I wrote before how my rented little house looks like. Now I would like to show you how most of the Cubans live like.
Beside of bigger cities most of the population live in the wooden houses. Wood is still the cheapest material and the construction is pretty easy and fast. Those houses are usually really basic with no bathroom and one or two rooms.
Viñales has some colonial architecture in the center but if you walk a bit you’ll notice that still most of the houses look like these below. It gets really hot inside during the summer.
In Cuba unfortunately there’s no canalization or water supply system. How do we have shower or flash the toilet if we have one? Well, this is why. Every house with bathroom needs a tank like this one to have “running water”. That’s why in Cuba washing machines are half manual. They do spin but you have to keep pouring the water inside…a lo cubano.
The kitchen like I said before are really basic and look nothing like the kitchens we are use to. The counter is usually really small and full of rice and pressure cookers. I haven’t seen any oven in any of the houses I visited.
The bathrooms are small, the showers have poor water pressure and the toilet…well the pipes in Cuba are so small and get clogged so next to every toilet you’ll find a small bin for toilet paper. Yes, all the toilet paper you use.
And this is how we lock the door. Lock made in Cuba. Very safe 🙂
Another Cuban invention I love are windows…no glass. Just a system of wooden or metal elements that rotate. Makes sense in this climate but since you can never actually totally lock the window all the bugs and insects get in easily.
My little house is quite comfortable, but still no fridge, no table. “Be patient Magda. This is Cuba” – the Cubans say. So I’m waiting for my place to get done.
Fidel´s Girl 