Women seek bartending jobs in Cuba as tourism industry grows

[Judi Lynn]

Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press
Updated 9:23 am CDT, Thursday, September 13, 2018

HAVANA (AP) — For years, Barbara Betancourt has left her two teenage daughters at home and put on black pants and a white shirt to go to the bar.

Elegant and charismatic, she is the face of an increasingly visible phenomenon in Cuba: the rise in female bartenders who break convention to benefit from the growing tourism industry, grabbing job opportunities that have come in the last five years with the opening of new private businesses.

"You have to be a strong woman. With a strong character. You can't be weak or have a husband who says, 'You can't do it,'" she says as she whips a silver shaker.

Known to friends and family as Barbarita, the 46-year-old's career spans two decades. She has been tending bar at the club El Gato Tuerto since 2011. Its location, opposite the emblematic seafront Malecon in Havana, has attracted Cuban music legends and stars throughout its history.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Women-seek-bartending-jobs-in-Cuba-as-tourism-13226493.php



Havana club San Souci in 1958, before the Revolution.



Question in this pre-revolution restaurant: Do you have frog legs?
Answer: No, I just walk funny.



Women could play their little accordians in bars.

[GatoGordo]

1. Tourism down in Cuba 7%

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-tourism/us-visits-to-cuba-plunge-following-trump-measures-idUSKBN1HW03H

“The total of U.S. clients is only 56.6 percent of what it was in 2017,” Bernal said. The state-run Cuban News Agency published the percentage decline in overall foreign visits separately, citing tourism authorities.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

2. So, non-US tourism is up. A lot.

If US origin tourism is down 57%, but total tourism is down only 7%, then, this represents a good outlook for Cuba as a tourism destination for the rest of the world.
Must be something about the stagnant incomes here in the US, while the rest of the world's traveling sector's incomes - and travel - are up.

Good for Cuba!