If there's one thing that Cuban culture might best be known for — aside from salsa music and cigars — it's long lines.
There are lines for everything: A line for a customs, a line for the bank, a line to buy internet, a line to use the bathroom, a line for the bus. Most things that you want or need to do in Cuba require waiting, particularly if it involves the government.
Cubans are so used to waiting in lines that they've even devised a clever system to make it more bearable.
When you arrive at the bank or bakery or wherever else you need to wait, first ask, "Who's last in line?" (best to ask in Spanish: quien es el último?) Whoever is last will instantly tell you. You go behind them, call out el último and now you are the last in line.
When a new person arrives and becomes el último, you are now free to wander. So long as you are back before it's your turn in line, everyone will let you take your place. Don't try to cut — everyone knows exactly where they are in the queue.
And rather than get frustrated by the inevitability of long wait times, plan for it.
If you don't, you might end up like I did one afternoon in Viñales, a small town in western Cuba.
Though I had been warned about Cuba's interminable lines — and experienced a few already — I arrived a little too close to closing time at the state-owned telecom company ETSECA, where you purchase scratch-off internet cards.
The line at the office was so long — and the time so close to closing at 4 p.m. — that I was informed by an office attendant that the person in front of me would be the last to be served. No internet for me that day.