Cuba, Havana 2019 data sheet
Duration of trip: 11 days solo (1 day Vinales).
Bangs: two bangs (my salsa coach and a French tourist)
It always helps to start of with some stats before doing a data sheet.
Build: 5ft 11, 165 lbs, muscular build, late 20s
Bankroll in Havana: 150 CUC a day and possibly more if I needed. This didn't include accommodation, it was purely spending money on day to day stuff. If you're travelling solo I would recommend at minimum 100 cuc per day. I know some will say you can do it on less however, you will be severely restricting yourself imo.
There's some things that reading a data sheet won't prepare you for however, i would still recommend Havana. Besides girls, there's a ton of stuff to do.
Context of trip: I literally had no Spanish langauge skills, no local contacts. I'm a fairly experienced traveller so I did a lot of preparation for this trip. I did a substantial amount of research with regards to the Cuban people, their culture, economic situation, women, transporation, currency etc. I read a lot about the P4P situation so I was trying to avoid those scenarios as much as possible.
As this is Cuba, being foreign is an exotic factor. Most Cubans are unable to travel so tourists are a way for them to see people from different parts of the world. There's hardly any brits as well haha. Of course being foreign doesn't mean pussy will be thrown at you... You still need some game and logistics. Girls dont approach you but I did find that once I spoke to women, they were very receptive and interested. I used some spanish openers and continued the rest in english and google translate which was quite difficult at times depending on the girl. I completely avoided most of the old Havana night life so I can't comment on that.
First impressions: super hot weather and humidity at high levels. As soon as I landed I noticed the female staff at the airport dressed to the nines with full stockings, heels, tight mini skirts with sexy bodies. One Canadian guy got told off by his wife for staring at one of the female agents LOL... I couldn't blame him, she was hot as fuck.
Girls - all variety of girls here as mentioned in previous data sheets. Blonde, light skin, mulatto and black girls you name it. Girls are pretty here and I regularly spotted 7s and above. I reckon if most girls had access to cosmetics, gym and good diet they would kill it due to their decent genetics. Lots of natural beauty for sure. I've not been to Colombia or other Latin countries yet so my view could be distorted but I was happy with the quality of girls I saw. Spanish would be a major advantage in gaming but no Spanish doesn't mean it's impossible...
My first bang was a French tourist (about a 7, mixed race moroccan). I met her and her friend in a cafe in Vedado. The convo started with her asking for a lighter which then resulted in her inviting me to Fabrica de art cafe later on that same night (trendy art gallery/nightclub/bar). Her friend was leaving the following day morning and she was due to stay for a further 4 days on her own so i decided not to escalate as her friend was flying out in 12 hours and try meet her another night on her own. I banged her on my second night. We went out to a bar in Vedado, danced a bit, chatted about our travels and a few drinks later we were kissing. Invited her back to the Casa and banged her twice. I was going to see her again but then I met a stunning cuban chick in the most unusual way (read on)
By day 3, I got a private salsa teacher and when I first saw her, I was fucking wowed...great ass, legs and face... I was thinking how the fuck am I gonna focus Lool. We really clicked during our session. This built up gradually and I don't want to give specifics here but I banged her on day 5 after inviting her out for dinner and I spent the rest of the trip with her, we travelled and did activities together. She never once hit me up for money or gave an excuse. I insisted on paying for lessons in between our relationship out of principle and the fact that I needed them anyway. I would rate her a solid 8... She was turning heads every time we went out... I was happy that I got a Cuban flag, a quality one at least. I also spent time at her Casa and her family cooked me authentic Cuban food and taught me some salsa haha.
Accommodation - DO NOT get a hotel... every data sheet mentions this. Get an airbnb apartment known as a Casa Particular. Ask the host if there is a doorman present. If they say yes, look for another. Don't mention anything about bringing girls back to the host because if there's no doorman, youre good to go. I would also recommend you stay in the Vedado area which is outside the tourist area and the casas here are much more discreet and in quiet residential areas. I had no problem walking in and out with my Cuban girl daily. We held hands and openly displayed signs of affection in public and there was no problems contrary to some of the previous stories I read. If youre in Vedado, The only downside is you'll need to take a taxi to main touristic parts of Havana at a cost of 5-8 CUC. I would still stay in Vedado again.
The accommodation I used was run by a team of Cubans intellectuals who all speak English very well so PM me if you want the specific hosts details so you can find them on airbnb. I paid 35 USD per night for a 2 bedroom. I'm sure there's cheaper casas but the size, location and discretion of the casa made it perfect. The host was a top guy and was always there to help me with anything I needed. I borrowed the sim card from him free of charge as well. He would do phone tops on demand promptly.
Internet
This is a BIG issue in cuba as mentioned in the previous data sheets. You'd be glad to know as of December 2018, Cuba released 3G mobile internet. The tariffs I remember were 2.5gb for 25 cuc and 600 mb for 10 cuc. Connectivity is pretty decent for Cuban standards as 3g was available throughout Havana and most parts of Vinales. Speeds are not fast... it took me 2 min 30 seconds to download 20 mb. I would personally recommend getting 3g especially if you're solo.
If you need to download anything large I recommend hotel nacional wifi which was pretty fast. Cost for Wi-Fi here is 4.50 cuc for an hour so it's not cost effective for regular browsing.
Money
Dual currency. CUC is the one you'll be using mostly. 1 dollar is 1 CUC. The CUP is mostly used by locals and 1 CUC is approximately 25 CUP. The notes look similar so be careful not to get scammed. CUC has buildings and monuments on the notes whereas the CUP displays important Cuban figures. CUC also clearly says Cuban convertible pesos.
Also make sure your notes are crisp as fuck. I had £60 worth of notes rejected due to pen marks and superficial cuts.
Food
Quality of food wasn't great to be honest. If you go to bigger cafes you'll find a decent selection of food. I mainly frequented a few cafes such as La Fortuna in Malecon, Loco De Cuba near Havana university. I also encountered so many instances of items being unavailable but I sort of expected this from my previous research. Some of food in smaller cafes was a bit dodgy and I ended up having some weird stomach upset (mild) half way through my trip so best to avoid them.
Cost of food varied between 3 CUC to 10 CUC per meal. Higher price didn't always mean better.
Maps
Download 'offline map for cuba' and maps.me from app store. They work wonders and you didn't need internet for it to work. GPS tracking is super accurate. The maps allow you to search for cafes, monuments, streets you name it. This is super important! You can't download apps once you're in cuba for some reason.
Stuff to do
Airbnb has some great experiences. I did salsa, bar crawl, photoshoots, horse riding to tobacco fields, scuba diving etc. Also you can Google local tour guides and call them directly. The prices were sometimes cheaper or more expensive than airbnb so I would recommend you do your research.
Rafael Trejo boxing gym (would recommend it if you like combat sports). Lessons are 15 cuc per hour and you get trained by some very experienced boxers (former Cuban nationals)
Vinales day trip - booked a private taxi (40 cuc one way for 2 people) for me and my Cuban girl. I paid for a horseback riding to the tobacco fields and caves for 25 USD (5 hours).
Scuba diving in Malecon for approx 50 CUC.
I could spend all day filling in this section however, I'll stop here. Rest assured, there's a ton of things to do. Most activities aren't cheap but Havana isn't a budget holiday.
Langauge
If you speak Spanish then great! If not, I recommend downloading Spanish offline on the translate app. I had virtually no Spanish so I had to have lessons in cuba every day for 2 hours from the woman I was banging lol... I learned a lot and was able to ask for directions, order food, negotiate with taxis completely in Spanish. I did struggle quite a few times haha when the conversation ventured outside of what I had learned.
Transportation
I like being independent and having a car but I decided against it due to the insane cost. Last time I checked the cost was 70 CUC/day for an old car of questionable quality.
One of my biggest pet peeves was taxis trying to rip me off but this decreased once I knew how to negotiate in Spanish. It helped that I also had the Cuban girl speaking to taxis to get better prices. With my appearance, I blended in as a Cuban so the taxis didn't quote stupid prices.
I used local buses when I wanted to travel from vedado to Havana vieja (main central tourist part). Cost was dirt cheap about 0.05 CUC per journey. I used Google maps to track how close I would be to my destination before hopping off the bus and walking. Unless you speak decent Spanish I wouldn't recommend the local buses as an exclusive way of travelling.
Also, the viazul bus station has moved...on the government website it still says the old dress next to the zoo which wasted an hour of my time as well as 5 CUC. The ticket office is now in the national bus centre. Cubans and tourists now have to buy tickets from the same building resulting in crowding. Booking tickets is frustrating and in the end I gave up and got a private taxi to Vinales.
Nightlife
I didn't explore much of the night life to be honest. I did do some airbnb bar crawls which I found useful as a solo traveller. The hosts also knew what clubs would be ideal. I noticed some pros and many couples so it was hard to find a normal girl. Mostly I was out in Vedado. I didn't really need the urge to go clubbing as I banged the Cuban chick by day 4 and chilled with her extensively.
Fabrica de arte cafe is probably the nicest art gallery/club I went to. Equal mix of tourists and Cubans so I would probably recommend for the best of both worlds. They are open several days during the week and id advise you to check out their website for timings.
Duration of trip: 11 days solo (1 day Vinales).
Bangs: two bangs (my salsa coach and a French tourist)
It always helps to start of with some stats before doing a data sheet.
Build: 5ft 11, 165 lbs, muscular build, late 20s
Bankroll in Havana: 150 CUC a day and possibly more if I needed. This didn't include accommodation, it was purely spending money on day to day stuff. If you're travelling solo I would recommend at minimum 100 cuc per day. I know some will say you can do it on less however, you will be severely restricting yourself imo.
There's some things that reading a data sheet won't prepare you for however, i would still recommend Havana. Besides girls, there's a ton of stuff to do.
Context of trip: I literally had no Spanish langauge skills, no local contacts. I'm a fairly experienced traveller so I did a lot of preparation for this trip. I did a substantial amount of research with regards to the Cuban people, their culture, economic situation, women, transporation, currency etc. I read a lot about the P4P situation so I was trying to avoid those scenarios as much as possible.
As this is Cuba, being foreign is an exotic factor. Most Cubans are unable to travel so tourists are a way for them to see people from different parts of the world. There's hardly any brits as well haha. Of course being foreign doesn't mean pussy will be thrown at you... You still need some game and logistics. Girls dont approach you but I did find that once I spoke to women, they were very receptive and interested. I used some spanish openers and continued the rest in english and google translate which was quite difficult at times depending on the girl. I completely avoided most of the old Havana night life so I can't comment on that.
First impressions: super hot weather and humidity at high levels. As soon as I landed I noticed the female staff at the airport dressed to the nines with full stockings, heels, tight mini skirts with sexy bodies. One Canadian guy got told off by his wife for staring at one of the female agents LOL... I couldn't blame him, she was hot as fuck.
Girls - all variety of girls here as mentioned in previous data sheets. Blonde, light skin, mulatto and black girls you name it. Girls are pretty here and I regularly spotted 7s and above. I reckon if most girls had access to cosmetics, gym and good diet they would kill it due to their decent genetics. Lots of natural beauty for sure. I've not been to Colombia or other Latin countries yet so my view could be distorted but I was happy with the quality of girls I saw. Spanish would be a major advantage in gaming but no Spanish doesn't mean it's impossible...
My first bang was a French tourist (about a 7, mixed race moroccan). I met her and her friend in a cafe in Vedado. The convo started with her asking for a lighter which then resulted in her inviting me to Fabrica de art cafe later on that same night (trendy art gallery/nightclub/bar). Her friend was leaving the following day morning and she was due to stay for a further 4 days on her own so i decided not to escalate as her friend was flying out in 12 hours and try meet her another night on her own. I banged her on my second night. We went out to a bar in Vedado, danced a bit, chatted about our travels and a few drinks later we were kissing. Invited her back to the Casa and banged her twice. I was going to see her again but then I met a stunning cuban chick in the most unusual way (read on)
By day 3, I got a private salsa teacher and when I first saw her, I was fucking wowed...great ass, legs and face... I was thinking how the fuck am I gonna focus Lool. We really clicked during our session. This built up gradually and I don't want to give specifics here but I banged her on day 5 after inviting her out for dinner and I spent the rest of the trip with her, we travelled and did activities together. She never once hit me up for money or gave an excuse. I insisted on paying for lessons in between our relationship out of principle and the fact that I needed them anyway. I would rate her a solid 8... She was turning heads every time we went out... I was happy that I got a Cuban flag, a quality one at least. I also spent time at her Casa and her family cooked me authentic Cuban food and taught me some salsa haha.
Accommodation - DO NOT get a hotel... every data sheet mentions this. Get an airbnb apartment known as a Casa Particular. Ask the host if there is a doorman present. If they say yes, look for another. Don't mention anything about bringing girls back to the host because if there's no doorman, youre good to go. I would also recommend you stay in the Vedado area which is outside the tourist area and the casas here are much more discreet and in quiet residential areas. I had no problem walking in and out with my Cuban girl daily. We held hands and openly displayed signs of affection in public and there was no problems contrary to some of the previous stories I read. If youre in Vedado, The only downside is you'll need to take a taxi to main touristic parts of Havana at a cost of 5-8 CUC. I would still stay in Vedado again.
The accommodation I used was run by a team of Cubans intellectuals who all speak English very well so PM me if you want the specific hosts details so you can find them on airbnb. I paid 35 USD per night for a 2 bedroom. I'm sure there's cheaper casas but the size, location and discretion of the casa made it perfect. The host was a top guy and was always there to help me with anything I needed. I borrowed the sim card from him free of charge as well. He would do phone tops on demand promptly.
Internet
This is a BIG issue in cuba as mentioned in the previous data sheets. You'd be glad to know as of December 2018, Cuba released 3G mobile internet. The tariffs I remember were 2.5gb for 25 cuc and 600 mb for 10 cuc. Connectivity is pretty decent for Cuban standards as 3g was available throughout Havana and most parts of Vinales. Speeds are not fast... it took me 2 min 30 seconds to download 20 mb. I would personally recommend getting 3g especially if you're solo.
If you need to download anything large I recommend hotel nacional wifi which was pretty fast. Cost for Wi-Fi here is 4.50 cuc for an hour so it's not cost effective for regular browsing.
Money
Dual currency. CUC is the one you'll be using mostly. 1 dollar is 1 CUC. The CUP is mostly used by locals and 1 CUC is approximately 25 CUP. The notes look similar so be careful not to get scammed. CUC has buildings and monuments on the notes whereas the CUP displays important Cuban figures. CUC also clearly says Cuban convertible pesos.
Also make sure your notes are crisp as fuck. I had £60 worth of notes rejected due to pen marks and superficial cuts.
Food
Quality of food wasn't great to be honest. If you go to bigger cafes you'll find a decent selection of food. I mainly frequented a few cafes such as La Fortuna in Malecon, Loco De Cuba near Havana university. I also encountered so many instances of items being unavailable but I sort of expected this from my previous research. Some of food in smaller cafes was a bit dodgy and I ended up having some weird stomach upset (mild) half way through my trip so best to avoid them.
Cost of food varied between 3 CUC to 10 CUC per meal. Higher price didn't always mean better.
Maps
Download 'offline map for cuba' and maps.me from app store. They work wonders and you didn't need internet for it to work. GPS tracking is super accurate. The maps allow you to search for cafes, monuments, streets you name it. This is super important! You can't download apps once you're in cuba for some reason.
Stuff to do
Airbnb has some great experiences. I did salsa, bar crawl, photoshoots, horse riding to tobacco fields, scuba diving etc. Also you can Google local tour guides and call them directly. The prices were sometimes cheaper or more expensive than airbnb so I would recommend you do your research.
Rafael Trejo boxing gym (would recommend it if you like combat sports). Lessons are 15 cuc per hour and you get trained by some very experienced boxers (former Cuban nationals)
Vinales day trip - booked a private taxi (40 cuc one way for 2 people) for me and my Cuban girl. I paid for a horseback riding to the tobacco fields and caves for 25 USD (5 hours).
Scuba diving in Malecon for approx 50 CUC.
I could spend all day filling in this section however, I'll stop here. Rest assured, there's a ton of things to do. Most activities aren't cheap but Havana isn't a budget holiday.
Langauge
If you speak Spanish then great! If not, I recommend downloading Spanish offline on the translate app. I had virtually no Spanish so I had to have lessons in cuba every day for 2 hours from the woman I was banging lol... I learned a lot and was able to ask for directions, order food, negotiate with taxis completely in Spanish. I did struggle quite a few times haha when the conversation ventured outside of what I had learned.
Transportation
I like being independent and having a car but I decided against it due to the insane cost. Last time I checked the cost was 70 CUC/day for an old car of questionable quality.
One of my biggest pet peeves was taxis trying to rip me off but this decreased once I knew how to negotiate in Spanish. It helped that I also had the Cuban girl speaking to taxis to get better prices. With my appearance, I blended in as a Cuban so the taxis didn't quote stupid prices.
I used local buses when I wanted to travel from vedado to Havana vieja (main central tourist part). Cost was dirt cheap about 0.05 CUC per journey. I used Google maps to track how close I would be to my destination before hopping off the bus and walking. Unless you speak decent Spanish I wouldn't recommend the local buses as an exclusive way of travelling.
Also, the viazul bus station has moved...on the government website it still says the old dress next to the zoo which wasted an hour of my time as well as 5 CUC. The ticket office is now in the national bus centre. Cubans and tourists now have to buy tickets from the same building resulting in crowding. Booking tickets is frustrating and in the end I gave up and got a private taxi to Vinales.
Nightlife
I didn't explore much of the night life to be honest. I did do some airbnb bar crawls which I found useful as a solo traveller. The hosts also knew what clubs would be ideal. I noticed some pros and many couples so it was hard to find a normal girl. Mostly I was out in Vedado. I didn't really need the urge to go clubbing as I banged the Cuban chick by day 4 and chilled with her extensively.
Fabrica de arte cafe is probably the nicest art gallery/club I went to. Equal mix of tourists and Cubans so I would probably recommend for the best of both worlds. They are open several days during the week and id advise you to check out their website for timings.
