Last week I just came back from my holiday in Cuba. I traveled around the island for three weeks with my sister.

This picture has been taken in the streets of the nice town Trinidad, which is in central Cuba right next to the southern coast. The houses there are much better kept than in other cities and there are a lot of nice bars and restaurants to hang out.

After being in South Africa where white and black people live separated from each other, this is completely different in Cuba. There is about 64% white people, 9% black and 37% mulattos and they seem to live quite peaceful together.

 

The man on the picture would be considered white and he is polishing shoes. In South Africa these kind of job would definitely be done by  a black person while in Cuba it just does not matter. You see mixed groups on the streets, mixed couples and families.

Furthermore there is not really any violence or crime in Cuba. The worst thing that could happen to you is probably that someone is stealing your bag because you look like a rich tourist (which can happen to you in any other place as well).

I guess the reason for all this is that there is no big difference between rich and poor people. Just everyone seems to be kind of poor due to the countries political and economical situation.

The isolation of the island could be another reason why cubans have no other choice just than accepting each other, because no one can hardly leave the country. This is also reflected in slogans like “nos une el barrio” (engl. our neighborhood unifies us) that can be found all over the place.

Next week I will publish another post about people in Cuba.