[Gringuito]

I've been to Havana, Cuba quite a few times over the last 6 years. I'm writing this data sheet from the perspective of a US citizen. If you don't hold a US passport you can ignore the Treasury Department problems.

How to Get There

Getting to Cuba can be a bit of a challenge. From the US you have two options. You can sign up for a tour from a licensed tour company (Google Cuba Travel). This normally costs more and has a few drawbacks. You'll stay in hotels (I'll say why that's not so good later) and you normally have to stick to their schedule.

You can also get to Cuba via a third country. There are flights leaving from Nassau, Panama City, San Jose, and Cancun. I normally fly from Nassau if I'm in Miami or from Panama City if I'm in Medellin (via CopaAir).

You must be sure to get your tourist visa card at the check-in desk before you leave. It costs around $25 or so but you must have it to enter Cuba. They will not stamp your passport only this tourist visa card. Keep this card with you, you'll need it for the hotel/casa.

Arriving

Once you arrive you'll have about 4 forms you have to fill out, they are both in English and Spanish. You'll also have to pay for health insurance at a desk near customs. They will ask you if you're feeling sick. Sometimes they will interview you for an hour or so when you arrive. I've never had any problems other than the hassle. You can then leave customs.

Money

There are two currencies in Cuba the CUC and the local peso. As a foreigner you will be using the CUC. You can exchange it at the airport. Be sure not to bring US dollars to exchange. I always bring Canadian dollars or Euros. There is a 10% penalty for converting US dollars. The exchange rate is fixed at .90 USD to a CUC.

Lodging

You should avoid staying at hotels in Cuba. They cost more and you will have problems bringing in "guests". You'll need to pay to hotel desk each time a guest arrives, that is if they are allowed to enter at all. Cuba has legalized private house/apartment rentals recently. You can now legally pay for a room in someone's house. This is a much better option.

One of the problems you'll run into when you arrive is the Cuban custom of overbooking. The room that you had reserved will most likely be already occupied. They will then take you to another house/apartment for your stay. If you're bothered by this then Cuba isn't the place for you. The Cuban culture is very flexible and you need to "go with the flow" there.

Getting Around

There are taxis (some from the 50s) everywhere and they are inexpensive. Don't be surprised if they try to rip you off. I think the Cuban passtime is ripping off foreigners. If you keep in mind how poor the people there are you will understand why you are constantly fighting someone trying to overcharge you. You can call for a taxi and make sure they use the meter. This is the least expensive route and normally costs 4-7 CUC for inside Havana. You can rent a car and driver but there are some legal issues with that.

The Language

Spanish is NOT the language of Cuba, Cuban is the language. If anyone here has been to Cuba you understand me. They technically speak Spanish but they drop the last letter from each word. It can take a day or so to adjust to their accent. They seem to have no problem understanding my Spanish.

I'll continue this in another post...

[Gringuito]

Safety

Cuba is one of the safest countries I've been to. One advantage of the restrictive government is they control crime. Do NOT use drugs while you're there! Do not get caught with an underage girl! Even if you're not thrown in jail, you may be required to stay in Cuba during the court proceedings, which could take months.

The Girls

In general they are beautiful and come in all types from dark to light skinned. There are quite a few blond hair blue eyed girls. The people are friendly in general but the big problem is the law. If a girl is seen with a foreigner she may be arrested for prostitution. If you have a girlfriend you need to fill out some kind of form to indicate that you're together so she won't be hassled. If you are Cuban American this isn't a problem. The thread that talked about the travel blog mentioned this. Having to be discreet with you're friends can be a frustrating but you need to get used to it.

Food & Clubs

If you're willing to pay there is good food in the touristy parts of Havana. If you rent a house they will make you anything you want...for a price. They have quite a bit of pork and a bit of chicken normally. The breakfast is the normal eggs and ham.

In Havana there are a few clubs like Casa de Musica. I'm not as interested in this so hopefully someone else will chime in. There's a great text message service that sends you a text with which local club has an event that night.

Telephone and Internet

You can rent a SIM card at the airport. It will work for as many days as you're there and then you throw it away. Calling in Cuba is strange, it costs both the caller and the callee minutes. It's better to text. You can call another country with the prefix 119 - country code - number. This is very expensive per minute but can work in an emergency.

You can access the Internet from the larger hotels. They will have a business center with REALLY slow internet access. Houses and apartments normally don't have access. You will also need to go to hotels to see any non-government TV channels.

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Cuba is an interesting place to go. In some ways it's like stepping back into the 50s. The climate is good (except in June-August) and the people are friendly. It's worth visiting just to see the country before the inevitable change after the Castro brothers go.

[pitt]

Gringuito - how much these apartments or rooms in someones house cost? Can you bring girls to a room you are renting in someones house? What is the best area to stay? I usually like to stay in busy areas, i have a friend who told me that the best area to stay is Miramar, please confirm this.

[Gringuito]

I normally stay in Miramar, it's close to the action but not too close and a nice area. The cost is from a low end of 30 CUC (for native Spanish speakers/Cuban Americans) to 50 CUC a day. There are high-end places that cost 200 CUC a day if you're interested. You'll pay extra for food, around 8 CUC a meal. They may also charge you for cleaning/ironing clothes depending on how you negotiate.

[pitt]

+1 from me

You forgot to answer the bit about bringing girls to my room.

[Gringuito]

Oups! If you're in a house/apartment they will need to get a copy of the girls ID. She'll get it back when she leaves. You will not have to pay anything for this no matter how many "friends" you invite over. You can't bring more than one guest in at a time, so if three of you are staying at a rented house no more than three Cubans can be there at a time.

[lavidaloca]

I'm very busy at the moment and don't have time to write indepth data sheets. But I will clarify some things that haven't been said/ are incorrect.

1) You may go to a house and then they will say it's full but take you to another one. They are doing this to receive the commission. Which you will be paying on top of whatever the regular price is.

2) Outside of Havana and possibly Santiago, girls will need to register in a book. This book is given to the police and entered into a Cuba. The girls will not want to sign this book. A few tourists and they are on their way to the big house. Some Cubans will rent out there house and not register the girls. These places are illegal. Usually if the tourist is found in one he will not have problems but this could change at any time. The girl and the house owner. Well they will be jailed. One girl I know got 7 years for this. The house owner is serving serious time as well.

3) Telephones - You will want a local sim card. I believe it costs 3 dollars to rent per day. Now the person who calls always pays. The person who receives the call pays nothing. I have a local sim card in a Cuban's name. These cost 30 convertible pesos.

4) Cubans scamming tourists. This is non stop...people will also be getting commission off of you for literally everything. That commission will be added to the bill. This isn't important. What is important is what goes on at times to the girls. Girls with tourists can and do have lots of serious problems. 1) Robberies...they are more suscept to robberies. People target them. My girlfriend's house was broken into in the middle of the night recently. There were 2 kids less than 4 years of age their and multiple robbers climbing through the window. 2) Blackmail: I don't want to talk much about this but people including your so-called friends blackmail the girls for sex and money.

5) Danger: It is not dangerous if your staying on an All Inclusive. Of course not. Thats where 95% of the tourist population stays and they are usually in the middle of nowhere. So of course there's no danger. Then the tourists who do get off the resort often end up at tourist oriented places. Of course these are again safe other than minor thefts because of heavy police present. But if you get off this track it can quickly be dangerous.

I was jumped over Christmas break there. Granted, it was by a drunk relative of my gf. During that same 3 week period I witnessed 3 of my Cuban friends have fights. Additionally, one night when I was out a large brawl broke out at an afterhours location and a Cuban was stabbed to death. I also met a tourist who frequents Cuba who had someone attempt to murder him. The tourist in question was partaking in sketchy activities.

6) The blond hair blue eyed myth. This is uncommon. The reason you will see it as a tourist is because lighter skinned Cubans are highly sought after. As such they end up at the most expensive and exclusive clubs. The majority simply have died hair and many have coloured contacts in.

7) Cuba is not for a budget traveller. If your looking for a place to live on 2000 a month forget about it. It isn't Cuba.

8) Jineteros: The male hustlers. These guys may seem to have great connections to everything. That's great. What does the girl have to do for his service. Ask yourself that.

9)You will be on the tourist trail. No if's or but's about it. You can go out at night and go to some club and be the only tourist. But the people you attract will exclusively be people on the tourist trail. You need to get over this. Unless your living there year round, you wouldn't know this. You still may very well not know it. Almost, every story I've read of a guy picking up a girl in Cuba involved a part-time pro or more. Note: Every guy there will tell you how he has this sweet innocent girl. A perfect example of this was someone talked in the other thread about a girl who stared at him in the middle of a park in Holguin so he went and talked to her. 1) That's a spot hookers frequent 2) thats a hooker move.(atleast in this area) It takes a long time to get the trust of a Cuban. I had a friend for 6 years and he still was saying bs to me all the time.

In order to avoid the hookers you have to first know who the hookers are. You can't possibly do that unless you live their and go out every night. Even then, you will still be fooled more often than not. Just because a girl has a full time job, or 2 doesn't mean she isn't making some on the side.

10) People there live tough lives. I believe the travellingbum guy even admitted that everything almost felt like a transaction.

11) If you do go there and end up dating someone, you will have to be very open minded about her past. She has done stuff she hasn't wanted to do. Almost certainly.

12) Some of you have friends who you know speak mediocre spanish who brag about the abundance of beauty and all the girls they are sleeping with down their. They're lieing. They're sleeping with jineteras. Many don't even realize it. They're paying as well. They just don't see how they're paying because they never give money directly to the girl.

13) Cuba is a great place IF you have established friends and connections. If your going there to break the surface in a month. You will be disappointed.

14) Many police officers are not susceptible to bribes. Break the law, and I wish you luck. You'll need it.

15) Miramar/ Siboney is the upscale part of Havana. Centro Havana/ Old Havana is busier and buzzing with activity.

16) I can't possibly tell you clubs to go to to meet nice normal girls. To be frank your going to end up with questionable people no matter where you go.

17) Once your in, your in. You become part of the farandula and become accepted. This is when you begin to understand and experience the real cuba. You won't do this in a week or month. You will still have the rose-covered glasses on as well.

I think this is like what Mixx said about partying with the mayor of Medellin and how gringos only get the decent girls their not the hotties. That is the same in Cuba unless your with the equivalent of a prepago or you're established in the scene like Mixx.

[pitt]

lavidaloca there must be a way to pull girls and fuck them..no? I have met people who told me they were fucking left and right in Cuba (they even admitted to spend some money on these girls), so im sure there is a way for guys to be fucking a lot in cuba.

I probably just have to go there and find out for myself.

Also, i have met people who lived in Cuba for years who told me 2000 dollars a month would give me a a very good life so i dnt understand why you are saying the opposite.

[lavidaloca]

Of course you can pull girls left and right. I said you could but they will be girls of a questionable nature like I said.

[Gringuito]

LaVidaLoca, thanks for correcting my report. I didn't know they changed how calls are charged. So I don't need to use the *88 prefix anymore? I agree that 2000 USD is not enough, I go through more. I'm sure you can live there for that amount but it would be hard going out and eating well. Even at 30 CUC a day lodging that's about half your budget. LaVida is right, I'm still completely on the tourist trail. I'm sure that every girl I have been with there is a jinetera. Why else would she take the risk of being with a tourist? I should have mentioned how they are always angling for presents/gifts/cash.

[lavidaloca]

1) Convert your money. You will lose dollars. 2000 dollars a month is 65 dollars a day more or less. As was said earlier if american dollars you lose 10%. Now your at 60 dollars more or less. Pay your rent. Daily expect 20+ per day in rent in Havana. Then you've got your food? Are you going to go hunt down the food you want to eat to cook it? Good luck with that. If your a vegetarian maybe. so we are probably at 25 dollars of your 60 on housing. In Cuba you pay for everything for everyone. Expect your date to bring her friends out on your tab. Are you going to eat in peso nacional restaurants. I hope you have a strong stomach. if your not, good meals will run 5 cuc or more per person. What about your cover for your date and her friends. Often this is 5 CUC each or more. Okay, maybe your a real gamer and going to go to the club single. How do the girls there have the money to go their. A lot of them by means you can imagine. How are you going to move around. Are you really going to take the bus everywhere. Goodluck getting quality doing that. Plus the buses don't show up half the time. Taxi's may be cheap by North American standards but what are you gonna do when you wanna go to La Cecilia from Centro Havana to Miramar and the taxi says 10+ dollars. Thats 20 dollars return. Then you meet someone and they don't want to stay at your place they want to stay at an illegal place. There goes another 20 dollars. It adds up fast.

[Alfonzo]

(02-09-2012 01:27 PM)lavidaloca Wrote:  

1) Convert your money. You will lose dollars. 2000 dollars a month is 65 dollars a day more or less. As was said earlier if american dollars you lose 10%. Now your at 60 dollars more or less. Pay your rent. Daily expect 20+ per day in rent in Havana. Then you've got your food? Are you going to go hunt down the food you want to eat to cook it? Good luck with that. If your a vegetarian maybe. so we are probably at 25 dollars of your 60 on housing. In Cuba you pay for everything for everyone. Expect your date to bring her friends out on your tab. Are you going to eat in peso nacional restaurants. I hope you have a strong stomach. if your not, good meals will run 5 cuc or more per person. What about your cover for your date and her friends. Often this is 5 CUC each or more. Okay, maybe your a real gamer and going to go to the club single. How do the girls there have the money to go their. A lot of them by means you can imagine. How are you going to move around. Are you really going to take the bus everywhere. Goodluck getting quality doing that. Plus the buses don't show up half the time. Taxi's may be cheap by North American standards but what are you gonna do when you wanna go to La Cecilia from Centro Havana to Miramar and the taxi says 10+ dollars. Thats 20 dollars return. Then you meet someone and they don't want to stay at your place they want to stay at an illegal place. There goes another 20 dollars. It adds up fast.

You have some valid point in your post and your previous one but, in some aspect from my experience was not the case .
First you describe it for Havana maybe it's more expensive so I don't know but from Holguin , to stay in a casa I paid 10 $ canadian a day and the women who rent me a room, made my breakfast every day . So it's really not expensive . For the food you can eat like for kind of free in the cuban restaurant where the peso national is valid . Yes they don't have many choice over there because of the embargo but, you don't need a good stomach . The food was fine . It was congri(rice with black beens) , plantain and pork . It's repetetive but it was good and haven't have any problem with my stomach .

For the hookers part ,You are probably right . For my self I haven't pay anithing to them and no food, nothing . But, your right they will ask you to pay al lthe time ,you have to take your testicules and say no . Or let the other to pay for you, like I did .

For the conflictual part with the Cubans , I'm very surprise to read this . I never had any conflict with them . It's the opposite , They always been very respectful and easy going with me . I never had the feeling to be in danger either during the night when I was alone on the street . You seem to have a bad experience , It's the first time I see someone had theses kind of problems . I hope it's not a new tendencie because this country need a visit .

[lavidaloca]

Alfonzo, I assume spanish is your native language. If you paid 10 dollars a night it is highly improbable you were staying in a legal house. 15 dollars yes. They pay 200+ dollars a month in taxes. We are talking about havana though. How long were you there 1, 2 weeks? Of course your not going to have any problems if you go to the typical joints. Casa de la musica, casa de la trova, nocturno. I'm talking about when you go outside of this and go to the parties after the parties. I didn't even have to read your post. You met that girl in Parque Calixto Garcia. Thats like gringo hangout number one. There are police on every corner. There are undercovers scattered throughout. It is also hustler central. Girls have to register with you in Holguin. I know this for certain. I lived there more than 6 months of my life. Unless you stay in an illegal house. Legal ones have a blue sign posted. I stay at the legal ones with my girlfriend all the time. I have never heard of anyone paying 10 dollars a night for a legal casa. You can pay that for a casa illegal for fun times or what not. But you need to know those places first.

[Alfonzo]

No I'm french but was with 2 peoples who speak spanish . They were registred casas with sign . I know they have illegal casas who are cheaper . Even if you pay 15 $ it's really cheap .
And yes It was in Holguin , like I said in the previous post I wasn't sure if in Havana it was really more expensive .And yes the girls had registrated with their Id .Anyway it was not the point . My main issues was just the money . It's really cheap in Cuba if you know where to go .

[lavidaloca]

Havana is a lot more expensive than Holguin. Yes, fine you can live on 2000 dollars a month. I know a guy who lives on 800 dollars a month albeit he has a house and transportation provided. I just wouldn't recommend it. In holguin every night the cover charge at Nocturno is 8 dollars for a Yuma (a foreigner) and 2 dollars for Cubans. If you go there that would be 1/6th your budget just in cover! The high end discos in Havana usually are 10 dollar cover. Albeit sometimes 5. But can be significantly more than that. The last time I was at La Cecilia the cover was 25 CUC. Thats nearly 30 dollars American. Look, you can go there on 2000 dollars. I'm sure you will get laid. But it will be with girls targetting tourists.

I agree that it probably isn't normal for a tourist to get into a fight ever there. Cuba is not a very dangerous place as a tourist that is very true. I jsut pointed those situations out for people to realize that still some caution needs to be used. A lot of the things I wrote about are not what I would consider common but they do occur. In holguin yes you can eat a bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce for 1 dollar in El rapido. But it sucks. The private restaurants where the money goes into the Cuban people's hands typically will cost 5 CUC. Yes there are neighborhood restaurants that have decent food for 1 dollar. But the typical poster is not going to be wandering around 20 blocks from the central area looking for food that is hidden away in a house that is not labelled and only Cubans living in the area know about. Just like the typical poster isn't going to be rolling around at Strata 2 Clubs in Medellin. They are going to be in the central spots. I'm just saying those girls have an angle and often are making money off you in ways you don't realize. Overcharging taxi's, casa's, drinks, food. Or in gifts, jeans, perfume etc. They may be cheap gifts but at the end of the day it is what it is. With that said, if you get into a normal scene with normal people. Not the people who hang out in the central parks, or in the discos. You can have a great and rewarding time. The majority of people are great in Cuba, it's just the majority of people befriending foreigners typically are criminal types.