A Cuban resident in Germany, known on TikTok as @tay_hechavarria, posted a viral video on January 3 where she dismantles the notion that returning to Cuba is a vacation. Her account, recorded after a visit to the island, starkly describes the daily reality she encountered: blackouts, water shortages, empty stores, and the inability to pay with her currency.
"I went on vacation to Cuba, but who said going to Cuba was a vacation?" the young woman begins in the video. What follows is an unfiltered account of what she experienced during her stay on the island.
The lack of electricity and water prevented her from washing clothes. In the stores, when she managed to find them open, the scene was disheartening: "all you see is the same merchandise repeated 1,000 and a million times on different shelves." There was no easy way to pay either: the establishments required dollars, not Cuban pesos, and she only had euros since she lives in Germany. "You can't pay in your national currency; in Cuba, you have to pay in US dollars, dollars that I don't have either because I live in Germany," she explained.
Material problems were compounded by health risks. The young woman mentioned the presence of Zika, dengue, and chikungunya during her visit. The latter recorded in 2025 an unprecedented outbreak in Cuba: over 51,000 total cases and 46 deaths, according to WHO/PAHO data. Only in January 2026, 1,457 additional cases and two more deaths were reported, according to Outbreak News Today. The U.S. Embassy in Havana had already warned in August 2025 about the increase in cases of dengue and oropouche virus on the island.
The testimony of @tay_hechavarria reflects a structural crisis that shows no signs of relief. The Cuban economy fell by 5% in 2025 and has accumulated a contraction of over 15% since 2020, according to the Center for Cuban Economy Studies. Power outages reach up to 20 hours a day, and in March 2026, affect up to 64% of the national territory, with deficits of up to 2,000 megawatts. 72% of Cubans consider the food crisis to be the main problem in the country, and only 15% eat three times a day without interruptions, according to the Cuban Organization for Human Rights.
Despite everything, the content creator acknowledged what she does find upon returning: her mother's cooking, reuniting with loved ones, and her love for her homeland. "Being on vacation in Cuba is also about tasting your mother's food again, that Cuban food, rich and flavorful," she said. Her experience is not unique: the account of a Spanish tourist about her visit to the island in 2026 also made an impact on social media.
His conclusion, however, was emphatic and resonated among thousands of Cubans in the diaspora: "We are not here on vacation. We come to Cuba to see our loved ones, we come to see our land, our home, we come to see what little remains". The collapse of tourism confirms this perception: 24,000 fewer travelers arrived in Cuba just in January 2026.
Still, the young woman ended her video with a sense of hope: "But I know that soon this will CHANGE and returning to Cuba will indeed mean going on vacation." A dream shared by millions in the diaspora, while the blackouts spark pot-banging and protests in Havana.
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