Osmel Almaguer’s Diary

When I discovered that the term “revolution” was also applicable to other fields outside of politics, such as machinery, I was about nine years old. Prior to that, I’d been indoctrinated by my parents to learn to see the world through notions such as dialectical materialism, atheism and “revolutionary principles.”

I’ve always heard that the island of Cuba is shaped like a crocodile. Alligators too have that long, narrow body, but they eat and sleep a lot.

They say that Cuba is the best place in the world to live. I’m sure, though, that this affirmation is merely a rumor spread by those in power.

Hitching in Cuba is regulated by the state. Pick-up points were established near some bus stops where inspectors (known as azules, or “blues,” which is the color of their uniforms) have been positioned to stop any government-owned car and fill extra seats with passengers who need a lift.

The crackers we bought to “liven up” the end of the year ended up hurting my tongue and gums. They’re so hard that they snap off and break if you bite them, and though they’re sold as “saltines” they have no flavor whatsoever.

I discovered him sitting next to a garbage can on a street in the Vedado district. He was chewing something that he seemed to have pulled out of that grimy overflowing container, with the filth was almost surrounding him.

Sometimes a problem that’s very simple to solve problem can turn into a persistent nuisance. This is the case of water hoses, the ones that connect supply lines to sinks and toilet tanks.

With the money I’ll receive for my journalistic collaborations, I was planning to take care of some of my most pressing problems.

Several times a year the Cuban Telecommunications Company makes tempting offers to increase their number of cellphone subscribers. Typically, this is at the end of the year, when they offer a phone card balance of 30 CUCs (about $33 USD) to whoever buys a line for that same amount.

The government says that if Cuba’s companies aren’t profitable, then it won’t have the money to pay the workers a decent wage; while the workers say that if they’re not paid more, it doesn’t make sense to work hard all day.