HOW DOES CUBA WORK, part 1

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The system of dual currency makes the island of Cuba, one of the most expensive in the Caribbean, but precisely because there are two coins, you can choose to opt for one rather than another.
The currency of tourists is the Peso Convertible below the andazzo the Dollar: 1 Convertible Peso = 1 Dollar. All prices are prices that are European, with the difference that Cuba is a Third World Country! But then how can it be expensive, such as Italy or France? And how do the Cubans to live with those prices? Why use the other Cuban currency is the Cuban Peso Moneda Nacional, or where to do 24 takes 1 Convertible Pesos cubanos.
There is no problem in using the dual currency for tourists, the moneda nacional be bought at any cadeca. Perhaps Cuba is one of the cheapest in the world if one knows how to move.
Unfortunately, some assets, including those of first necessity, can be purchased only with the Convertible Peso and the same goes for Cuba, or so the Cuban owns the convertibles or can not buy certain things. This will be one of the reasons which push to have the Cuban un negocio, ie a more or less illegal that allows him to "round off" the ten dollars of which monthly salary. Among the various extracurricular activities is also to rub the tourist in a thousand ways by using the only weapon at his disposal: the smart way.

Transportation

Viazul: company bus with air conditioning and television on board. Part exactly at the time stipulated. It pays in convertibles and is expensive. Ever.

Astro: bus company used by most Cubans. Usually two places are reserved for foreign tourists for each bus, but may also become four smoothly as the tourists pay in convertibles.
To go sull'Astro you must show proof of identity and the ticket is written the number of passport or identity card number of Cuban residents, so the Cuban pays the national currency, for example, 10 pesos and foreign payments , again for example, 5 convertibles that would be 120 pesos, to make the same journey! Sull'Astro usually do not see many tourists and you can be the only foreigners on board and you can make knowledge and see interesting peculiarities. Many of these buses are real scassoni!

Camiones, there are currently problems to travel on trucks, for safety reasons (traffic accidents) the tourist should not salirci, so if the driver will not recognize you climb, or agrees in exchange for a few dollars that principle does not pay! Why pay the equivalent of 100 pesos if the price is 5 pesos? To go on camiones equally, paying the right, you have to blend, which seems a Cuban and it is not difficult at all, after a bit of tanning, just to avoid caps, glaring shirts, shorts and typical travel bags trendy, short .. not appear a tourist! Dress in jeans and T-shirts untidy, always ask who is the last of the group, check with the passengers on the cost of the switch, take the number in which case the numbers are distributed to board, just prepare the money, not to mention and not look at the truck driver at the time of payment, jump on the truck and remain silent until they part. The trip on camiones, which resemble the truck transporting troops of the Second World War, is an unforgettable experience, dancing and jumping at every hole, and then you see and learn a lot of things ... I start from terminal camiones de omnibus from 5 am onwards and are linked only by the nearby city and the various pueblos of the area, long distances are not only short-Some current prices: Cumanayagua 5pesos-Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos - Trinidad 5p.; Camaguey-Santa Cruz del Sur 7p; Camaguey Las Tunas-10p.; Las Tunas Bayamo-5p.; Bayamo Santiago-7p ..
Wishing You can cross the island with a couple of euro! Just to make a comparison: the 'Astro from Havana to Cienfuegos 14 Convertibiles coast that is 336pesos!

Train: I took the train twice and it was beautiful from Camaguey to Santiago and started an hour late because of ... mancava locomotive, cmq a nice trip. The other train from Camaguey to Santa Clara 9C cost corresponding to 216pesos, a Cuban from Camaguey to reach Havana pays 17 pesos!

Hitch: the ring of cities where major roads intersect, you can find a passage in hitchhiking, free, so can help to recognize the license plates of cars in the first letter indicates the province in which the vehicle then probably your destination . (H = Havana - Cienfuegos = F - S = S. Spiritus - Camaguey = C - T = Tunas - Granma = G - U = Santiago, etc..) License plates are yellow car particular, private, the state is blue. Instead you to experiment with the passage amarillo: the amarillo has a gentleman dressed in yellow that just outside the city stopped all vehicles and know that he brings people who need a ride, almost a motorist if traveling alone or if there is room on his car has to stop and load a free person or persons in need of a ride! From Santa Clara all'Habana usufruire dell'amarillo costs 3 pesos, take a number and expect someone to walk across, and when your turn comes the first car stops and available until the request to the city ...

Few thieves but many furbastri:

Cuba is the only country in Latin America where you can walk down any street in complete quiet and isolated roads, including tourist ... just at night! Except for a few neighborhoods where you can dell'Habana violent muggings and robberies, safety and control of the police throughout the island, make it really secure the continuity of tourists to Cuba
But where can not go in armed crime, comes the intelligence, cunning, deceit, fraud.
You can read 50 pages about how some Cubans cheat tourists, but only once the field is known (to the sound of mistakes) how to become more cunning of them!

Restaurants: A very high percentage of restaurants, bars and tourists paladares screwed! How?
- Do not ask for price list: practically be plucked. The waiter arrives and includes everything you need to eat and drink. Stop it immediately and very kindly ask the list, which is a bar for a gazzosa, a paladar or any restaurant, are obliged to display the price list.
- Do not check your account: serious error, because 99% is a mistake ... up! The prices are inflated to the menu or adding courses that you have not eaten .... always pin on a piece of paper what you take with its price, dopochè get the account and check it by yourself.