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Lost passports, stolen tools, and Cuban ingenuity
In 2010, my husband and I took our bikes to Cuba to do bicycle touring. We really enjoyed the trip, but the second to last day was very challenging! It’s a day I’ll never forget. It was stressful, hard, and funny (after the fact).
You can read and listen to this story in Spanish or download the side-by-side reader.
Story Text
When we first arrived in Cuba with our bikes in tow, we stayed at a beachside hotel in Varadero for one night. They agreed to let us keep our bike boxes and tools in one of their sheds. We would stay in this same hotel when we returned to Varadero for one night before our return flight home.
Before we get into the story itself, we need a bit of detail on the currency and getting cash in Cuba.
For our whole stay, it was hard to get cash out of a bank or currency exchange. Debit cards weren’t accepted at cash machines, so we needed to withdraw money on our credit card. This incurred a fee for each cash withdrawal, plus our credit card started charging us interest immediately on these withdrawals. We needed to balance between withdrawing money and having enough cash, and not the credit card charging us interest.. Added to this stress was that Cuban pesos were not available in Canada, so we couldn’t arrive with any CUCs.
When we visited, Cuba had two types of currency, one for locals called the Cuban peso (or CUP) and one for tourists called the Cuban convertible peso (CUC or “kook”). The government pegged the exchange rate as 25CUP to 1CUC to 1USD. The CUC was much more desirable than the CUP because of its greater purchasing power. Those who worked in tourism would get paid in CUCs and make much more money than those who were paid in CUP. In 2013, the Cuban government announced it would go through “monetary unification” and by January 2021 the country had one currency, the CUP.
Because we are Canadians withdrawing from a Canadian bank, we could access our money. When we arrived in the country, we tried to use the cash machine. For whatever mysterious reason, we couldn’t use our debit cards. If I remember correctly, his credit card didn’t work either, so we only had my credit card that we could use.
During the trip, I kept both our passports, my credit card, and half our cash in the travel wallet around my neck. When we arrived back in Varadero after two weeks of bicycle touring, we rode from the bus station to the hotel. With one day left, we were short on cash and hoped the hotel would let us pay with my credit card. It only took cash. It was a Sunday, we needed to find a bank or currency exchange that would let us make a withdrawal!
Before we rode our bikes around to find cash, I wanted to take off one of my shirts. The temperature in Cuba had finally changed from historic lows to normal heat. I removed my travel wallet from around my neck and put it on the back of my bike, took off one shirt, then we got on our bikes and rode to find cash.
Because it was Sunday, we had a really hard time finding any open bank or currency exchange or functioning cash machine. We rode to the very end of the Varadero strip of hotels then turned around and rode back the same 15 blocks, all the while looking for a bank or currency exchange. When we finally found the one open currency exchange, the clerk needed one of our passports for identification. When I looked for the passports around my neck, I realized they weren’t there. Nor were they on my bike rack!
A total disaster!
For an hour we backtracked our whole route: we went to all our stops and to our hotel. I thought maybe I had dropped the wallet right when we started cycling away from the hotel. At least we knew that no local would be able to use our passports or sell them to someone else. We knew that the government was incredibly strict on crime against tourists and we figured our passports would turn up. But we had no idea where they could be or how long it would take to find them again.
We were in a sticky wicket. Chris had 30 pesos but his credit card wouldn’t work.. My credit card, remember, was in my lost travel wallet! We decided to ride down the street with the resorts. Maybe we could use Chris’s credit card at one of these hotels and contact the Canadian embassy. Our flight was also the next day, but we figured without our passports we would miss our flight.
A total disaster!
As we rode down the tourist strip, we came to the first hotel and I said to Chris, ”Let's just go in here and see what we can figure out.” I figured we might as well start with the first one. We went up to the receptionist and Chris said, “We’ve lost our passports…” The lady looked at us and pointed to another woman walking toward us with my travel wallet!
Disaster averted!
Someone had found it on the street and turned it into this hotel! Our passports and my credit card were still in the wallet. My 30 CUCs were gone, but that was a very small price to pay for the safe return of my wallet. I’ve never felt so relieved in my life. I hugged the woman holding our passports who looked a bit shocked. We rode to the currency exchange, got our cash, then had Cuba Libres to celebrate!
Success!
Our next task was to take apart our bikes and pack them into the bike boxes. We opened the boxes to find our tools and packaging stolen! The pedal wrench, allen keys, zap straps, little plastic bits, and the plastic grocery bags were all missing.
A total disaster!
As Chris and I stood with the boxes and bikes on the street, people started coming up to us to ask us what was wrong. We told them that all our tools were gone, all our stuff was stolen. One man left and came back with tools to see if any of them would work. Another person came up, saw what was going on, and went across the street to his friend to borrow their tools. That friend started yelling down the street to someone else. Then about 4 more people showed up with their tools to help us take apart our bikes.
Disaster averted!
That’s when I learned that Cubans are incredibly resourceful and can make anything work and solve any problem. This repair culture, this ability to fix any problem. came about for several reasons. One was the trade embargo meant very few new goods came into the country. Also, Cuba didn’t have the money to purchase new goods from international markets.
The United States has had trade embargos against Cuba since the 1960s, making these the longest trade embargos in modern history. Cuba has had trade agreements with the Soviet Union and Venezuela, but both of these relationships have waxed and waned with the fortunes of the USSR and Venezuela. Because they can’t get new goods, they have to repair what they have.
As someone from North America, it’s really impressive to see Cubans figure out how to repair anything and how to make anything work. That’s why travel gives me an appreciation for other cultures and breaks down barriers: I can see people living in completely different circumstances and see how they solve problems. Being able to speak Spanish gives me the ability to ask questions about their lives and understand more about them.
Chris and I didn’t take apart our bikes: the Cubans figured it out for us with their tools while we stood aside chatting with the locals and pointing to what needed to come off the bikes. They wanted to buy our bikes because they were such good quality compared to what was available. We were afraid to tell them the price of the bikes and said no, the bikes weren’t for sale. Eventually, the show was over and Chris and I packed our bikes away into the boxes, protecting our bikes with dirty clothing and any other kinds of padding we could find. We figured, “When in Cuba, do like the Cubans do!”
Success!
Sure, we were disappointed that our stuff was stolen, but it wasn’t too costly a theft. 30 CUCs or $30USD was a small price to pay for the safe return of our passport and credit card. The generosity and ingenuity of our new Cuban friends outweighed any hard feelings we had. We were really impressed with what they could do given their resources. We appreciated how they all grouped together and discussed the best way to get the bikes apart.
As a final note, we still didn’t have enough cash to leave the country. We calculated how much money we needed to pay for the hotel, dinner, and taxi to the airport, but forgot about the airport exit fee. That was a problem for the next day. Obviously we managed to leave the country, so we figured it out somehow!
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By Teresita travelsIn 2010, my husband and I took our bikes to Cuba to do bicycle touring. We really enjoyed the trip, but the second to last day was very challenging! It’s a day I’ll never forget. It was stressful, hard, and funny (after the fact).
You can read and listen to this story in Spanish or download the side-by-side reader.
Story Text
When we first arrived in Cuba with our bikes in tow, we stayed at a beachside hotel in Varadero for one night. They agreed to let us keep our bike boxes and tools in one of their sheds. We would stay in this same hotel when we returned to Varadero for one night before our return flight home.
Before we get into the story itself, we need a bit of detail on the currency and getting cash in Cuba.
For our whole stay, it was hard to get cash out of a bank or currency exchange. Debit cards weren’t accepted at cash machines, so we needed to withdraw money on our credit card. This incurred a fee for each cash withdrawal, plus our credit card started charging us interest immediately on these withdrawals. We needed to balance between withdrawing money and having enough cash, and not the credit card charging us interest.. Added to this stress was that Cuban pesos were not available in Canada, so we couldn’t arrive with any CUCs.
When we visited, Cuba had two types of currency, one for locals called the Cuban peso (or CUP) and one for tourists called the Cuban convertible peso (CUC or “kook”). The government pegged the exchange rate as 25CUP to 1CUC to 1USD. The CUC was much more desirable than the CUP because of its greater purchasing power. Those who worked in tourism would get paid in CUCs and make much more money than those who were paid in CUP. In 2013, the Cuban government announced it would go through “monetary unification” and by January 2021 the country had one currency, the CUP.
Because we are Canadians withdrawing from a Canadian bank, we could access our money. When we arrived in the country, we tried to use the cash machine. For whatever mysterious reason, we couldn’t use our debit cards. If I remember correctly, his credit card didn’t work either, so we only had my credit card that we could use.
During the trip, I kept both our passports, my credit card, and half our cash in the travel wallet around my neck. When we arrived back in Varadero after two weeks of bicycle touring, we rode from the bus station to the hotel. With one day left, we were short on cash and hoped the hotel would let us pay with my credit card. It only took cash. It was a Sunday, we needed to find a bank or currency exchange that would let us make a withdrawal!
Before we rode our bikes around to find cash, I wanted to take off one of my shirts. The temperature in Cuba had finally changed from historic lows to normal heat. I removed my travel wallet from around my neck and put it on the back of my bike, took off one shirt, then we got on our bikes and rode to find cash.
Because it was Sunday, we had a really hard time finding any open bank or currency exchange or functioning cash machine. We rode to the very end of the Varadero strip of hotels then turned around and rode back the same 15 blocks, all the while looking for a bank or currency exchange. When we finally found the one open currency exchange, the clerk needed one of our passports for identification. When I looked for the passports around my neck, I realized they weren’t there. Nor were they on my bike rack!
A total disaster!
For an hour we backtracked our whole route: we went to all our stops and to our hotel. I thought maybe I had dropped the wallet right when we started cycling away from the hotel. At least we knew that no local would be able to use our passports or sell them to someone else. We knew that the government was incredibly strict on crime against tourists and we figured our passports would turn up. But we had no idea where they could be or how long it would take to find them again.
We were in a sticky wicket. Chris had 30 pesos but his credit card wouldn’t work.. My credit card, remember, was in my lost travel wallet! We decided to ride down the street with the resorts. Maybe we could use Chris’s credit card at one of these hotels and contact the Canadian embassy. Our flight was also the next day, but we figured without our passports we would miss our flight.
A total disaster!
As we rode down the tourist strip, we came to the first hotel and I said to Chris, ”Let's just go in here and see what we can figure out.” I figured we might as well start with the first one. We went up to the receptionist and Chris said, “We’ve lost our passports…” The lady looked at us and pointed to another woman walking toward us with my travel wallet!
Disaster averted!
Someone had found it on the street and turned it into this hotel! Our passports and my credit card were still in the wallet. My 30 CUCs were gone, but that was a very small price to pay for the safe return of my wallet. I’ve never felt so relieved in my life. I hugged the woman holding our passports who looked a bit shocked. We rode to the currency exchange, got our cash, then had Cuba Libres to celebrate!
Success!
Our next task was to take apart our bikes and pack them into the bike boxes. We opened the boxes to find our tools and packaging stolen! The pedal wrench, allen keys, zap straps, little plastic bits, and the plastic grocery bags were all missing.
A total disaster!
As Chris and I stood with the boxes and bikes on the street, people started coming up to us to ask us what was wrong. We told them that all our tools were gone, all our stuff was stolen. One man left and came back with tools to see if any of them would work. Another person came up, saw what was going on, and went across the street to his friend to borrow their tools. That friend started yelling down the street to someone else. Then about 4 more people showed up with their tools to help us take apart our bikes.
Disaster averted!
That’s when I learned that Cubans are incredibly resourceful and can make anything work and solve any problem. This repair culture, this ability to fix any problem. came about for several reasons. One was the trade embargo meant very few new goods came into the country. Also, Cuba didn’t have the money to purchase new goods from international markets.
The United States has had trade embargos against Cuba since the 1960s, making these the longest trade embargos in modern history. Cuba has had trade agreements with the Soviet Union and Venezuela, but both of these relationships have waxed and waned with the fortunes of the USSR and Venezuela. Because they can’t get new goods, they have to repair what they have.
As someone from North America, it’s really impressive to see Cubans figure out how to repair anything and how to make anything work. That’s why travel gives me an appreciation for other cultures and breaks down barriers: I can see people living in completely different circumstances and see how they solve problems. Being able to speak Spanish gives me the ability to ask questions about their lives and understand more about them.
Chris and I didn’t take apart our bikes: the Cubans figured it out for us with their tools while we stood aside chatting with the locals and pointing to what needed to come off the bikes. They wanted to buy our bikes because they were such good quality compared to what was available. We were afraid to tell them the price of the bikes and said no, the bikes weren’t for sale. Eventually, the show was over and Chris and I packed our bikes away into the boxes, protecting our bikes with dirty clothing and any other kinds of padding we could find. We figured, “When in Cuba, do like the Cubans do!”
Success!
Sure, we were disappointed that our stuff was stolen, but it wasn’t too costly a theft. 30 CUCs or $30USD was a small price to pay for the safe return of our passport and credit card. The generosity and ingenuity of our new Cuban friends outweighed any hard feelings we had. We were really impressed with what they could do given their resources. We appreciated how they all grouped together and discussed the best way to get the bikes apart.
As a final note, we still didn’t have enough cash to leave the country. We calculated how much money we needed to pay for the hotel, dinner, and taxi to the airport, but forgot about the airport exit fee. That was a problem for the next day. Obviously we managed to leave the country, so we figured it out somehow!
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