[Ceasar]

Anyone in Havana now? I'll be heading there this week.

Has anyone solved the registration problem? Is the solution just to find an illegal casa particular to bring girls back to? How possible is it to bring girls back to an Airbnb en secreto?

[wellrockthecity]

(11-13-2018 02:32 PM)Ceasar Wrote:  

Anyone in Havana now? I'll be heading there this week.

Has anyone solved the registration problem? Is the solution just to find an illegal casa particular to bring girls back to? How possible is it to bring girls back to an Airbnb en secreto?

I was in a Airbnb in Vedado and did not have any issue bringing girls back home as there was no doorman or owner around.
Can pass you owner details if needed

[Ceasar]

So, I did Havana. It's a crazy place.

If you do Airbnb, most of them the owners will not be around. You want to go to one where they are renting a stand-alone apartment. If they own many apartments together, you probably will not be allowed to bring girls back.

Havana is an interesting place to check out, and I think it's well worth a visit. Stores there have almost nothing in them! Internet is slow and expensive. The cars are old. There isn't much traffic, as most people are too poor to own a car, or even a bicycle. There are lines for everything. There is one great nightlife bar/restaurant/club/art gallery called the Cuban Art Factory. Its absolutely perfect for pickup, and may be one of my favorite clubs worldwide when it's on. It's about 20% foreigners as well, seemingly most of them women. What always happened to me there given my bad spanish is that I would gravitate to hitting on tourists from all over. Trouble was pulling girls back when they are in a foreign country and for that reason perhaps risk averse. The beaches near Havana were better than expected, and also had great ratios. After I was there a few days, prostitutes would just come and hang out on my doorway, lol. Shame that isn't my thing. Some propositioned me for as low as $40, which means they probably would have done for less. Western restaurants aren't that cheap, but if you find nice restaurants aimed at locals (La Caridad is one, if memory serves), you can eat a big lunch for $1.50. My breakfast spot (which was for foreigners) cost $4/5 for a coffee, breakfast, and juice. One night I went to a Salsa club one night as the Cuban Art Factory was closed (i think it was monday), and it was not my scene. The foreign girls there got super excited about the prospect of dancing with big black dudes.

After I was there a few days, I had an issue come up where I needed to do work. It was tough with the super slow internet. After that, I couldn't get out of that country quickly enough, even though i did have my fun. Likely would have been advisable to do 2-3 days in Havana and then see other parts of the country. Will be more fun for dudes with better Spanish.

[timalemanha]

(02-13-2015 02:01 PM)azulsombra Wrote:  

Azul’s Cuba Datasheet

Cuba is a hard place to describe.




Many people that travel to Cuba make statements like “oh, it’s like traveling back to the 1950s!” I didn’t find this to be the case, with the exception of a few old cars I didn’t find much that gave off a 1950s feel at all. If forced to compare Cuba to any era I would say it’s much more like US circa 1998 or so. In late 90’s America cellphone users were still a minority, most homes didn’t have internet access and if they did it was snail speed. Littering was more common and smoking was still a God-given right that could not be infringed. Boxing was more popular than MMA. Most homes had answering machines and TV signals were broadcast in Standard Definition. GPS was limited to military applications. All of these observations are still accurate in 2015 Cuba.

The digital detox I experienced in this country was interesting and I found myself noticeably more relaxed and less anxious without access to a smartphone, GPS and other technology that has become quasi-mandatory in our daily lives.

Language
Caribbean Spanish like Caribbean English can be difficult to understand for the uninitiated. Cuban Spanish has a different rhythm and flavor then you would typically learn in a classroom. Many words get shortened and “S”s can disappear. If you are familiar with DR or PR Spanish you will be okay here.

Politics
For any American the elephant in the room is the US embargo policy against the nation of Cuba. The good news is the Cubans you will run into don’t show any hostility towards Americans. After recent announcements from President Obama about increased cooperation between the two governments the Cuban people are extremely optimistic and curious about American tourists. Many Cubans were predicting an onslaught of American tourists this summer or sooner. Personally I believe this optimism is premature and don’t believe direct flights from major cities to Havana for the average US citizen will happen for several years.

Talent
The looks of Cuban women is similar to other Hispanic Caribbean islands like Puerto Rico and DR. Still there is a certain look that a certain percentage of the population has that is distinctly Cuban. It’s a hard thing to describe but you know it when you see it. Compared to the aforementioned islands Cuban women are lighter on average, the majority of the females I saw were much lighter than I expected and many women could physically pass as Spaniards. Outside of Havana and the extreme eastern parts of the country like Santiago or Guantanamo you won’t see very many blacks.

The average Cuban woman surprisingly has small breasts, a C cup is a rarity there, women heavily pad their bras and no implant culture exists like in South America. Asses are better but forget about Colombia, Brazilian and Venezuelan type Bubble Bootys here with few exceptions.

I noticed some young women here have thin mustaches, something I’ve occasionally seen in other Latin countries. I wasn’t expecting to see as many obese or out of shape women as I encountered. While nowhere near Western levels, still a lot for an island with extremely limited access to cars, fast food and imported candies, sodas, etc. As you can probably tell overall I was not blown away by the women, I generally like the variety of flavors the women have, but it was rare to see a 7 or above. My expectations may have been too high due to having traveled so much of Latina America. If this is your first experience with Latinas you may be in heaven. I found the city of Santiago to be best for black girls, Holguin for white girls, Havana for a mix of both. The city of Santa Clara had the ugliest women I saw on the trip.



Race doesn’t seem to be an issue here when it comes to gaming girls. I saw many local brothas with some of the sexiest white Cuban chicks dressed to the nines. This is something I almost never saw in Latin countries like Brazil that are supposed ‘racial paradises’. Similarly I saw lots of white Cuban dudes with curvy dark chocolate sistas. Asian dudes get love here too. Basically, it’s wide-open.



Growing up I used to watch the movie Scarface and while I understand Tony Montana was a caricature, I still thought local dudes would have a similar swagger and killer instinct with women.





Overall I didn’t see many Cuban dudes running game which surprised me. There was much less of the piropos/cat-calling etc. that I was used to in other Latin countries. Surprisingly I observed almost non-existant levels of machismo among Cuban guys. Maybe this is a result of the socialist ideal where men and women are equals? I have no idea.

Che Guevara

This guy could be a whole article in itself. I knew cubans revered Che as a national hero but I had no idea to how great an extent until arriving in the country. The cult of Che is alive and well, every major city basically has a large shrine to honor the Argentinian doctor turned revolutionary. The Cuban government has elevated Che to the level of a christ-like figure. Expect to see Che's face several times a day, everyday during your stay, whether its in statue, money, poster, t-shirt, graffiti or hat form.

Pros of Cuba

-Most girls haven’t been sucked into the Facebook matrix yet. Most of their personalities are refreshingly laid-back.

-Lack of Smartphones and general lack of cellphones means when you daygame a female you will have her undivided attention (if she’s feeling you).

- Limited access to last minute texting or calling to cancel makes flaking less common. You are actually forced to be true to your word and follow up with your commitments. An ever fading concept in modern times.

-Universal healthcare and a high percentage of doctors lets you rest easy that should you become sick or injured you will be taken care of better than in most third-world countries.

-If you speak great Spanish, have a lot of patient, and carry moneda nacional some things can be extremely cheap.

-Overall friendliness and humbleness of people. Mixing of people of different colors in a way that seemed more genuine than most of the Americas.

-Many talented singers and dancers in this country, many performances are free or so cheap they might as well be free.

-Rum is cheap, smooth and ubiquitious. Gotta love Havana club mojitos.
-If you’re a cigar aficionado, well you’ve come to the right place. Just don’t get scammed.

-Trashy neck tats on women don’t exist here, even the whores are classier than that.

-Cuba is incredibly safe, you could walk around some of the poorest neighborhoods alone as an obvious tourist and not be bothered by any of the locals. I’m not exactly sure why this works. Is it fear of jail? Strong sense of community? I don’t know, but it’s a nice change of pace from countries like Brazil or Colombia where you can’t let your guard down for a second.


Cons

-Smoking is everywhere, even indoors at restaurants. Nothing can destroy a meal more than someone seating 3 feet away casually blowing smoke in your direction. Plus cigs are cheap so the couple at the next table will smoke half the pack by the time your dessert arrives.

-Despite the general cleanliness of most areas people don’t think twice about littering. I’ve seen people riding on the highway chucking beer cans and trash out the window without blinking.

-Dial-up-esque speed internet connection. Waiting, and waiting and waiting for pages to turn for something as basic as checking your email can be frustrating.

-When you make plans to meet a girl somewhere you have to communicate very clearly, specifically when and where. Otherwise you probably won’t see each other, it’s not easy to change plans on the fly, i.e. shoot a last minute text.

-Cuba is still a traditional culture in the sense that they expect the man to be the provider. Going even further, the vast majority of the girls a short time visitor will encounter will expect payment for services rendered after the act. They may give you a story about money for the baby or their sick mother but they still want you the comparatively rich foreigner to pay them.

-Most people are trying to rip you off, from taxi drivers to casa owners. Make sure you have your game face on and great Spanish if you don’t feel like being charged 2-10x the real amount for things.

-I saw many Cuban guys stuff their mouths full of food and chew with their mouths open without even taking the time to wipe their mouths. Completely disgusting.

-Dual-currency system. Cuban Convertible pesos for tourists and national money for locals. Although tourists can technically use national money most don’t. As a savvy traveler I carried both and it was inconvenient carrying around so much cash throughout the day, both use different coins as well as bills. Some places would accept one or the other and some would accept both currencies.

-I came to Cuba expecting terrible food due to what I had read from various sources. In my experience the food wasn’t bad just very hit or miss. There was no rhyme or reason as to what food would be great or what would be bad. You could have an inexpensive meal that was amazing and an expensive meal that was horrible and vice versa. Standouts for me were Lobster, Ropa Vieja, Chicken fricassee and the batido shakes. I was rarely disappointed when I ordered these.

-Food preparation standards vary widely.

-Shortages are a fact of life, I’ve gone to restaurants and found out up to 75% of the menu is unavailable at any given time. Not fancy stuff either, sometimes things as basic as eggs will be out of stock. These shortages go beyond restaurants, most kinds of electronics can be hard to find, bottled water, cards with codes to access the internet and other items may be almost impossible to find at times. Blackouts aren’t bad though, I only experienced 1 or 2 and it passed quickly.

-Nightlife sucks for the most part. Unless you are in Havana and know exactly what place to be at (there is no real central nightlife area) on that particular night don’t expect much. This goes for weekends too outside of Havana, even in Havana many venues will close surprisingly early like midnight or 130am. Compounding the issue of early closing times, many venues will not allow single women in without a male, apparently due to fears of prostitues. I shit you not, it’s an alternate reality where doormen turn away attractive single females. Not surprisingly this results in many clubs being turned into a sausage fest full of local guys. Many women won’t want to be seen walking the streets at night with an obvious foreigner due to the assumption she is a prostitute and can face possible harassment by the police until she can prove otherwise. Also, Sunday night seems to be the unofficial gay night in Havana as groups of flaming homosexuals and trannies hit the city streets en masse.

-Despite the official government censorship and limited internet access you still can’t completely cut out western culture. I remember sitting at a bus stop and cringing upon hearing a group of teenage girls enthusiastically belting out the lyrics to “All About That Bass” in a thick Cuban accent. Be afraid, be very afraid..



Who I recommend Cuba to:

I believe the kind of guy that will do best in Cuba will:

- speak excellent advanced level or native Spanish,
-have extensive Latin American experience,
-have 2 months or more in country
-have great local contacts
-have plenty of money to spend
-able to pass for Cuban when necessary (Not as difficult as it may sound, Cubans come in many shades)

For the other guys:

Don’t go for the girls.

Go because you are interested in the culture, want to ride in the old cars, hit the beach and smoke Havanas. All of this can be done over a long weekend, no need to stay longer than 4 days.
I’ve only got one restaurant recommendation, a place on Linea in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana called Decameron. Almost every taxi driver in Vedado will know the place, delicious food with hard to find meat dishes, great service and a cool ambience. Prices are reasonable too with most plates under $11.

Man you have nailed it. I can read in between the lines that you have been to Cuba many times as much as I have. It's still enjoyable, but you have to clearly know the level of game in Cuba is entirely different to other Latin American countries

[Elmore]

Bumping this, as heading out for 28 days as of next week.

Staying in Havana, found a basic but decent looking studio on ABNB for a reasonable fee (around 300 bucks). Plan is to chill, train some boxing and meet some locals. Slightly confused about the situation there with girls and the grey area around paying. From what i've read it's the done thing if you sleep with them to give them something the next day, even if you've effectively dated them, or met them at a bar or dance. Seems kinda weird that. The blurred line between normal sexual interractions and prostitution. Would seem a little awkward to me having had a nice evening, at the end the girl getting ready to go the next day, and saying 'hey heres x amount'. If this is the case i'd have no idea what to pay. It's not like you'd negotiate first (i'm assuming).

Are there a lot of other solo travellers there? Be cool to hook up with a few others. My plan is to do a few excursions that are available from Cubans there, history tours, visiting farms, tobacco plantations etc. Seems there's a lot of natural history and stuff to get into besides the bars and nightlife.

Be interested to hear any updated news or opinions.