Money

As China once had, dual currencies circulate in Cuba.  The locals use 'moneda nacional', the national peso, for domestically produced goods and services.  In addition there is a convertible peso often referred to as a dollar and written with the $ symbol used by tourists and by Cubans for purchasing imported goods. At present it is roughly equal to an Australian dollar.  National pesos are roughly 25 times less valuable. In effect this dual currency with different shops makes purchasing basics, like fruit and vegetables difficult for tourists. Just buying a bottle of water can be difficult but alcohol is easily available at around the same price; a bottle of rum for $3-4.

A Mojito is very inexpensive

The dual currency opens the way to a street scam in which tourists are charged in convertible pesos at food stalls; where the published price is in National pesos. We quickly learnt not to eat at them as an argument will inevitably ensue and/or you will end up paying a huge premium for inferior food.

Europeans provide most of the tourism hard currency and the Euro is the most easily convertible currency – don’t take US or Australian dollars.  There are no ATMs and credit cards are hard to use; but you can pre-pay for the better hotels and airfares on-line.

Australian tourists are everywhere and Cubans most often correctly identified us as Australians, maybe it was the hat; although we were also taken for Germans.  One hotel we stayed in was specifically for Jewish tourists; with a kosher breakfast.  Fellow guests seemed to be mainly French or German.