Well look how beautiful everything looks from above, from above everything
looks beautiful, but below is where reality is.
And what is this? (It looks like a person sleeping under there)
Welcome to one more video, one more video where we are going to be going through, it seems to me
that the last of the main streets that we still have to go through in Centro Habana, that
street that is there, Calle San Lazarus. We're going to get to the Hotel Deauville.
About 5 minutes ago I was precisely inside
this hospital, inside the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital,
and I was arranging a shift for my mother-in-law, I say this without shame and
without any fear, I was arranging a medical shift for my mother-in-law, You know
how everything works here, that everything moves through friendships, otherwise nothing works.
- Friend, can you give me money for a package of cookies?
Well, what you have just seen is already a fairly
normal thing here, you are going to find it a lot when you walk through the streets,
some other people asking for money. Here they are called "people with wandering behavior",
which is not really the name it bears, but that is what it is called in the official press.
Here there is a state cafeteria that well, from what you are seeing here, it has nothing.
This whole area is full of private cafes, there is one right here.
The national beer is currently being sold for, I would say,
approximately 180 pesos (= 1.55 USD unofficial exchange rate), even a little more, depending on where you buy it.
Right now we are going through the José Martí school. I know that of the people who are watching me
there must be one or another who has studied here, in this school that we have just passed through.
What you are seeing up there has to do with the biennial that was taking place until a
while ago. What's up? It had been scheduled as such for a previous date
but it was not done on the date that had been scheduled. In the biennial
the boardwalk is normally filled, Prado is filled with works of art,
that in the time that had been said, did not happen. Well, one of the characteristics
of Calle de San Lázaro is how old the buildings are, as you can see there.
We are going to see this throughout the entire route that we are going to do, which is a few
blocks. I always tell people, in the videos, that when they are walking through
Havana, to look up, not only to prevent a balcony from falling on their
heads, but also so that they can enjoy the architecture, that architecture from the
40s, from the 50s, at that time when constructions were perhaps made with
better quality materials, that is why they last until now. Even here, when a swap
or a sale is made, one of the things that is always verified is whether the construction is
capitalist or not, because the capitalist constructions had better quality.
Well, look, the granita that is costing 10 pesos right now.
Another of the things that is also verified when a sale is going to be made is also
the constructive state of the house. Why the constructive state of the house?
Due to the situation that exists now precisely with construction materials, that is,
it is quite difficult to obtain what cement is, to obtain
sand, to obtain everything in general. I remember...and I'll tell you a personal anecdote...
I remember, when I was repairing the bathroom in my house (3 years ago), I needed tiles and a
floor. The work that I went through to get white tiles was incredible, in fact, every day I
made a journey of approximately 10 km through certain stores that were hardware stores, that
sold that type of thing. And it was quite difficult for me, it was quite difficult for me, in fact
I think it took me about three months to find the white slabs.
So, then, just imagine, and now
the situation with the construction has become even more complex, in addition to the prices, of course,
the prices that now practically everything is in MLC, you know that the
Cuban peso really it doesn't do much good. Previously, for example, to put tiles on
a wall it cost about 10 CUC per square meter,
so that you have more or less an idea of ​​how much it cost, so now it must be
in MLC, because the CUC no longer really exists, everything has become MLC. everything has become dollars, *Do you think it was the right time to eliminate the CUC?
And well, why continue delving into the constructive problem that there is in Cuba.
Many have asked me what they think will happen now with this
new opening of the Biden government towards Cuba.
There are positive aspects, they cannot be denied, the issue of family reunification, I think
that will prevent many people from spending 7,000 or 10,000 dollars doing "volcano tourism"
to try to join their relatives who are in the United States. This is definitely a positive thing.
In this site that you are seeing there, the internships of the future sound engineers were carried out. There was
a sound engineer course in Cuba, where part of the course was spent there, internships were held. Today
, as you can see, there is nothing left and in fact that course is not even being taught anymore.
Going back to the topic of remittances, I told them that right now FINCIMEX is still sanctioned,
Western Union was not operating in Cuba yet, so there is no way
for these remittances to arrive here, unless it is the traditional way that is being done and that will
continue to be done for a long time, which is to have a person who collects the dollars
there in the US and another person who delivers them here, with a cost of 30 percent, perhaps 25
percent. In other words, you give 125 or 130 in the US and here you give the person 100. This
varies if it is in dollars, if it is in Cuban pesos or if it is in MLC. Let's cross to the front.
That the traditional way, is a business for the people who do it. I believe that, beyond the fact
that it is a business, that it is a bit "tight" (expensive), as we say here, it comes to solve a
problem and it is the economic problem that exists in Cuba, the economic problem that the people
who mostly work for the state know that in the private sector you always earn a little more.
Well, this is one of the most dangerous buildings here, this is
possibly the next one that is going to fall, this one that you are seeing here, look how it is.
Some time ago a few pieces fell off, and here is the famous Hotel Deauville. Over there they have Galeano,
another of the central streets here, which is a few blocks from the famous house
of music, they know that there are two in Havana: one crossing the line tunnel and this one here.
What is the difference? I would say none, only the people who go.
We are going to try to accommodate ourselves and continue talking about the changes. With the tourism that is going to come now
that it has opened up a little more so that US citizens come here, and
flights are going to start to other provinces and that,
the biggest beneficiaries are definitely going to be the people who work directly with the
say rental houses, say restaurants and palates, taxis, not only these people, but
also those who, in one way or another, are linked to the tourism business in Cuba,
people who sell souvenirs, tour guides. In Viñales, for example, who know
that a few weeks ago I was there and made a few videos of there, they know that
there is also an infrastructure there that practically everyone
in Viñales depends on tourism, that small town is devoted to tourism, those who sell handicrafts,
those who give tours on horseback, the same people who sell tobacco,
everyone knows this, this is no secret to anyone...let's see when we can cross the street...
We managed to cross, miraculously. Well, here we see a friend fishing. Let me tell you that now
, on fishing, there are new provisions that have come out in the penal code. Now yes, the
one who does not have a license to fish in a boat will receive a high fine. I don't know if before,
... well look here... I don't know if before it was regulated in the criminal code, but now it will be.
It seems to me that this is a good time to give you news, not very good news
, taking advantage of the coverage that a new criminal code has now come out, that you
know that attention was focused on the family code, a lot of attention on this family code
and little attention to the criminal code, which came slowly there, nobody saw it coming,
and there is the new criminal code. There are people who are sharing some fragments on
social networks. I don't dare to comment on anything yet because I haven't read the full text yet
, but what's coming is a bit, a bit strong, a bit restrictive
in many aspects. Anyone who dissents
is going to have problems, some reflections also on religious freedoms
that you know that religious freedoms began here, I would say that
with the visit of Juan Pablo Segundo here, perhaps they did not begin at that time but I do know they were expanded in that
time. Well, the not so good news I have to give you. I don't know if you remember a
video I posted about three weeks ago, a video called "
Cuba's stupidest law," a video that was being quite controversial, it had about 300,000
views, it actually had more than 300,000 views, a thousand comments, approximately 6,000 likes, well,
that video was just downloaded from YouTube. The reason is still not clear to me, perhaps it is something that is
shown in the video, what I am going to tell you is that I am going to re-edit this video and re-
upload it, and I am going to add an element that I missed adding . Those who have not seen
it can see it now, and those who have already seen it, I am going to ask you to please leave your like, comment what you
want to comment, reproduce it and, I don't know, if you don't want to see it again, despite that you are going to have a
new element, if you don't want to see it again, play it and leave it there until it is finished.
I wanted to share with you this tour of Calle San Lázaro, one of those central streets, one
of the streets that we had yet to go through. I know that I still have some accounts pending
with you, some neighborhoods in Central Havana that we are going to do. Don't worry that everything is coming, you
will see it soon on the channel. I will tell you that the next thing to come is Cifuentes, you are going to see 2
intermediate videos, possibly, about what you like, about classic cars, I have
been telling you for two weeks, I think, I already have it recorded and I am editing . So nothing family,
until here this video, see you during the week. Remember that I will be uploading that video again. Incidentally
, that video that was downloaded that someone didn't seem to like, I'll upload it again, so
once again I ask for your support with the reproduction of that video, with the comments and the likes,
you know, and share for that these issues of Cuba, these issues that many
people do not know, reach more people. No family, I love you. See you during the week.