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 Wi-Fi. The manual.
Last update 01/20 How to use Wi-Fi in Cuba In 2015 Cuba started rolling out Wi-Fi zones. They are still at it, and every city has at least one. Simple Wi-Fi access The principle is simple. You find yourself a Wi-Fi zone by looking at the people. If they are browsing or talking with their […]
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 […]
Time in Cuba
What time is it in Cuba? Officially the time in Cuba is GMT – 5. But since Cuba also applies daylight saving and is not very good in synchronizing its systems nor at communicating, in March and November time is an, even more, fluid concept than normal. Automatic time setting in Cuba: I’m the proud […]
Cuba Peso
Two Peso in Cuba The currency in Cuba is called Peso. Both of them are called Peso. So if people say Peso, then they are talking about CUC or Moneda Nacional (MN). Up to you to figure it out. CUC Peso The CUC is the Cuban ‘hard currency’, pegged roughly 1-1, to the US dollar. […]
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, […]
Free Wifi in Havana
Yes, read that again: Free WiFi in Havana! The internet in Cuba Cuba has slowly opened up the Internet. First, there was the problem that all Internet communication should go via satellite and that made it slow and costly. Consequently, Internet access was slow and expensive. Fiber optics Then, in 2011 the optic fibre cable […]
How to book a Casa Particular in Cuba
Last update 02/2020 Do Book a Casa Particular! The best way to discover Cuba is book a Casa Particular. Sometimes this is confused with ‘staying at the home of real Cubans’ but you have to realize that most Casa owners are the elite Cubans because they have access to hard currency. The ‘real’ Cubans would […]
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 […]