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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Havahopeful
[i]Supposedly about 2 months after they returned his whole group got letters from the treasury department fining them for spending money in Cuba.
Has anyone else heard of anything like this happening?
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Supposively over 60,000 Americans go to Cuba each year without permission and return without any problems.
There have been a few cases where fines were issued but very very few. There is a risk and you never know if the government will pick you to set an example. You can read about the few instances when fines were issued in the Lonely Planets Guide to Cuba. Most of those cases involved illegal tour operators to Cuba.
Of course the Bush Administration is particularly interested in the travel restrictions to Cuba, so there could be more examples now then before. I think if you were to be fined you would have known about it at US Immigration or customs when you re-enter the States.
One thing that is VERY important. When you arrive in Cuba ask as firmly but poliltely as possible that your US passport not be stamped. They stamped mine but thankfully I had no problem returning.
Good luck
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My passport has never been stamped. I never buy anything with the big "Cuba", or "Habana" logo on it, in case customs looks at my stuff. I don't fly back to U.S. in a T-shirt with a big "CHE" picture on it....lol....I get to Cuba and back from Mexico. I pay everything in cash. They don't accept U.S. credit cards anyways. So personally, I have never had any problems whatsoever. Having said that, now I guess I jinxed myself and will have a couple of treasury agents outside my door tomorrow morning! J.G.
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Havahopeful,
Look on page 16, 17 or 18 of your passport. Look for a small aprox. 3/4 inch square stamp that says BANK with maybe a building in the center of the stamp. If not, you are home free. Also, if there is no stamp there is no way to prove you were there unless you tell them.
My $.02.
Peterman
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Peterman, Havahopeful, Gentlemen,
I do not have these same passport stamp fiascos to contend with travelling from Europe, but due to the fact that I visit the USA regularly, I'm careful about what goes in my passport. From my experience I must agree with jamesbond69's last paragraph, where he discusses about asking the immigration officer politely not to stamp the passport.
This has always worked for me, especially when combined with actually talking to the officer, in a joking manner, about how the USA government does not understand…. People should be allowed to go wherever they like…. My being here is good for the economy…. Wouldn't you agree…..
After all these poorly paid officers are just like you and I, having their own opinions. They are undoubtedly bored out of their minds the whole day, stamping passports. The immigration officer ends up happy at having "won" a minor victory and just stamps my tourist card. Win ~ win.
The idea is not to illicit a political debate, its simply to bring out the human side. It does seem to work.
I do recall an earlier report (I forget the author) that discussed multiple passports and the like. I would recommend caution with this really illegal (in any country) practice.
Regards, Havanaman
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Fatboy,
on what dates are you travelling to Cuba?....I´ll be going there on Thanksgiving week, it would be nice for two Havana newbies to hook up.
Your moniker is very similar to one of the stalwarts of the CH board, are you the same person?
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I'll be heading to Havana in a few weeks... except my wife will be travelling me as well (well, nothing's perfect). Can someone suggest some day time places that I could try my luck at? Or know someone that can hook me up with someone during the day?
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AlLostInSpace13,
From all the previous posts you will have gathered that Havana is one of most easiest places (on the planet) to find a chica.
At any time of the day, if you sit in the Parque central (opposite the hotel Inglaterra) and act like a tourist, you will be approached within a few minutes. Guaranteed. Then its up to you, either have a casa ready, or better still for a single shot, get the chica to sort out a short stay casa ($15 - 20).
Other places include the Malecon (walled beach front), just take a stroll… however of late this has become a difficult pick-up area. Best of all, I have found great success with "regular" non-pro's by simply chatting to women in shops, on the street etc. in fact anywhere and with chicas I like and then arranging a meeting with them on another data / time. Trust me it is very easy. Good Spanish will help you.
All the best.
Regards, Havanaman
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I read today that Castro has imposed a max 20kg (44lb) limit on anyone entering the country. A tax of $25 per kilo over, and a maximum 10kg over per year also applies.
Sounds like Castro is trying to make his people poorer (by taxing friends, relatives and the generous) in the hopes that an outcry will bring an end to parts of the embargo.
Anyone know if it's true?
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i have been reading a lot about cuba on the wsg-forum and similar german websites, so i decided to go see it. immigration at jose marti airport only took me about 10 minutes, they didn't even stamp my passport probably because it has many old us-immigration stamps (i am european by the way, so why bother...).
after getting my luggage over an hour later, i passed customs without problems.
my casa was located in calle l halfway between "habana libre" and "colina hotel", i had an appartment on the 3rd floor with one bedroom (airco), a small kitchen with gas furnace and a large refrigerator, living room, tv (two channels) and balcony with view to the east. and of course private entrance. (there are more casas located in that area.)
reservation was made through marilin diaz ([url]www.cubabudgettravel.com[/url]).
during my first day i checked out the area to get streetwise. saw the police check ids of girls and young cuban men but sometimes they seemed to close an eye or even both regarding street action. whenever i walked with a girl after dark (but then always hand in hand !) up "la rampa" to my casa the police never interfered. i only picked up bright-skinned girls (chicas blancas) because i'm not into dark coloured or black girls .
"la rampa" (section of calle 23 between calle l and the malecon)
when walking la rampa later in the evening you will hear the usual "ksss, ksss"-noise behind you. but in the dark it is sometimes difficult to check the "quality of the offered merchandise". be aware of the transformed ones.
cafe sofia: (corner of calle 23 and calle o)
some chicas (pros) are sometimes already there during the afternoon. make eye contact, start talking and here we go. price around 50$ for all night (always to be negociated). met lili from cienfuegos (on two occasions), and yamelie from santa clara.
emperador: (corner of calle m and 17). this bar has no entrance fee and you will be approached by the girls (hard pros). in this bar all the negociating action with the chicks is not really hidden and everybody knows what's going on there. i went there with one of the locals, we had some mojitos and he explained me the important details there. don't start offering more than 35$ for a whole night because there will be enough other girls approaching you. and from a starting point of 35$ you may still go up a bit if you think the girl is worth the money. (i.e. never start negociating at a too high price level) do not go before 11:00 pm.
i went there 3 times but never found something to my taste. too many black girls and very pushy. some white chicas even dared to ask 50$ for just 2 hours what i always declined. but, surprise, when the brighter lights were turned on in the bar around 1 am, the asking price suddenly seemed to drop...
el conejito: (other corner of calle m and 17)
similar procedure as for emperador.
malecon: (section between calle 23 and paseo marti, i.e. between "la rampa" and "la punta")
i walked there at 10:00pm with my local guide all the way up from calle 23 to paseo marti. there are available chicks as well, and regardless of the police presence.
in the early evening (sunset) of october 10th (independence holiday in cuba) i picked up yuslay, a student girl (4th year at university), we talked a lot, had dinner and then back to my casa for 30$. some days later i saw her again.
(beware of the big hole in the malecon pedestrian walkway at the non-lit area, it is deep !)
paseo marti:
after doing a nightly malecon walk i went into paseo marti and saw an open houseentrance with an old women and two girls.
my guide just made a "ksss, ksss"-noise and the prettier girl of the two (a real cutie) came to us.
she (non-pro) agreed to stay all night with me for 40$. we secretly fetched a taxi and drove to my casa. these 40$ were very well spend. i picked her up at her home a couple more times and also met her family (nice people).
i was also approached at paseo marti during the afternoon while sitting there and drinking refresco.
amanecer: went there during the week, didn't like it (no chicas blancas available).
sherazade: a bit better than amanecer, but i stayed solo that night.
i didn't get bored in la habana, did some museums and other cultural stuff (yes) as well, walked a lot. didn't check out the discos, because i rather prefer hunting off the beaten track.
i am already planning a next (second) trip at the end of the year, to one of the smaller cities (maybe cienfuegos)
internet: i checked my emails at the capitolio's cybercafe.
they charge 3$ for 30 minutes (5$ per hour), and their computers are very slow which is not a surprise considering all the crap-utilities running in the background with active desktop and all window animations enabled... maybe they do it on purpose (to get more $$$)
did some tweaking to speed things up at least a little bit.
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Hello Scorpio,
Good to see your excellent trip report! You provided lots of useful info. This is the kind of info we all need. It would be great if some of others would give something back. I know thousands of hobbyist are getting info here and then never giving anything back. I'll get down off my soap box now.
Some comments. The reason that it took so long to get your bag is because they go through x-ray on the way in and on the way out. On the way in they are looking for "gifts" with power cords (ie TV, VCR, DVD player, iron, ect.) so they can charge you duty. On the way out they are looking for more than 2 boxes of cigars in your bag.
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Something I have found with the police-they will usually not bother the tourist. They know how they are being fed. The police will usually not bother a fair skinned chica that is seen with a tourist. I think this is because they may believe the chica could possibly be a european tourist. And again they would not want to screw with them. Something that happened to me a few years back-one afternoon I spent a couple of hours at the open air cafe across from the Melia Cohiba with a mulata chica I know. I left before her. Apparently there was too much "touchy-feely" because when she left she was picked up by the police. It is a good thing that her uncle knew one of the higher-ups at the police station-she was later released.
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I do think you are missing the "full-flavor" of Cuba by sticking with just "chica blanca's". Some of the black and mulata chicas can be so damn hot! As Dirty Harry says,"you owe it to yourself to live alittle bit". I guess that will just leave more for the rest of us mongers!
Care to share any contact #s? Also, did your casa P have a private entry, chica friendly, how much $, was clean and did the owner speak english? If so, I would interested in the #. Thanks.
Regards,
Peterman
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Let's set the expectations of Cuba strraight right now on this board. CUBA is unique.
Unlike every other country in Latin America the Cuban government does not actively promote sexual tourism, either directly like Costa Rica or indirectly like all the rest.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the country was in despair. The only way to survive for most cubans was through prostitution and they were everywhere and the government couldn't control the situation. There were flights directly from Rome to Havana, full of horny Italian running rampant then and it was well worth the trip.
The tourism industry has matured since then, with European chain hotels catering to famliy tourism (far more lucrative than sex tourism). The government no longer needs sexual tourisms and it's not tolerated, like ZERO tolerance, far more than in the USA.
Of course there is still prostitution (it exists everywhere on earth, even in the USA), as the economy is terrible: if a woman can make $50 a day when the monthly income is $10 a month she's going to go for it to feed her family but Cuba is a total police state, with far less corruption than in most countries, certainly most Latin American countries, which isn't saying much.
Therefore, there are no brothels (at least I don't know of any), SW but always with pimps and under the eye of the police, and no way to enter hotels with a chica unless you want to pay a steep bribe, which even then may not work. There are certain clubs you can go to where women will sell themselves but where do you take them? Casa particular? Difficult. Private Apartment. yes if you can find them and there is a cost. It's cat and mouse game. I had sex in Cuba but it wasn't easy to find a place to have it.
It's just not hobby friendly, right now, so why go there for that when there everywhere else in latin america is EXTREMELY hobby friendly?
If you want to go to Cuba for other reasons - a country that is different from any other on the planet, totally safe (zero street crime) and free of American commercial interests/propaganda - no Starbucks, no McDonalds, etc, than go now because it won't be like that forever and NOW is the time. Maybe it wil return to the lurid red light country it was during Batista but I doubt while Castro is alive or at least in control.
My 2 cents, from someone who really loves Cuba and the hobby and this is why I highly recommend visiting Cuba but do not recommend it at all for the hobby.
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Dear Peterman,
I've just posted my report a few hours after my return home. I prepared the report in La Habana during some quiet afternoons (can't shag 24/7 ... you know), took my laptop-computer with me for that. And now at 3 AM local time here in Europe the jetlag keeps me awake and I'm reading your (just posted) posts with a smile on my face.
I fully agree with you that all the hobbyists should share their experiences here. First of all MANY THANKS to you Peterman, to Havanaman who mailed me his information-file a while ago and of course to everybody giving useful information back. All these informations helped me to have a good stay in La Habana. To avoid misunderstandings regarding "chicas blancas". I know that expression from Mexico where these chicas have a brighter skin colour called "color cafe con leche" and I'd die for them. I am sure I'll get more full flavour because this first trip to Cuba shouldn't be my last one. (more answers tomorrow night)
Regards, Scorpio
(Jamesbond69 you are right when recommending to visit Cuba now before it changes, but hobbying in Cuba shouldn't become too easy for just any sucker, otherwise that paradise would be ruined quicker and forever IMHO)
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Hello jamesbond69,
I must respectfully say, I think you missed the boat when you were in Cuba.
Yes, you are correct, "the Bearded One" tries to stop prostitution. But, when he pays his people as little as $5/month it is impossible to stop it.
Yes, you are correct, it is a police state, for the Cubans!
Yes, you are correct, Cuba is very safe. But there is MUCH corruption. How can "the Bearded One" expect a person to live on $5/month without them subsidizing their income?
Yes, you are correct, there are no brothels. There is no need for them. There is plenty of SW action.
Yes, you are correct, there is no red light areas. The whole country is a potential red light area. You just need to know where to look and the correct questions to ask.
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