Hobby in Havana: Thoughts anyone?

[johnclark]

I plan on booking a trip to Cuba(instead of Cancun) as soon as I can string together a flight and accommodations. I've enjoyed my stays at other Caribbean vacation spots and thought this might be a historically cool place to relax and sight-see for a few days. While I'd be a little afraid of hobbying there at this time, I have to admit it sounds interesting. I'm sure there's an industry there already, similar to Cancun, but the 50 years of tension between the countries and the communist government there make me think it's a bad idea. Your thoughts?

Maybe Bella would like to go as my translator....

[tikz]

if you make it back in one piece ill take a few cubans...

godspeed

[Louc4]

Originally Posted by johnclark

I plan on booking a trip to Cuba(instead of Cancun) as soon as I can string together a flight and accommodations. I've enjoyed my stays at other Caribbean vacation spots and thought this might be a historically cool place to relax and sight-see for a few days. While I'd be a little afraid of hobbying there at this time, I have to admit it sounds interesting. I'm sure there's an industry there already, similar to Cancun, but the 50 years of tension between the countries and the communist government there make me think it's a bad idea. Your thoughts?

Maybe Bella would like to go as my translator....

Every woman is for sale in Cuba. $20.00 US a pop.
Happy Mongering

[pyramider]

Prices will go up once the airlines start having flights on a regular basis.

[omakase]

Been there. Done that.

Bring a lot of cash. Because your American credit cards and debit cards won't work. Best if you have a foreign bank.

Don't bring US dollars. There's extra tax for currency exchange. Better to bring the Canadian dollar or better yet the Euro.

Can't bring the girls back to your hotel. They usually borrow a room in somebody else's house so be prepared for extra "tip" to go to the house, the taxi, and then her taxi back home, and then your taxi back to your hotel.

Finding a girl isn't a problem. Finding somewhere to go will be a bigger issue. Be fluent in Spanish because you'll need it to navigate everything else.

[melannie_star]

Originally Posted by johnclark

I plan on booking a trip to Cuba(instead of Cancun) as soon as I can string together a flight and accommodations. I've enjoyed my stays at other Caribbean vacation spots and thought this might be a historically cool place to relax and sight-see for a few days. While I'd be a little afraid of hobbying there at this time, I have to admit it sounds interesting. I'm sure there's an industry there already, similar to Cancun, but the 50 years of tension between the countries and the communist government there make me think it's a bad idea. Your thoughts?

Maybe Bella would like to go as my translator....

You still have my most favorite avatar John Clark!
If Bella is out.. I will pick up my Rosetta Stone on the way..LOL

Congrats on your upcoming trip!!

[MartinX]

I have been to Cuba on official business and would never consider a visit on my own with the current regime. It's a simple matter of principal when there are so many other similar venues.

[threepeckeredbillygoat]

Maybe after I fuck all the women in America... nah, nevermind. I'm going to start on Canadian women if I've done all the American women.

[johnclark]

Melanie, maybe you and I should just go hang at the pool, smoke cigars and pretend we're in Cuba.

[oldbutstillgoing]

This sounds like a very bad idea. If anything at all goes wrong you will be in a very bad jail and no one will be able to help you. Is prostitution legal there? What other laws might you break?

Its dangerous enough to go to Mexico. You want to go to Cuba where the government hates us and has no problem doing anything it wants? Cuba is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its ruled by an oppressive dictatorship that has no problem violating basic human rights whenever it chooses.

Sounds like a great place to go break some laws to me. Not!

[pmdelites]

Originally Posted by omakase

...
Bring a lot of cash. Because your American credit cards and debit cards won't work. Best if you have a foreign bank.

Don't bring US dollars. There's extra tax for currency exchange. Better to bring the Canadian dollar or better yet the Euro.
...

it's been a while since i went to havana on a service trip [no, not that kind of service...]

but, i read the other day that the US Treasury will be issuing new regulations that will allow use of USA-based bank credit cards.

the deal on the exchange rate was - regardless of what currency you use, cuba takes a 10% exchange fee off the top. for US$, they took another 10%. [cos it was more difficult for them to exchange dollars on the intl currency market, or some such reason].
i looked into getting canadian dollars to avoid that. on 300$, i would have saved maybe 10-15$ total after US$ to CDN$ exchange.
bottom line for me, it wasnt worth it to do the CDN$ exchange before hand, so just paid the fees.

also know that there are two currencies in cuba - national money [Cuban pesos] and tourist money [CCD or "cukes"]. most tourist hotels and restaurants only take cukes, not pesos. and if they did, the exchange rate was 25 pesos per cuke, putting tourist locations out of range of most cubans' income. plus, cuban nationals werent allowed to stay or eat in tourist locations. my take was that the cuban govt wanted foreign currency. talk about economic apartheid.

[oldbutstillgoing]

The Cuban government does not want nationals talking or interacting with foreigners unsupervised. Thats the way dictators are.

[pmdelites]

Originally Posted by OldButStillGoing

The Cuban government does not want nationals talking or interacting with foreigners unsupervised. Thats the way dictators are.

i get where you're coming from obsg, but...

i cannot guarantee that the group i was with was NOT being watched/monitored, but we interacted w/ about 10-15 people in havana, walked unfettered in viejo habana [old town], and about 10 diff families in Santa Clara w/out any supervision best i could tell.

in the privacy of their homes [again cant say we werent bugged], we talked about all kinds of stuff, including politics w/ those who were open to it. one person told us "this government does not represent me!" to which several of us replied "same in the USA" [when g w bush was president].

[Angel Ryder]

Please bring me back a cuban cigar or 2

[Trill Jackson]

Originally Posted by OldButStillGoing

The Cuban government does not want nationals talking or interacting with foreigners unsupervised. Thats the way dictators are.

Last year 98,000 Americans traveled to Cuba.

It's way less dangerous than Mexico or many other South American countries.