Note that this separation is more due to the fact that you’re rich, than any formal currency arrangement. Foreigners in the 1990s got the same treatment, before any formal dollarization or dual currency system existed.
Cubans who make their money only from official sources are desperately poor. Those with connections abroad, connections to tourism or to the black market are richer.
The money difference merely makes it tangible. And the government goes a long way to try to separate tourists from the real society, though you can still get to it if you care to.
Source: worked there for an ngo for a year
>basically everyone wants to be near tourists
This is actually just the surface veneer. Anyone who approaches you speaking english is a hustler and does it professionally.
Cubans in wider society are interested, but also wary. The police arrest those who spend too much time with foreigners.
The typical cuban keeps to themselves, but the typical tourist will meet endless, non-typical hustlers.
Cubans who make their money only from official sources are desperately poor. Those with connections abroad, connections to tourism or to the black market are richer.
The money difference merely makes it tangible. And the government goes a long way to try to separate tourists from the real society, though you can still get to it if you care to.
Source: worked there for an ngo for a year
>basically everyone wants to be near tourists
This is actually just the surface veneer. Anyone who approaches you speaking english is a hustler and does it professionally.
Cubans in wider society are interested, but also wary. The police arrest those who spend too much time with foreigners.
The typical cuban keeps to themselves, but the typical tourist will meet endless, non-typical hustlers.