Cuban staff in a state shop in Trinidad

Observations on the Cuban People

I just spent one full month exploring the tropical Caribbean island of Cuba. I spent about half my time in intriguing Havana and the other two weeks visiting some of the island’s most popular destinations – Vinales, Trinidad and Cienfuegos.

Throughout my trip, I watched locals in all sorts of settings, including public spaces, restaurants & shops, various public transportation, residential neighborhoods, the countryside and beaches. I interacted with locals in all those places and spoke in depth with several of my Cuban guest house hosts about the Cuban people, culture, history, government and their daily lives.

Here are my main observations about the Cuban people, based on my observations and discussions with Cubans. Please do note that many of these comments are my own personal opinions, views and experiences. Some of my comments are general observations, which of course don’t apply to every single Cuban. And, as these are for the most part subjective observations, other visitors to Cuba might have completely different experiences and impressions.

Please feel free to comment about either my observations or your own experiences in Cuba at the bottom of this article. I’d love to hear other points of view!

Appearances / physical characteristics

staff at a small pizza shop in Trinidad

Slim, healthy & fit

The majority of Cubans are slim, fit, healthy and they tend to be long-limbed. This is distinctly different from nearby Latino countries of Mexico and Central America, where most people are significantly overweight.

Of course there are some overweight Cubans, too, but they are a small minority.

Well-groomed and put together

Cubans tend to be well put together, with clothes co-ordinated from head to toe, well-groomed hair and make-up, and clothing that looks fresh, new and clean.

There are lots of interesting, diverse hair styles, especially among young men.

Mixed racial culture

Cuba is a huge melting pot of cultures, that includes Spanish, African, Caribbean islanders, Chinese, American and others. All of them have migrated to the rich, tropical island of Cuba over the centuries, beginning in the early 1500s when Spain took over the island. Since then, they’ve been inter-mingling and inter-marrying.

As a result, today Cuban skin tones come in every shade of brown from palest latte to nearly true black and every shade in between. There are also white-skinned Cubans, those who look Hispanic and others who look European. There are still others who look slightly Asian.

No racial tensions

Cubans all seem to get along together without any racial tensions or grouping people into races or classes. During my month exploring Cuba I observed many friendships among people of different skin tones as well as what we’d call in the US ‘mixed-race couples’.

I asked several Cubans about this and they all told me that my observations were correct. Cubans all just consider themselves simply Cubans and don’t really notice peoples’ skin colors, let alone categorize them or judge them by that. Cubans know that they’re all descendant from the same immigrants, all mixed and inter-married over the centuries.

Apparently there’s a famous quote by Fidel Castro on the topic. When asked why he had only white people within his government, he replied something along the lines of, “What white people? We’re all blacks here.”

horse n carriage – Havana

Character

Rather serious people

Out in public, Cubans don’t smile much. From people hanging out on the streets and parks, to taxi and bus drivers, shop clerks, museum staff, restaurant and bar waiters, they all look rather serious. I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘grim’, but certainly leaning in that direction.

Some appear to be defeated, indifferent, apathetic. Others seem angry, bitter, resentful. They’re generally slow to smile, even slower to laugh. Overall, it’s not a happy vibe there on the island.

Out in public, they rarely greet each other when passing in the streets or shops.

For me, coming from friendly Mexico and Central America, I found it quite shocking in Cuba that nobody greeted me as I passed. No ‘hola’ or ‘buenos dias’. No smile or nod. Even when I initiated a greeting in Spanish, less than half the locals even responded at all.

In all my 20 years of world travels, there have been few places where locals would not return a greeting, especially in their own language.

Carlos of Hostal Mango in Havana

Half are warm, kind, generous, helpful & hospitable

Cuba is filled with thousands of ‘casa particulares’ – family homes with one or two guest rooms they rent out to travelers. They’re pretty much the same as AirBnB (In fact, nowadays you can find them on AirBnB).

The owners / hosts are exceptionally warm, friendly, kind, helpful and hospitable. They really know how to take care of their visitors, make them feel welcomed and help them out with any questions or travel plans.

They really make a warm impression and it’s in great part thanks to them that visitors to Cuba have a warm, memorable trip to their island.

I also came across several kind, generous, helpful Cubans out in public places. On three occasions, bus passengers offered to pay my fare because I didn’t have any small change. Considering how incredibly low their salaries are, I found them amazingly generous.

On two occasions I also had shop clerks just hand me fruit for free! They couldn’t find the prices or only had a couple small fruits remaining, so they just handed them over.

Unfortunately, step outside a guest house and you’re suddenly dealing with very different types of Cubans. These are the majority of Cubans I mentioned above who seem cold, serious, indifferent, unfriendly and unsmiling.

Lots of hustlers, cheaters & scammers

Besides the grim, serious, defeated, resentful Cubans there’s another breed. Those who are out ‘hustling’ to make ends meet.

During my one month explorations I regularly had people lying to me, grossly over-charging me, pressuring me to use their services and trying to chat me up. Sometimes it seemed continuous, never-ending.

Curiously, whenever I had a day filled with bad experiences like this, suddenly out of nowhere and in completely different context, there appeared one of the kind, generous locals to offer their help.

ballerinas posing in Plaza Vieja – Havana

Lots of people don’t work

Wages in Cuban are insanely, ridiculously low. So low that a lot of people just don’t work a regular job. Instead, they find other ways to make a living. Fortunately, some Cubans can make a living as musicians, dancers, artists and taxi drivers. Others turn to hustling tourists. Still others receive money from family or relatives living abroad.

As a result, there are always lots of people hanging around in public – in streets, parks, plazas and popular tourist areas. Certainly not all of them are out hustling. Most are just chatting with friends, watching the world go by, passing time.

But it’s odd to see so many adults just hanging around out in public.

Terrible customer service

Probably as a result of the unsuitably low wages, most Cubans working in shops, restaurants, bars, museums, transportation provide appalling customer service. They seem either apathetic and indifferent or pissed off and resentful.

They don’t seem to have any pride in work or doing a good job. They don’t seem to have any concept of customer service.

This phenomenon is not limited to how they deal with tourists. They treat local customers the same way. My guest host owners complained about they same thing to me.

During my month on the island, nearly everyone I interacted with in shops, museums, restaurants and buses were unfriendly – either apathetic or resentful. On the three rare occasions that I stumbled upon a restaurant with friendly, smiling staff, I was actually amazed. They were glaringly different from the norm. And you can be sure that I frequented those restaurants during my stay in their town.

Cuban band in Plaza Vieja – Havana

Summary

Overall, while Cubans are healthy and physically fit, they seem rather serious. As far as I could tell during my one month explorations of the island, most people do not seem happy. There’s not a happy, lively or carefree vibe on the island.

I observed and interacted with a diverse range of Cubans in all walks of life, ranging from those who are friendly, helpful and generous to those who seem apathetic, defeated or resentful to the many scammers and hustlers. Of course, you’ll probably find all these types of people in most countries of the world. But a majority of serious, indifferent and/or bitter people are strikingly prominent in Cuba.

You might also find the following articles useful:

Preparing to Visit Cuba for Americans

I’m 50/50 on Cuba

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