HAVANA: Cubans use them to fish, ferment wine, fix punctures or tie up hair; latex condoms have change into the ultimate multipurpose software at the Communist-run island the place shortages of elementary items have compelled locals to change into masters of invention.
Decades of US industry sanctions and a dysfunctional Soviet-style, centralized economic system imply the aisles of Cuba’s retail outlets are regularly manifestly naked. And when available, imports which can be bought at a steep markup by the state or at the black marketplace is also too pricey for the ones on an average state salary of $30 per 30 days.
Yet condoms, both the ones regionally produced and imported from Asia, are in relatively bountiful provide, in part because of the Caribbean country’s focus on sexual health. Government subsidies imply they are affordable; a field of 3 condoms prices just one Cuban peso (around 4 greenback cents).
Strong and stretchy, they lend themselves to various commercial as well as recreational packages beyond contraception and coverage towards sexually transmitted infections, Cubans say.
"We can’t allow clients to leave upset that we couldn’t do something because we lacked the tools so instead we look for alternatives," mentioned Sandra Hernandez, a stylist at a Havana hairdressers, who uses them as hairbands.
At concert events and children’s birthday events, condoms blown as much as huge balloons with a whitish hue float during the air.
Along the coast, floats made from a number of inflated rubbers tied in combination bob at the sea, sporting baited hooks of fishing traces. These allow the ones fishermen confined to Cuba’s shores because of government’ strict controls on boats for fear of illegal emigration to ship their hooks further out.
"The aim is to catch the bigger fish," mentioned Angel Luis Nunez, a fishermen at the capital’s Malecon seafront street.
Perhaps essentially the most idiosyncratic use for condoms is that of Orestes Estevez. In his makeshift vineyard in his Havana house, he covers the bottles of grapejuice with condoms.
The rubber inflates and change into erect as the fermentation releases gases; when it collapses, the method is whole. Estevez then sells the wine in his garage.
"It really increases the alcohol percentage and improves the process of fermentation, as well as that of clarification," the house winemaker mentioned.
Decades of US industry sanctions and a dysfunctional Soviet-style, centralized economic system imply the aisles of Cuba’s retail outlets are regularly manifestly naked. And when available, imports which can be bought at a steep markup by the state or at the black marketplace is also too pricey for the ones on an average state salary of $30 per 30 days.
Yet condoms, both the ones regionally produced and imported from Asia, are in relatively bountiful provide, in part because of the Caribbean country’s focus on sexual health. Government subsidies imply they are affordable; a field of 3 condoms prices just one Cuban peso (around 4 greenback cents).
Strong and stretchy, they lend themselves to various commercial as well as recreational packages beyond contraception and coverage towards sexually transmitted infections, Cubans say.
"We can’t allow clients to leave upset that we couldn’t do something because we lacked the tools so instead we look for alternatives," mentioned Sandra Hernandez, a stylist at a Havana hairdressers, who uses them as hairbands.
At concert events and children’s birthday events, condoms blown as much as huge balloons with a whitish hue float during the air.
Along the coast, floats made from a number of inflated rubbers tied in combination bob at the sea, sporting baited hooks of fishing traces. These allow the ones fishermen confined to Cuba’s shores because of government’ strict controls on boats for fear of illegal emigration to ship their hooks further out.
"The aim is to catch the bigger fish," mentioned Angel Luis Nunez, a fishermen at the capital’s Malecon seafront street.
Perhaps essentially the most idiosyncratic use for condoms is that of Orestes Estevez. In his makeshift vineyard in his Havana house, he covers the bottles of grapejuice with condoms.
The rubber inflates and change into erect as the fermentation releases gases; when it collapses, the method is whole. Estevez then sells the wine in his garage.
"It really increases the alcohol percentage and improves the process of fermentation, as well as that of clarification," the house winemaker mentioned.
In Cuba, condom use stretches far beyond sex
![In Cuba, condom use stretches far beyond sex]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
September 07, 2018
Rating:
