Adventures beyond time

Adventures beyond time

Monday, November 16, 2015

Cienfuegos in the Tropical Rain

Cienfuegos was founded by several Spanish brothers in the early 1800s. Literally, it means a "hundred fires" but it was really named for the brothers.
We enjoyed seeing the houses in the small villages on the way to the city from Playa Giron, the buildings on the square, and wandering the pedestrian-only streets until the skies opened up. 

We learned that in addition education and healthcare being free, so are dance and music and all culture lessons. 

Our guide earns 20 CUCs + 400 pesos per month. CUCs are worth about 5x what Pesos are. But only pesos can be used in ration stores. Other professions get more CUCs and fewer pesos. The dual system seems to be a way to give subsidies to lower wage earners and keep people's quality of life more equal.


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