Regina Cano’s Diary

Quite a few people have always been involved in the numbers. In Cuba it survives despite everything. It’s both concealed and open at the same time, as a level of permissive complicity serves to expand it.

These children —raised in the same neighborhood as others, playing the same games and going to the same elementary and junior high schools— are now they’re trying to figure out what they’re going to do in life as future professionals.

Just like anywhere else in the world, a certain percentage of people here in Cuba actively work at conditioning their bodies – developing each muscle and thinking more about their “looks.” What’s more, the number of these individuals is on the rise.

I hope the new taxes they’ll be required to pay end up culling out the less popular clowns, and that it doesn’t become an obstacle that further distances others who hope to eventually achieve their dreams of acting in a play or on television.

There’s a rumor spreading in the streets of Havana. Fear is setting in as a result of the recent announcement concerning the planned mass lay off of Cuban workers – a half million within six months.

“I don’t want dogs in here,” the grandmother snarled. All that could then be heard were the old woman’s screams and an excuse for Chanel, who had already given the puppy a good spanking with her house shoe.

Within a society whose changes generate nostalgia for the past, there also exists discouragement among those who don’t see this as an act that will return our balance.

These days, to descargar (to “let go”) is an attitude that is “modern,” voluntary and without mediating promises. After youths have fulfilled their “duty” of studying or their self-imposed “requirement” to “luchar el quilo” (hustle for a buck), nowadays they attempt to drown their boredom in music and alcohol, and easy sex.

Que bolá papi! (What’s happening daddy). This can be heard between young guys who meet and immediately exchanges kisses on the cheeks.

This is a short inventory of some common expenses purchased in regular national currency, because that of hard currency, called CUCs, is another thing.