Oh Havana where can I buy my bread

We are back from our travels again, this time we went to Cuba. Our first stop was Havana, oh my it’s a different world.  The apartment we rented  was just outside of central Havana and our lovely host  Isabel would come in each morning and make us breakfast -thank goodness - since, we couldn’t get any food anywhere. We have to eat out and again choice is limited. 

Trying to buy food is a real challenge and we quickly realised that when we saw people queuing for bread, I kid you not. Hardly any food shops and the odd one you find has such a small choice, one day you may get lucky and find they have biscuits, the following day none. Water was a big challenge, not once in Havana did we  find a shop that sold water, clearly it can be bought, because Isabel kept our fridge well stocked, but we never did. Now, we found a lot of shops that sold Rum, so all you rum drinkers you are OK. 

We soon learnt that the man with his wheelbarrow was the local grocer and that’s how you would get to buy fresh fruit. There is a man selling onions on his bike, with another guy selling hardwares. You can walk past a house, but you soon realise that’s it’s a little shop, where the family have set up their own cottage industry selling soaps, toothpaste. We are lucky, and I will never take our humble supermarkets for granted again.

It’s been a real eye opener. The people are so lovely, everyone helps and never moans. The kids play in the street, and we saw three little children sitting on their own eating: dinner - out of a cup - it’s a bit like the back to backs in Brum. Little urchins. They have limited internet, sometimes no chocolate, or ice cream. But, the kids look happy, and they are. They play together in the street, baseball, hide and seek, even dancing. They all laugh and talk to each other and have fun. 

It’s very humbling and I can see that they have a much better time and are happier because there is a community spirit, and a family network that all support each. No one is on their own in Cuba, they look out for each other and they support each other.