So I was thinking of something useful to post around here are was surprised that there is no datasheet on this wonderland that is Cuba. Then again being that the forum is mostly comprised of American players, there might be a reason for it.
Nevertheless, I though I would make your day. I went to Cuba last year and was amazed by its potential and the good life that is there served to you on a platter for just a few pennies.
The underlying issue why not so many people are stocked about Cuba is because they buy those travel agency packages that let you spend 3 days in Havana followed by 5 days locked up in an all inclusive resort in Varadero. My friends, this is not the way to go.
The way to go is you book your first night in the hotel where Hemingway spent his days reflecting on the bitches that so heavily influenced his life and eventually may have made him shoot himself in the head. (I personally think he only shot himself in the head because he left this country.) Then you just take care of planning your trip as you go. I chose to spend some days in Havana and some days in Trinidad, a town some 300km away.
HAVANA
Havana is a hustler's city. You have to be smart and sharp. Keep your eyes open and your wallet in place. Havana is full of new friends to be met, but these friends always want something in return. It doesn't mean they mean you harm or meet you out of interest. They like to meet you, they will have fun with you, but they still expect something.
Havana is a town where you can party hard every night, wake up with the heat, pick up you backpack (which helps you carry your own bottle of 7 year old Havana Club which only cost you 7$, which you carry all day to keep your alcohol levels in place) and go to the Guanabo beach by taking the bus which costs $0.25. This beach does not have tourists, only cubanos and you can spend all afternoon in the water and even game some chicks. Maybe you could even invite the chick you met last night to join you. Regardless of chick or no chick you still get that pack of 20 cuban cigars (that you bought at the state shop for cubans that cost you $1/pack) out of your pack and smoke it under a cocunut tree with your rum bottle straight up. When the cigar finishes, you just go into the Caribbean sea with bottle in hand (like any other cuban) and float around taking a sip every once in a while and floating into paradise.
Then a bit after lunch Zeus has had enough of your contempt for walking in the gardens of Eden and sends down a hell of a storm to kick you out. You happily take another sip and get in the bus. You get back to the heart of La Habana Vieja (Old Town) and the streets are getting wet. So are you. So you decided to sit down at a random Bodega at have a mojito. The infusion calls for one more cigar. Meanwhile the owner of the place introduces himself and the band. The rain falls, the band starts playing and in Cuba you never close the door or the windows. Two bailarinas arrive. They just like to hang out and dance. You are on to maybe your fifth mojito now, you learn a couple of moves with the girls, clap to the songs and feel and learn the essence of the cuban 3/2 time signature salsa. You meet a local player, he can get you anything you need, maybe those Cohibas you dream about back home, or maybe some bailarinas. You'll take home two boxes worth $700 for $80, of cigars of course.
Now you know in the streets of Habana everything is for sale, or should I say everyone. Virtually, any girl you see on the streets can be yours for a fair, cheap price ($50). This is where game gets fuzzy. You can have any girl you want, yet you still get to game them. You can game them, they enjoy it, and you too. They become your friends, maybe more than friends, but in the end they still expect something from you.
A few days later you realize, they deserve it. As average you may think you are, your are rich. Another mojito for you, a months rent paid for them.
There's still place for real game, but it's a small place. Go to the higher end clubs at night, you'll find it. (Floridita, Casa de la Musica or the Cabarets)
Food can be rather cheap or expensive and sometimes it has nothing to do with the quality of it or the venue. Havana is a weird place. One of the best places I went to for dinner was one of the cheapest. (Los Nardos)
Accommodation is tricky, you have nice hotels but usually the price will be a bit heavy for what you get from them. I can recommend the Hotel Ambos Mundos. The Hemingway place, stylish, well located and fun.
Another option is getting a room in peoples homes. In Cuba citizens are allowed to rent rooms to tourists if they have a permit. These houses are tagged by a blue sign at the door with an anchor. This is a great option, you get to know some locals for free, it's cheap and they cook you some nice food. Downside is to get the chicks in you usually have to pay or negotiate and some may not even allow the concept. My advice: try it and then decide.
Las Habanas
The Havanese chick is slick, these are street girls and beware they know every trick in the book (on their book). They can tease you, they'll flirt with you. You have to be a guy with posture, act with ease, you are a macho, you don't laugh to hard or pretend to be a beta just to please. You don't know how to dance salsa? Okey, you will offer her the chance to teach you, you honor her with that.
In Cuba sexual tension is everywhere, they start out young and never stop. Sex is part of everyday life so don't much importance to it. It will happen as it is something everyone enjoys and where everyone wins.
Day game is stronger here I guess, but every Cubano is a pimp and will try to sell you their sister, cousin, mother and aunt if the grandmother is already dead. Sometimes they even try to sell you a girl they don't even know. It does not matter.
Trinidad
When you are fed up with the Havana hassle, run away to the poor's paradise. Havana prices/problems/polution/trouble divided by 3.
You get there and you let all the other tourists be picked up from the bus by the locals looking to put them in their homes and feed them beans to death.
Then when the coast is clear you stroll on mid day heat into a nice restaurant and eat something light, drink something heavier.
After that you wonder around UNESCO's heritage and eventually spot a two storey house with a balcony on top overlooking the sea. The cubano comes into to scene and tells you its taken but he knows of somewhere else. Good, he takes you to an old couple's house where you will spend a few days. José is a retired cook so he will gladly cook you a full lobster for $8 including mojitos of course. This lobster comes to the balcony every night, where you can smoke a cigar, have a chat with José and share the neighbours' random parties every night.
Trinidad has no cars, at least in the center. Of course for you José will get his friend, a doctor with a shitty taxi part time job to take you anywhere you want to go: The beach. Kilometers of deserted beach, like the one in Varadero only without the ones that got the tour: everybody.
Between the lobster and the beach you keep your Havana Club bottle close at all times, you visit the waterfalls close by. You go to the local market and you attend some salsa lessons. These salsa lessons will help you out at night. When the center plaza becomes filled by the sounds and the tourists glaze with envy at the latino dancers. So you drink, meet some local kids and escape into the local club. A club in a cave. Not much going on but the place is out of this world - all worth the $2 you paid to get in. You leave and the bottle is getting empty. You find yourself in a local bar/club. Open air. Locals. You grab a latin ass and start to spin. You can dance decently, decently enough. She asks for drinks "its only $3 for you", I respond good idea:
-Barman give me a rum and coke.
-$3 please.
-Sure here you go.
A bottle of 75cl of rum and a 33cl of coke gets dropped off on the counter.
-Oh they even know my portion ratio here! - Bliss
The end, she wants to come with. Logistics trouble, cant take a round ass latina home to my new lobster cooking grandparents' home. She lives far and has guests. Oh well maybe next time....
There will be one.
Nevertheless, I though I would make your day. I went to Cuba last year and was amazed by its potential and the good life that is there served to you on a platter for just a few pennies.
The underlying issue why not so many people are stocked about Cuba is because they buy those travel agency packages that let you spend 3 days in Havana followed by 5 days locked up in an all inclusive resort in Varadero. My friends, this is not the way to go.
The way to go is you book your first night in the hotel where Hemingway spent his days reflecting on the bitches that so heavily influenced his life and eventually may have made him shoot himself in the head. (I personally think he only shot himself in the head because he left this country.) Then you just take care of planning your trip as you go. I chose to spend some days in Havana and some days in Trinidad, a town some 300km away.
HAVANA
Havana is a hustler's city. You have to be smart and sharp. Keep your eyes open and your wallet in place. Havana is full of new friends to be met, but these friends always want something in return. It doesn't mean they mean you harm or meet you out of interest. They like to meet you, they will have fun with you, but they still expect something.
Havana is a town where you can party hard every night, wake up with the heat, pick up you backpack (which helps you carry your own bottle of 7 year old Havana Club which only cost you 7$, which you carry all day to keep your alcohol levels in place) and go to the Guanabo beach by taking the bus which costs $0.25. This beach does not have tourists, only cubanos and you can spend all afternoon in the water and even game some chicks. Maybe you could even invite the chick you met last night to join you. Regardless of chick or no chick you still get that pack of 20 cuban cigars (that you bought at the state shop for cubans that cost you $1/pack) out of your pack and smoke it under a cocunut tree with your rum bottle straight up. When the cigar finishes, you just go into the Caribbean sea with bottle in hand (like any other cuban) and float around taking a sip every once in a while and floating into paradise.
Then a bit after lunch Zeus has had enough of your contempt for walking in the gardens of Eden and sends down a hell of a storm to kick you out. You happily take another sip and get in the bus. You get back to the heart of La Habana Vieja (Old Town) and the streets are getting wet. So are you. So you decided to sit down at a random Bodega at have a mojito. The infusion calls for one more cigar. Meanwhile the owner of the place introduces himself and the band. The rain falls, the band starts playing and in Cuba you never close the door or the windows. Two bailarinas arrive. They just like to hang out and dance. You are on to maybe your fifth mojito now, you learn a couple of moves with the girls, clap to the songs and feel and learn the essence of the cuban 3/2 time signature salsa. You meet a local player, he can get you anything you need, maybe those Cohibas you dream about back home, or maybe some bailarinas. You'll take home two boxes worth $700 for $80, of cigars of course.
Now you know in the streets of Habana everything is for sale, or should I say everyone. Virtually, any girl you see on the streets can be yours for a fair, cheap price ($50). This is where game gets fuzzy. You can have any girl you want, yet you still get to game them. You can game them, they enjoy it, and you too. They become your friends, maybe more than friends, but in the end they still expect something from you.
A few days later you realize, they deserve it. As average you may think you are, your are rich. Another mojito for you, a months rent paid for them.
There's still place for real game, but it's a small place. Go to the higher end clubs at night, you'll find it. (Floridita, Casa de la Musica or the Cabarets)
Food can be rather cheap or expensive and sometimes it has nothing to do with the quality of it or the venue. Havana is a weird place. One of the best places I went to for dinner was one of the cheapest. (Los Nardos)
Accommodation is tricky, you have nice hotels but usually the price will be a bit heavy for what you get from them. I can recommend the Hotel Ambos Mundos. The Hemingway place, stylish, well located and fun.
Another option is getting a room in peoples homes. In Cuba citizens are allowed to rent rooms to tourists if they have a permit. These houses are tagged by a blue sign at the door with an anchor. This is a great option, you get to know some locals for free, it's cheap and they cook you some nice food. Downside is to get the chicks in you usually have to pay or negotiate and some may not even allow the concept. My advice: try it and then decide.
Las Habanas
The Havanese chick is slick, these are street girls and beware they know every trick in the book (on their book). They can tease you, they'll flirt with you. You have to be a guy with posture, act with ease, you are a macho, you don't laugh to hard or pretend to be a beta just to please. You don't know how to dance salsa? Okey, you will offer her the chance to teach you, you honor her with that.
In Cuba sexual tension is everywhere, they start out young and never stop. Sex is part of everyday life so don't much importance to it. It will happen as it is something everyone enjoys and where everyone wins.
Day game is stronger here I guess, but every Cubano is a pimp and will try to sell you their sister, cousin, mother and aunt if the grandmother is already dead. Sometimes they even try to sell you a girl they don't even know. It does not matter.
Trinidad
When you are fed up with the Havana hassle, run away to the poor's paradise. Havana prices/problems/polution/trouble divided by 3.
You get there and you let all the other tourists be picked up from the bus by the locals looking to put them in their homes and feed them beans to death.
Then when the coast is clear you stroll on mid day heat into a nice restaurant and eat something light, drink something heavier.
After that you wonder around UNESCO's heritage and eventually spot a two storey house with a balcony on top overlooking the sea. The cubano comes into to scene and tells you its taken but he knows of somewhere else. Good, he takes you to an old couple's house where you will spend a few days. José is a retired cook so he will gladly cook you a full lobster for $8 including mojitos of course. This lobster comes to the balcony every night, where you can smoke a cigar, have a chat with José and share the neighbours' random parties every night.
Trinidad has no cars, at least in the center. Of course for you José will get his friend, a doctor with a shitty taxi part time job to take you anywhere you want to go: The beach. Kilometers of deserted beach, like the one in Varadero only without the ones that got the tour: everybody.
Between the lobster and the beach you keep your Havana Club bottle close at all times, you visit the waterfalls close by. You go to the local market and you attend some salsa lessons. These salsa lessons will help you out at night. When the center plaza becomes filled by the sounds and the tourists glaze with envy at the latino dancers. So you drink, meet some local kids and escape into the local club. A club in a cave. Not much going on but the place is out of this world - all worth the $2 you paid to get in. You leave and the bottle is getting empty. You find yourself in a local bar/club. Open air. Locals. You grab a latin ass and start to spin. You can dance decently, decently enough. She asks for drinks "its only $3 for you", I respond good idea:
-Barman give me a rum and coke.
-$3 please.
-Sure here you go.
A bottle of 75cl of rum and a 33cl of coke gets dropped off on the counter.
-Oh they even know my portion ratio here! - Bliss
The end, she wants to come with. Logistics trouble, cant take a round ass latina home to my new lobster cooking grandparents' home. She lives far and has guests. Oh well maybe next time....
There will be one.
