exist and are worth the wait for the people involved. Young people are mostly thin and wiry. Men with protruding stomachs seem to look at it as a sign of well being. Fleshy women can attribute their excess to a love of ice cream and sweets in general (or otherwise bad diet which is not not limited to women). Many women are sexy, slim and flaunt it.

My experience with lines was at banks – for example, arriving at the Banco de Credito at 2 p.m. to be 14th in line. The line hardly moved the first 40 minutes, so expectation was that the door would be slammed in my face at 3 p.m. closing time. Mercifully, they allowed everyone in line at 3 p.m. to enter, THEN closed the door. An hour to an hour and a half is normal to change money.

Tourist menu choices usually are chicken or chicken – although also include beef, seafood and sometimes lamb. Meals may come with a fruit plate and/or the ubiquitous salad of tomato and cucumber slices with shredded cabbage. Lobster is often overly grilled and dry. More than one menu featured fish with ham and cheese (!!). At the first paradares (family-run restaurant), the thin-sliced fish was so rubbery, chewing it was a task abandoned. The wine burned the throat. Nor was it inexpensive, even by Cuban standards.

When I did find vegetables at restaurants I tended to over order, thinking that at $2, the serving would be small. Wrong. It took a while to gauge it correctly. Dinner with wine (preferably Chilean) rarely exceeds $20, usually around $15. A pizza and glass of wine with the locals was $2. At one place, the napkin was toilet paper. Luckily the "special period" is over when the Soviet Union dissolved and no longer subsidized Cuba in the manner to which it was accustomed. My Havana casa hostess mentioned having to eat the peel as well as the banana when they were starving. Fried grapefruit rind was considered meat.

Cuban agriculture can produce adequate amounts, but according to a recent NY Times article, a lack of functioning trucks to transport produce to markets accounts for shortages.