The current situation in Cuba April 2024
Alert! There’s a new trick to separate you from your money. The airport taxis sometimes have a kid hidden in the trunk. If you put your backpack with your money in, the kid has half an hour to find your money and take half… This pitfall isn’t in the book yet so we will put […]
Cuba Cheap
How to make Cuba Cheap Here are a few tricks to make Cuba cheap, although it will never become as cheap as Asia. Buy food at the market and preparing your meals will bring down prices of feeding yourself by 80%. Eat in MN restaurants and cafeterias. A meal for 1.50! Buy big 5 litre […]
Finding a fixer in Cuba
Everybody is a fixer in Cuba This blog is about finding a fixer in Cuba. Sometimes a fixer is worth his weight in gold; others just cost their weight in gold. You have to make the difference. Offers of fixers: Cuban streets are full of people more than willing to help you out. In the […]
Jineteros and Jineteras
How to handle Jineteros and Jineteras (street hustlers) Don’t avoid the Jineteros and Jineteras: they are fun, and you can’t avoid them anyway. Bad advice The whole Internet and all travel guides are full of warnings: Avoid the Jineteros and Jineteras because they are trouble! Beware! Warning! Run away! As you might have noticed, my […]
Local Havana Hero
Finally, I did it! I’m a HERO A local one, that’s true, but I am a Hero 🙂 (just a local one). What happened? TripUniq a website that specialises in unique trips (the name gives it away) is expanding to Havana, and they asked me to be one of their Local Heros… Their website is […]
Cuba safety and dangers
Cuba is known for her safety and lack of dangers Cuba is very, very safe. Incredible safety! We can be very short about that. If you don’t do idiotic things, you will be safe. In Cuba, the police are very respected and not always visible (a lot of undercover agents keeping you safe.) Nobody will […]
Missing in Cuba
Things you don’t see in Cuba Of the things you don’t see, half might be there but out of sight. A friend of mine told me that you should never believe what you hear in Cuba and only believe half of what you see. Whining kids Walking through town, you will see a lot of […]
Cuban Cigars
How to buy Cuban Cigars? Lots of people return from Cuba with one or a few boxes of Cuban Cigars and want to sell them for a profit because they bought great cigars at a very low price. Let me pop that dream for you: If you know nothing about cigars and don’t understand Cuba, […]
10 do’s and don’ts for Americans in Cuba
Americans in Cuba Yes… I know this page is full of prejudice :-)… It’s fun to write with a bias for a change! Until 3 or 4 years ago I was very impressed with the Americans I met in Cuba. They were civilized, spoke some Spanish (or even very good), adapted to local culture and […]
Cuban absurdities
Just a few short stories to show that Cuba does not fit our reference frame: Rum on an AA terrace. Driving around with a friend we spot a beautiful terrace and decide we want to have a rum there. That’s just something we do. We stop and sit down. 4 waitresses are chatting with two […]