Together with Carlos, they give me a pretty good perspective on the differing quality of life for residents of the city. A physical education teacher in an elementary school, Alberto exists at the opposite end of the economic spectrum from Carlos' middle-class life. He lives with his wife and nephew in a small apartment in one of the older buildings. In the corner of the living room is a santeria shrine, so we knock on the floor in front of it for luck before taking off on a breathless walking tour of Central Havana. This shelf in a government-owned food store in Central Havana shows the types of foodstuffs available for purchase.
Food is sold in bulk, and supplies are very limited.
It is late in the afternoon, and all around us in the narrow streets, designed for horse and buggy and pedestrian traffic rather than motor vehicles, habaneros are taking care of late afternoon chores or socializing. There's a line outside the free-enterprise farmers market, so we enter to see people buying vegetables and meat brought into the city from private farms. In front of one house, domino players have set up a table and started their game. Old people take the late evening sun on the front stoops of their buildings or on the balconies overlooking the streets. Children play baseball in the streets with homemade balls and a stick for a bat.