, tight; apparently there’s no difference between one young kid and another. But, if you take a look at their shoes, their cell phone, watch or any other personal item, you begin to see differences.

Only a real Cuban will understand this article; only somebody who has lived in Cuba over the past 20 years will know what I’m talking about.

There is a popular belief, at least here in Oriente, which says that everyone (adults and children) should drink water from the first downpour in May, Cuba’s wettest month, and if you don’t, you’ll suffer from terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea.

If there’s one subject I don’t like writing about it’s about our financial needs, read here: our food, clothing and everyday situation, because it feels like whining, like the Spanish say, and I really don’t like whining.

Those who follow my articles (which I hope are quite a few) should know that I live in a suburb of Guantanamo city, the fifth most populated city in Cuba.

I have a friend I studied at university with who was very poor when he used to live in Cuba, I think he was the one in the worst financial situation out of all the people on my degree.

I have a neighbor who can’t even leave to go to work before she’s told her husband where she’s going. And when she needs to run a few errands, she has to go into great details about the places she’s thinking of going to.

There are many things that ordinary Cubans do all over the island in order to survive in a country where wages are purely symbolic. I can name many examples off of the top of my head…

A few years ago (too many ago for my liking), I was invited to spend a whole day with my daughters at Los Corales Hotel, one of the hotels on the beach in the beautiful city of Santiago de Cuba.

December didn’t bring many surprises for the Cuban people, just another end of the year, which wasn’t very different to previous year ends, which everyone celebrates as best they can and people aren’t expecting much from this new year, not even with a new president.