Cuba
In 1999, I took a small hiatus from alphabetic travelling to go to Cuba. I wanted to see Cuba before Fidel Castro died. Even though Castro is still alive, I was very glad to have visited Cuba when I did.
After fifty years of communist rule, Cuba was a fascinating country to visit. Much of the old infrastructure remained, such as the Karl Marx cement factory. Other parts were quickly eroding. Rainstorms were punctuated not by the crack of lightning, but by the bursts of shorting transformers. Failures in infrastructure were commonplace events. Though the Cubans accepted this as normal, getting by was getting increasingly difficult.
Cuba was caught in a vortex of change. Because of the collapse of Soviet trade and a trade embargo by the United States, a dual economy emerged, with US dollars as the currency of choice. Peso goods were incredibly cheap, but difficult to find and limited. US dollar goods were expensive by comparison, but readily available. The average Cuban took home about $30 US/month, making a $1 can of beer into a very expensive luxury. By comparison, a liter of moonshine might cost about 25 cents.
With imported goods being so expensive, the Cubans made whatever they had last as long as possible. Improvising decades old technology led to unusual sights.Fifty year old cars were common on the streets, and strange hybrid vehicles made from old trains were used as a substitute for busses. Out of necessity, Cuba had adopted the duct tape approach to life, and taken it beyond all imagination.
Though abject poverty and starvation were not readily apparent, neither was wealth. Cuba was just scraping by, trying to hold on until conditions improved, or a miracle happened. With so much depending on tobacco, sugar, and tourism, it is hard to say what the future will hold for this country.