This is Real Cuba in Extreme Crisis (Salary Only 0.2 USD/17 Rs)
Most of the shops here are empty. There are very limited items in these shop. Look, the racks are all empty.
Give me a rupee or Peso. Peso. She's taking me inside the house. She's showing her whole house to me. This is her house.
The fridge is empty. Their salary is 6 USD per month. Yes. A day's salary is only 20 rupees. Only God knows how these people afford it.
The price of one or two items here is such that it's equivalent to 2 months salary. Only a few people will be able to buy it. Okay. And look at this pizza.
It's a national drink. It's name is Malta. Why is it so dark here? It couldn't be a blacked out? The electricity doesn't come for 3-4 days straight. Hello.
You can see all the workers. They all wearing the cowboy cap. How many month's salary of a Cuban would it cost for one night in that hotel Hey guys, welcome back to my new vlog from Cuba. A country that is like no other country in the world.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean. And it's the largest country by area in the Caribbean. Cuba is located in North America. It's located only 150 km away from the state of Florida of US.. But Cuba is culturally considered a part of Latin America. When Spanish arrived in Cuba around 1500 to colonize Cuba, the natives of Cuba used to live here before that.
Their name was Taino or Taino people. In Cuba and the nearby islands, the natives had their own culture, language, and religion. But when Spanish arrived in Cuba, they brought their own culture and religion to this country. And the native culture and religion of this country was almost made to be extinct. After colonizing Cuba, The Spanish brought many African slaves to work in different types of plantations in Cuba. Because of this, the Cuban culture is a mixed of Spanish, African, and indigenous Cuban traditions.
The music and dance of Cuba is considered one of the most happening in the world. It is believed that the word 'Cuba' originated from the Taino language of the indigenous people here. 'Cuba' means where fertile land is abundant in indigenous Taino language. All the land in Cuba is extremely and very fertile.
If we talk about ethnicity in Cuba, in this country, around 64% of the population is white, which is mostly Spanish and European descendants. And almost 26% of the population of Cuba has been mixed with European, indigenous, and African people. You will also see a lot of mixed people here, whose colors and features are of different ethnicities. And almost 10% of the population here is Afro-Cuban, who were brought as slaves from Africa by the Spanish.
So, during a very long Spanish colonization of 400 to 500 years, the native people and their culture was almost completely destroyed. And at this time, the population of native people is very low, almost nonexistent. Because of all these reasons, you will see all kinds of people in Cuba. You will see people of all races and ethnicities here. Hello Laura, how are you? New adventure, we'll see.
Yeah, yeah. So, currently I am with Laura. You must have met her in the last video. She is a YouTuber from Cuba.
And currently, we are in the capital and largest city of Cuba, Havana. It's around 11.30 in the morning. It's almost 12 o'clock. The weather is very extreme. It's very hot and sunny. In the early morning and evening, the weather gets very cold.
But during the day, in the afternoon, it's very hot. It's extremely hot. Because this place has a tropical climate. So, currently we are in one of the most popular streets of Cuba's capital, Havana. Its name is Calle Obispo.
In Spanish, the street is called Calle. You can call the road here 'Calle'. This road or this street is almost stays crowded most of the time.
Currently, it's 12 o'clock in the afternoon. But in the evening and at night, this street will be fully packed. It's a very happening area. But it's quite narrow. As you can see. And this is a pedestrian only street.
But it's full of people. And there are many restaurants around here. There are bars, clubs, different types of shops. This street is full of locals and tourists who frequently visit this place. Calle Obispo. Today, we are going to explore Havana.
This place is very happening, for this early in the morning. So Laura, what is the average salary here in Cuba? The salary is low here. For example, 10 USD per month.
For example, a plant house is maybe 20 USD. So, she is telling me about the average monthly salary in Cuba. For example, my other work is in the cafeteria. In the cafeteria, for one day, it's 3 USD. One day.
For one day. But I work for a private business. Not for the government. I need money tomorrow. But I work for the government.
It's low pay if you work for government. So, she is saying that the average salary here in Cuba depends on the profession. And that is between 10 USD to 30 USD per month. The salary here is between 800 to 2500 per month.
And the doctor's salary here, compared to other people, is considered quite good. Which is around 30 USD per month. Only 30 USD. Approximately 2500 per month.
It is a way less then normal, especially for a doctor. So, she is showing the salary of teachers in the high school. Their salary is around 6,000 Cuban Pesos per month. In USD, it's 18 USD per month.
Approximately 1500 Rupees . It's quite low. That's why all the good restaurants here mostly cater to tourists.
You will get a bill of 1500 Rupees for dining here only once. Which is equivalent to monthly salary for the citizens of Cuba. That's why most of the restaurants here are empty. I showed you exactly that in my last video. It's a very local place. Only locals eat here.
Good restaurants, bar clubs are mostly empty. Only foreigners visit those places. As very few people here are that rich.
Only they can afford it. You'd see most places here are selling fruits and vegetables here. The rate of fruits is written here.
It's around 1 USD per kg. Some vegetables cost around 2 USD per kg. Vegetables cost around 1.5 USD per kg. Only God knows how people of Cuba are able to afford it. You must be wondering how people live here after having such a low salary. How do they afford everything? The reason for this is that the government gives a lot of subsidies to people.
As far as I understand, the government gives a lot of subsidies to people every month. Gives sugar, meat, bread, eggs, milk, chicken etc, for very low prices. Which is not enough for people.
The government provides such subsidies to the local people. So that's why people can afford normal groceries. Many people are standing and sitting on the street. Most of them are Cubans. There may be a few tourists from other countries here. What's going on here? Why are so many people here? For the bank.
For the bank ? I see. There is a bank here. There is a long line outside the bank. So, that's why many people are standing and waiting here. It's cause there is a financial crisis here.
There is a bank here. The name of the bank is Banco Metropolitano. There is a long line.
People are waiting here for hours. I don't know whether to withdraw money or deposit it. There is a government shop here in Havana. One needs a special card to access this shop. You can buy things from here at a special price using that card.
You can't even go inside the shop. It's probably not allowed. Most of the shops are empty here.
There are very limited things in the shops. Most of the racks are empty. More than 50% are empty. There are very few things in the shop.
There are very few varieties. There is something written on it. It must be related to the government. Once upon a time, Havana was called Paris of Caribbean.
Because long time ago, this city was extremely developed. It was extremely metropolitan and urbanized. It was very modern according to its time. It was very ahead of its time. With time, this city became old and dull. Nowadays, most of the buildings in the city are old and decrypt.
If you go anywhere in the city, you will see old buildings almost everywhere. People don't even have money to get their houses repaired or painted. Once upon a time, this region was called Paris.
Today, there is nothing left of old glory. Still, there is a unique feel when you come to Havana, Cuba. You won't find such a unique architecture anywhere else in the world.
There was a lady here. She was holding a crate of eggs. She was holding around 30 eggs. The price of 30 eggs here is around 3,000 pesos. Around 10 dollars.
30 eggs are around 800 rupees. Around 10 dollars. She was saying that people here have to pay a monthly salary for that crate. This is a private mini mart. It's not a government mart. It's private.
There is a lot of stuff inside. It's almost empty inside. There are very few people inside. The price of one or two items here is equivalent to the monthly salary of people here. People can hardly afford the stuff inside the mart.
This coffee's price is around 10 dollars. There is cream costs around 3 or 4 dollars. Cubans say that they can never even think of buying anything here. You have to pay with a card in USD for each item from 3 to 10 dollars depending on item. Which is equivalent to average monthly salary of people here.
It's a small mart, but it possess daily use items and alcohol and other useful items for sale. Pizza is very famous in Havana, it's different then the normal pizza eaten around the world. Cuba's pizza is a little different as around every 50 to 100 meters there is a pizza shop here. And local people are able to afford it as it's quite cheap unlike the other items. The other restaurant here serves International pizza which very expensive.
Now, we'll try the local Cuban pizza which cost around even less than 1 USD. In good restaurant, the pizza is prized somewhere in between of 5 and 10 USD. She is telling me that there are lots of pizza shops here just like this one, but They aren't maintained well and cleanliness is not a priority in these shops and that's why... One don't feel like eating here but it looks very clean compared to other places.
So, it should not be a problem to eat here and it'll be an authentic Cuban experience to eat the Cuban pizza here. A que of 7-8 people has formed before us here. I don't know how long it will take to get a pizza, some pastries and sweets are also being sold here. It seems mostly locals come here to eat. so our pizza is here after waiting for 10 minutes, this pizza costs around 200 Cuban pesos which is around 60 cents.
why she is staring at me? anyways many pastries, sweets and cookies are being sold here. As you can see everything here costs less than 1 dollar, in the range of 50 to 60 cents. This is the pizza that we got but both of us are full as we had breakfast earlier so, we bought it only to get a taste of it. It's a cheese and tomatoes pizza and it's base is much thicker then normal. Only Italian pizzas in Cuba serves pizza with a very thin base. I think I should let you all know when last time around we were drinking coconut water around here.
Some people came to us asking for our coconuts after we finished drinking it's water. They asked us to give the empty coconuts to them instead of throwing them away as... They wanted to eat the cream inside the coconuts, which they did eat in front of us.
It's base is so thick that it seems like Central Asian bread to me. Or like the thick Indian tandoori naan. There is a mix of tomato and cheese inside it It really is quite tasty, no doubt about it as it has come out freshly baked from an oven. But, it's so salty that I think that hardly any other Indian can eat this. I have also found a barber shop in Havana and it is being told that this barber shop is the first barber shop of entire Cuba.
This barber shop was opened in the year 1552, that is almost 500 years ago. It's written here 'Primera Barberia en Cuba' which means first barber shop in Cuba. Havana is not only the capital of Cuba but it's also the main port of this country and also the center of business, industry and finance. Most of the buildings and architecture you can see in Havana are from the Spanish colonial times.
So, currently we're touring the old Havana which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. While walking around here we found an empty shop where they are selling some drinks and daily necessity items such as shampoo. Laura is telling me that this beer 'CERVEZA' is the national beer of Cuba This is Cerveza crystal, there is one other variant of it. It is a very popular beer here. There are quite a lot of yogurts here prized at 1100 Pesos, which is equivalent to 4 USD.
Laura is telling me that there is one other National drink which is not an alcohol. This is the Malta drink and it is written here that it's a drink without alcohol. Bucanero is the companies name, let's try this Malta drink as it has got a status of a national drink. So, we're now going to taste this Malta drink. Malta, the National drink of Cuba. This one is a small market of fruits and vegetables.
It's almost empty as only few people are present on that side of the counter. There are plenty of variety of fruits and vegetables here. There are quite a lot of shops here but no one to buy from them due to extreme economic situation of Cuba.
She is the shop keeper of this shop and she is sitting idle as she has nothing else to do. The few people you see here are mostly foreigners as hardly any local Cuban can afford to shop here. There are lots of houses in Havana which belong to the colonial era. There are many house which are around 400 or 500 years old and are on the verge of collapse. People here say that old houses of Havana can collapse anytime.
Look at this house, you can feel it's age just by looking at it. Havana city itself is more than 500 years. We were just standing outside when she invited us inside. She is giving us a tour of her house. As earlier I was telling you that...
Havana city is more than 500 years old and houses fere are also around 300 to 500 years old. it is a wooden staircase and it is shaking under my feet, I'm getting a bit scared. I am afraid of falling but it is a very unique antique feeling. It feels like I'm walking in a museum.
It's an original house of the local people of this city You can probably see the condition of this house. These are the original inhabitants of this nation who lives in houses like these. I am fine hello, how are you? my name is Narivel. She has four children and this is one of them.
Quite a lot of people live here in this area, it's very congested. she is taking us inside the house to show us around. Who would've thought that there can be such houses in Havana city of Cuba. This T.V. seems quite old. This is a musical set. In Cuba, people still uses a D.V.D. player to watch a movie.
That is a D.V.D player. The national channel of Cuba shows an Indian movie every Friday. So, it's true, everyone here watches the Indian movie which is run every Friday. Unfortunately, today is not Friday. I will show you if I get a chance.
Ok, the Indian movie starts at 10 pm every Friday and the movie runs the entire night till morning. what is your name? Diana, nice to meet you. I am from India. Okay, they are Afro-Cubans and they do not follow Christianity as they have their own religion which is Sanitarium. Which they brought here when they were shipped here as slaves from Africa they brought their religion with them.
Despite many of them converting to Christianity, many Afro-Cubans still follow their original religion. Sanitarium and some other folk religions, which they are telling me about. This right here has something to do with their religion, there is a photo here and they've sacrificed alcohol to it. There is a staircase inside. There is a bed on the staircase.
People sleep there. There is one more room quite similar to this one. This is the room. There are 3-4 washing machines in ths room. There is also a fridge. There is a staircase on the side.
Then there is a room upstairs. There is also a bed in this small room. Everything is made of wood. There is a wooden door.
There is a wooden roof. To sleep, you have to go up the stairs. They've allowed us to go there. There is a small staircase in the room.
There is a bed upstairs. You won't find anything like this anywhere else in the world. Except Havana. Laura is saying that this whole house, this whole building is on the verge of collapse.
It can collapse at any time. No one knows when it will fall. It is very dangerous.
There is a fridge here, which is mostly empty. There is nothing to eat or drink. I am giving 1000 Pesos to them. It is around 3-4 dollars. Gracias. Gracias.
People earn 15-20 dollars in a month here. This is like one week salary for them. This must be quite a lot for them. Now, She is taking me to another place. There is a danger of collapse. Oh my God.
This is an even more of an extreme place than the earlier one. It must be very old. Many people are drying their clothes here. Everyone is saying that it can collapse at any time.
It can collapse at any time. Even now, while are standing here. There are two floors downstairs. There are two-three floors upstairs.
Earlier, She was going to show us inside. But someone is sleeping inside. It's okay. She is a small and cute girl.
Her name is Avley. Everyone is smoking here. Everyone. Hola.
Everyone is smoking. There is no money to eat. There is no salary. But smoking is necessary for everyone. I think so.
Many people are coughing here while smoking. But they don't want to quit smoking. What's your name? Her name is Bobby. What is your profession? No? I think I am not doing any work. Is that so.
Let's ask some more people. I asked one person. But, she doesn't do any work.
Let's ask her. What is your profession? Me? I have a tattoo artist. Tattoo artist? Her salary is 6 USD per month. She cleans the street.
I don't know what she eats and how does she live on 6 USD.. I don't know what to say. This type of house is not only here. They are present in almost all of Old Havana. There are only a few buildings. In the main tourist area.
That are properly maintained to be in good condition. But the maintenance of majority of them is quite lacking. The lady in whose house we paid a visit earlier. She told us her monthly salary in the end. Around 7 USD per month.
Her one day's salary is only 20 Rupees. Many people go to Africa. They speak of many countries as... The poorest country in the world.
Burundi is another country. The condition of the people here is worse than that. I was walking when I met someone who can speak in Hindi. He is speaking Hindi. How are you? Please give me money.
Please give me money. How are you? Are you alright ? How are you? He seems to have learned a bit of Hindi from a translator. He might speak like this only an Indian person.
He can speaks many languages. He probably speaks English and Spanish quite fluently. But he probably doesn't have a job and that is why he is asking for money.
What is your name? My name is Roberto. Are you from Havana? Yes. Are you Cuban? Yes. He is asking me for some money in Hindi. I think I should give him some money. I think I'll give him 200 Pesos.
Thank you. We have come to the most popular cathedral in Havana. The name of this cathedral is Cathedral de San Cristóbal. . This cathedral was built 350 years ago. It was built in the mid 18th century.
The architecture of this cathedral is very famous in Havana. The cathedral looks beautiful from outside. There are two towers and two big bells.
Let's go inside. Many people are visiting this cathedral. We have come inside the Cathedral.
This is the interior of the cathedral. It is very hot outside but it's quite cold inside the Cathedral. It is closed for now.
People are only watching from outside as currently no prayer is happening inside. It probably happens at a specific time that's why, people are praying from a distance. You can't go and sit inside as this Cathedral is from colonial era.
If we talk about religion in Cuba, Christianity was not a part of this country before the Spanish colonization. But at present, around 60% of the population follows Christianity. 60% of the population follows Christianity. Around 23% of the population doesn't follow any religion. They have no religion or undisclosed religion.
And around 17% of the population follows folk religion including indigenous and African religions. That came to Cuba with African slaves. Guys, we are going to a very popular government owned shop/cafe/restaurant.
Let's go and see. It is around 3 km away from the center, it's situated in the outskirts. That's why, we are going to take a taxi to that place. Let's see which one takes us to that place. It is not going. It is a big vehicle.
Or a jeep type car. It is a very popular sharing taxi here. Hello.
Oh,it is a Land Rover. It must be very old. Land Rover Defender.
It is a very old model. It must be around 50-60 years old. It must be a very old model.
I asked him how old this Land Rover Defender is. He said it is from 1951. It is around 75 years old. Oh my God! 75 years old. It is a place called Capelia.
It is a government owned place. You get ice cream here from the government. We took a taxi and traveled 3 km from the center to get here. It cost us 300 Pesos for both of us that is around 1 dollar. It is a very big place. It used to be a very popular place.
It used to be full of local people. People say that there is no milk in this country. There is an acute shortage of milk and because of that...
The government had closed this ice cream parlour. It is a huge ice cream parlour. It is government owned. It used to be full of locals. Unfortunately, due to the shortage of milk this place is closed. I came here with a lot of interest.
But unfortunately, I have to go back. Laura is saying that in this country, there is a shortage of everything. It is very normal to have shortage here. Any product can go out of stock anytime in this place. Shortages here can last up to many months.
Only some privately owned shops are selling Ice-creams here. She is saying that in Cuba, 1 litre of milk costs 3,500 Pesos. Which is around 10 Dollars. The price is around 800 Rupees for 1 liter of milk here. This milk is more expensive than all the European countries. It is a huge problem in this country.
When we were walking here. We saw the Indian Embassy here. This is the Indian Embassy. Embassy of India in Cuba. There are a lot of posters and paintings.
They are of different parts of India and it's different cultures. They are of different sports. You can see the posters of Delhi. Taj Mahal. Mysore.
Kerala. Rishikesh. There are photos of different parts of India. There is also an Indian flag there. It is written 'EMBASSY OF INDIA' here. It is also written in Hindi.
It must be closed now. As it is 4 pm in the evening. It must open around 9am in the morning to 2-3 pm in afternoon. I think we Indians should not be given the visa if they want us to be humiliated at the airport. Yesterday, I was made to wait at the airport for hours.
It was very humiliating. It was very embarrassing and awkward. It would've been far better if I was denied the visa instead. When you are giving a visa and taking so much information and documents why do you need to humiliate me at the airport? This is the Indian Embassy in front of us.
There is a restaurant in front of the Embassy. It is called La Carreta. Let's go inside and see what we can eat. It is quite dark. Many people are dining here.
I thought it would be empty. Why is it so dark? Is it a blackout? Blackout is very common here. The restaurant looks quite fancy. Many people are eating.
But it is so dark here. Now the light is on. The electricity has just come back. I've been told by many people that it is very common to have a blackout here in Cuba. Yes, it is very common here.
So, Laura usually how long is a blackout here in Havana? In Havana, it usually is 3 to 5 hours and in other provinces the it can reach up to 20 hours. The black out in my hometown can sometimes be 3 days long She is telling me that in Havana the black out is 7-8 hours long but in other provinces it can go upto 3 days. In her home, which is half an hour away from Havana city center which you saw in my last video. When there was black out, there was no electricity for 3 days. He is playing music from that laptop and on top of that he is singing himself along with the tune.
They entertaining their guests by singing like this see this in their restaurant. This is quite a unique restaurant where they entertain you by live singing and theme of this place is 'Cowboy' or 'Cowgirl'. Every waiter or waitress and other workers here is wearing a cowboy hat. This restaurant also has this big bar where different kinds of drinks are being served.
As you can see, every worker is wearing a cowboy hat. Our order has arrived and let me show you the dishes that we've ordered. This here is beans, specifically the black beans.
This is rice. This is mixed vegetables with different type of vegetables and with this I've ordered this mixed fruit salad. It has different type of fruits like Watermelon, Guava, Banana and Pineapple These are the dished that I've ordered and for drinks I've ordered this Papaya juice. Now, let me show you what she has ordered.
She has ordered chicken with potato or banana fries. With it there is rice and black beans which serves as a staple food in many Latin American countries. Even in Cuba, Rice and beans can go along with any dishes. And for drinks she has ordered a lemonade.
i liked this restaurant quite a lot, It's a cowboy themed restaurant. In Spanish, bon provecho is used instead of bon apetite. Laura. how is your food? We've exited the restaurant and it's getting dark here as the current time is 5:30 P.M. It starts getting dark here this early in the evening and by 6 P.M...
The sky goes totally dark here in Havana, Cuba. The restaurant in which we were dining, which was in front of the Indian embassy. Th total bill came around 6000 pesos, which is around 18 USD and in Indian rupees it's around 1500 rupees. The food is not that expensive in Cuba if you do not include meat or chicken in it. But, If you order something like fish, chicken or any other non-veg food, then...
The price starts shooting through the roof as non-veg food here is quite expensive. And for the local Cubans, non-veg food is counted as a luxury. So, after walking around the India embassy... I think for the first time in the entirety of Havana.
I have come across the tallest building, probably the tallest building in all of Havana. This building is probably newly constructed as it's very tall and looking quite modern. She is telling me that this is a hotel in which only foreigners are allowed and local Cubans are banned from entering it. It can be that there are many hotels inside it or it could only be one. A local Cuban will have to spend around 3 to 5 months of his salary to stay in this hotel for just one day. In 1950s, when Cuban revolution happened in Cuba, till that time and even before that...
Cuba's GDP per capita in the entire northern hemisphere was at 5th place. Cuba's GDP per capita was much higher than the contemporary European countries. Cuba's economy depends mainly on export of sugar, tobacco and coffee.
As it's coffee and tobacco are very popular in the outside world. Cuba is well known for it's cigar, which is made from special type tobacco. And it's coffee has a very rich flavour and is quite creamy.
She is telling me that the people who were dining in the same restaurant as us were... Either foreign expats or if they were Cubans then they must be very rich. They are very few but there are really some rich Cubans in this country. So, We've arrived at a crossroad here and she has to go in the left direction and...
I've to take a taxi to go in the straight direction to Old Havana. She is dropping me off in this taxi which will go to Old Havana. Thankfully, I did not have to wait too long for a taxi.
I'm sitting in between of two Cubans, It has started to get really dark here. I was just walking to my hostel, then... Suddenly, I saw a street which was filled with local Cubans.
They are chatting with each other while walking around here. There are quite a few street shops like this one here. Let's take a look at this, this is pork. This is a pork burger, many shops around here sell this pork burger.
This street is full of local Cubans. The current time must be around 8 P.M. in the evening. This is a normal street not some popular one still, there are many people here. Look at this shop, It has an entire pig head on display. The pork in these burgers must be coming from this head.
The other ingredients other than pork must be cucumber, lettuce etc. I think the price of one burger is 300 Pesos which is roughly equivalent to 1 USD. I feel like I've come to a wrong street as the women here are trying to get my attention by repeatedly calling me... Of course, they are not doing it when the camera is rolling, without camera... They are repeatedly calling me, saying hi to me.
They are even trying to speak English to get my attention i can't show you on camera as they won't speak to me on camera. There street is quite long and there is a square a bit ahead of us. I don't what is happening here but this street is packed with local Cubans.
2025-03-12 19:32
