Havana

[Questner]

Next time share a taxi with a girl. There is no 'propensity' to stop taxis, it's a fact. Same applies to your room. However a patrol car may wait patiently outside the doors to the building, so take a closer look before letting the girl out.

[BRCitizen]

long strange night.

friday i finally decided to check out la cecelia, which had it not been for this forum, would not have even been on my radar. la cecelia wasn't hoppin'. oh no, that would be an understatement. la cecelia was out. of control. i got there shortly before midnight and it was total chaos. the line was stretching around the block, there was another shorter line on the other side of the entrance, and some people seemed to just be getting in through the front, where once in a while they would let in a car or two. the bouncers were struggling to keep everyone back, people were screaming and yelling and pleading to get in. wtf? and here i am with my somewhat limited espanol trying to make sense of it all! i decided early on that i wasn't standing in the humongous line which would probably take hours to clear, but clearly i was not a vip, so some initial efforts to worm my way in failed. finally i managed to get in with a group of people when the bouncer turned the other way for a moment. i thought i heard someone call after me, but i ignored it and figured better to ask for forgiveness than permission. especially when one is a tourist in cuba.

inside wasn't any different. the place was packed to the gills. there was talent all right. o. m. g. what talent! but there were also lots of ordinary cubans and their girlfriends, groups of girls together, etc. almost no tourists to speak of. who was who was virtually impossible to tell, and i had no clue how i could find anyone, when merely navigating through the tables was near impossible. frankly it was a little intimidating! well all my worries were for naught, because soon enough the right chicas were finding me. or the wrong chicas depending on your perspective. determined to find a light-skinned hottie, i fought off the temptation of settling for the first or second girl who latched on to me, even though navigating the place was near impossible. then i saw her. my blond stunner (i'm very stingy with 10's, but she was definitely a 9). yeah, i could be smart and bide my time, but ya know. at some point maybe you have to recognize a good thing when you see it. we got the business of the night out of the way. she wanted 100, we settled for 80. i know it's 20 too much, but i really didn't feel like having protracted negotiations over 20 cuc, or checking out the other talent and perhaps not running into her again. her name was taimi and she was 24. btw, is everyone in cuba a ballerina, or is "bailarina" just a generic word for dancer? either way, this girl could move!

just a couple small problems. how to get rid of her not-so-attractive mulatta friend? easy enough, i just made it clear from the start i only wanted one girl for the night. taimi told me it's not usually so packed, but tonight there were a lot of famous groups playing, plus students could get in for next to nothing in moneda nacional tonight. that explained a lot. taimi for her part genuinely enjoyed the music and dancing. maybe a bit too much? i like the fact that it wasn't all business and she was having a blast. but by half past 2am, i kinda hinted that i really didn't want to stay till 4am and close the place down.

of course nothing is simple in cuba. we had to look for her friend, because she had her friend's purse, and her friend's boyfriend was supposedly a "taxi driver". when we found her, the word from the street was there were tons of police, so we'd have to take different cars. i was wary about this whole arrangement. i'd paid 8 cuc to get there from vedado and i made it clear that i'm paying 10 and no more. i also made it clear that i only have 20's left, and i'd need some change. taimi said no problem. you're always on the lookout for a scam in cuba, but she said it's just impossible to take the same cab because the streets were just crawling with cops, and seemed genuinely distraught about the whole situation. so off i went with the mulatta's friend / boyfriend / whatever, and left the girls to get other transportation arrangements. i gave her the card of my casa and told her i'd wait for her outside the entrance. the driver tried scam me. of course. when i told him i'd need change for a 20, he said,"it is 20." i raised some hell, pulled out my last emergency 10 that i had just for this situation, and we left it at that.

so then. 3:15 comes and goes. then 3:45, and still no taimi. somehow i had a feeling something like this was going to happen, but all the while i'm wondering wtf? is this all a big scam? well if so, then what exactly did they scam me for? all my cash was still on me. yes, i used "their" driver, but i would have likely paid the same 10cuc to get home no matter what. they got absolutely nothing from me except for 10cuc i spent on drinks. i read here that if a girl scams you for even 10cucs, that's a enough score to make it worth it for some. but no, somehow that didn't make sense to me, because she was all over me the whole night, and after all she's missing out on 80cucs. is this a country that can't even pull a scam right? i finally figured that i'll never know the answer. chalk it up to another mystery of cuba, be happy that you got to dance and make out with an incredibly hot girl for 3 hours, and go to bed.

morning.

i groggily crawled out of bed around 10am, still scratching my head over last night, went to the fridge, when i saw a note from the owners slipped under my door, telling me that a chica has been knocking on your apartment door for the last 2 hours. i hadn't heard because this is one spacious apartment and my room was at the other end. she finally knocked on theirs, insisted that i had told her to wake me up (i most definitely had not) , but they told her i was sleeping and they couldn't wake me. they later told me that i'm paying them to protect my interests and my privacy, so they weren't going to take the word of some random chica. absolutely correct! these guys are the best. i would later apologize profusely for putting them in a situation where they were disturbed from their own sleep. 8am i would have still wanted some rest. 10am, on the other hand, would be just perfect! better than 3 in the morning as a matter of fact. just then i heard another knock. and who do i see at the door?

taimi apparently spent the night in decidely less comfortable digs than mine inside of a police station."didn't you see them putting the handcuffs on me?" apparently, an undercover cop had seen her with me in the club, and as soon as i left they immediately stopped her and hauled her in. complicating matters is the fact that you need a residence permit for havana, and she's a camagueyana. so they stamped her carnet with a charge of "propensity toward prostitution" and only let her go at 6:30 am."propensity." only in cuba. so she went home, showered, changed, and showed up at my door. i offered to take her to lunch, but she said she couldn't be seen on the street with me. so for the next two hours she just stayed and made love, cuddled, made love again. where else but in cuba will a hot chica show up at your door tired, hungry, but ready to go nonetheless? and then leave you her cell for later? yeah, sure, call her a pro. but if she's a pro, then that there is some serious dedication to the job!

the rest of saturday was anticlimactic by comparison. i thought about just calling taimi again, but then decided i'd see what was on offer at la cecelia again. i figured i'd get there earlier and it shouldn't be as crazy as last night. it wasn't. los desiguales were playing, but no student mob, and i decided to be a good boy and stand in the line for 45 minutes. the talent was still amazing, and this time you could figure out who's who. some of these girls are crazy hot. anywhere from 7's to a few actual 10's (even by my stingy standards). few tourists. ah, low season! i went with an 8. 5 brunette named dayana, because she could speak english seemed smarter than average, so could hold a decent conversation. and because she graduated school for physical therapy and promised a great massage on top of everything else. (irene is what she told me, but dayana is what it said on the carnet). she also promised no drama. none of this two car thing. she and her driver had the police avoidance strategy down pat. we walked out separately, i walked around the corner, and in a couple minutes a lada pulls up and the door opens. i get in and we speed off past police stopping other cars. at breakneck speeds, no less. whatever the policia are for in cuba, they're not for the enforcement of traffic laws. ah, cuba! this cloak and dagger stuff can be kind of fun sometimes."where else but in cuba?" i say. our driver just smiles and says,"cuba es facil!" (cuba's easy)

alas, dayana / irene somewhat over-promised and under-delivered. it was ok, but i kinda wished i'd checked the scene more, or just called taimi again. but i wanted variety. 4 chicas in 4 nights. and 5 or 6 would have been entirely possible if i'd worked it a bit more. in cuba, you're limited only by your spanish, your stamina, and your standards. i can see how you can develop the connections for a non-stop love-fest after just a few visits.

sunday i had a flight out. i can only fall off the grid for so long. my flight was delayed. something tells me the smoke from the engine on that first day had something to do with it. i called ahead so i knew i'd be in for a wait. my casa owners had no objection to me staying a little while longer. i could have picked up the phone and probably had taimi over for some going away fun, but i'd had enough cuban drama for a while. so i just chose to have a peaceful lunch and try another one of cuba's famed paladars. perhaps the most famed of all in fact. la guarida. in a word, unimpressed.

ok, i know this ain't no food blog, but being a foodie, i have to chime in with my 0.02cuc on the subject. i vehemently disagree with those who say that paladars are better than state-run restaurants. perhaps this is true when comparing the average paladar with the average restaurant, because by definition all paladars are geared toward higher end clientele, while state run restaurants run the gamut. but i don't eat at average places. life's too short to for average food, average chicas, or average vacations. so comparing the best paladars with the best state run restaurants, the best state run restaurants run rings around the best paladars. i actually had some really nice meals in places like cafe del oriente and el templete. thinking that cuba has really undergone some culinary evolution, while even the most highly rated paladars like dona eutima and le chansonnier left me underwhelmed.

in general, i think the tendency to pooh-pooh state run establishments is part of a tendency to dump on the whole cuban system. which is a mistake, imo. to those who say don't go just for the chicas, i would offer a very qualified agreement, only inasmuch as one shouldn't go anywhere "just for the chicas." cuba offers a tremendous amount of things to see and do, and though i spent most of my report on the girls (as appropriate for this forum) , most of my time was actually spent just enjoying everything else havana has to offer. that said, cuba may still be the very best place in the world for chicas. i can't claim to have seen everything, but my three dozen nation experience does offer a little bit in the way of comparison. and i say this because cuba offers a combination unmatched anywhere else:

1. safety, both in terms of violent crime, and in terms of having the lowest rate of aids just about anywhere. at least anywhere fun. i always use protection, but there places (like the former soviet union) , where the aids epidemic makes one wary even with protection.

2. the chicas. not only are they hot, but the culture is such that i've never seen another place where girls have so few hang-ups about sex. the level of sheer enthusiasm is a turn-on in and of itself. who cares if they want some money for it now. it's not that they have to do it because they're starving and exploited. it feels more like,"hell, i'd be doing this anyway, so why not milk it?"

3. the cost. yes, the cost. both chicas and non-chica incidentals. to those who say cuba isn't cheap, i say show me a place that is. yeah, i know you can eat for under a buck in cambodia and crash for the night for $5 in peru. but what i find is that if you want to eat well, and sleep in a place that has hot water, nice beds, and a / c, you'll pay about half of western prices no matter where you are. and that goes for cuba too.

so don't knock cuba. maybe it was better way back when, but it's still great. people like to complain both about how the government oppresses its own people, and makes things crazy for the tourist with its eccentricities. but you know what? if cuba wasn't cuba, the people would have had more access to big macs and car parts, but they wouldn't have an average life span of 80, and large numbers of them would be sleeping in the streets like they do in honduras or the dominican republic and lots of banana republic capitalist paradises the world over. and for you tourists, i can assure you that the chicas would be more desperate because it actually might be a matter of need and not just greed, have more guilt about it due to the teachings of religion, more risk from aids and crime, and paradoxically cost even more, because they'd be spoiled rotten by hordes of american spring breakers.

so take it for what it is. do your research, be prepared to make changes of plans, and go with the flow. above all, have fun!

[BRCitizen]

Great report and welcome to the forum. I was in Cuba in January this year as newbie and liked the country. Maybe I go back to Cuba in September? The girls on the Island are lovely. Did you get sone information about the situation for Salon Rojo?

I actually didn't bother asking. No point, I figured. It won't help me for this trip, and everything changes anyway. The chicas will still be there, somewhere, no matter what they do or what they close. They will always find a way.

[Travel2040]

Hi to everybody

In few days I am going to the Havana and I will stay at Nacional. Can anyone inform me if there is possibility to take girl in the hotel? Also is there anyone that played game with a dancer from Parisiéand or Tropicana.

Thanks

In my opinion the best way to have girls in Cuba are to stay in Casa Particular (private). In hotels there are more complicated. Hotel Nacional is a very nice hotel. I spent some time there in the swimming pool and the outdoor café. Very nice during the daytime to relax with coffe or something to drink.

[Conte Garsia]

Hi to everybody,

In few days I am going to the Havana and I will stay at Nacional. Can anyone inform me if there is possibility to take girl in the hotel? Also is there anyone that played game with a dancer from Parisiéand or Tropicana.

Thanks

[Travel2040]

Ok, so I've done a whole lot of lurking, and the information on this board has proven valuable, so now I'll give back to the community by posting my own report. Flew into Havana from Mexico, on Cubana, only 40 minutes late, an inordinate amount of smoke belching from the engine, but safely landing nonetheless. Welcome to Cuba. Last time I did this was actually in the heyday of when some of you old timers say it was really awesome. Around the turn of the millenium. I knew going in that re-living that trip would be all but impossible, yet still I was determined to try. Bottom line. Yes, Cuba has, shall we say, professionalized and gotten smarter at extracting money from tourists, but I too am older and wiser, not to mention armed with the information from this forum.

Aduana was no problem. No one asked where I was staying. Insurance was 4CUC per day, payable in dollars, pesos, Euros, or my as-of-yet nonexistent CUCs...

Great report and welcome to the forum. I was in Cuba in January this year as newbie and liked the country. Maybe I go back to Cuba in September? The girls on the Island are lovely. Did you get sone information about the situation for Salon Rojo?

[BRCitizen]

ok, so i've done a whole lot of lurking, and the information on this board has proven valuable, so now i'll give back to the community by posting my own report. flew into havana from mexico, on cubana, only 40 minutes late, an inordinate amount of smoke belching from the engine, but safely landing nonetheless. welcome to cuba. last time i did this was actually in the heyday of when some of you old timers say it was really awesome. around the turn of the millenium. i knew going in that re-living that trip would be all but impossible, yet still i was determined to try. bottom line. yes, cuba has, shall we say, professionalized and gotten smarter at extracting money from tourists, but i too am older and wiser, not to mention armed with the information from this forum.

aduana was no problem. no one asked where i was staying. insurance was 4cuc per day, payable in dollars, pesos, euros, or my as-of-yet nonexistent cucs.

first thing i did was get the casa situation in order. i went with an agency. several in fact. i followed the advice of someone here on the forum and made it known that i would want no issues with guests. they knew exactly what i meant and were more than happy to oblige. i knew even from last time to expect the old cuban switcheroo. it worked ok last time, but things were more mellow then, and i really wanted to make sure that i had a good place with all my requirements (location, privacy, working a / c, etc). if i got there and things weren't right, i'd be armed with backup numbers of agents who i could call up and ask what they had. well the fact that no one met me at the airport as agreed upon was not the best sign. no problem. taxi is readily available for 20cuc to vedado. but what would await me when i got there?

turns out i needn't have worried. the owner met me at the bottom of what turned out to be a large highrise. the apartment was superb. high floor, independent entrance, ocean views from the balcony, close to the nacional and habana libre so many taxis plying the streets nearby. kitchen, bottled water provided free, a / c, decent bed, super safe and secure, including lockable closet. i'm like, wow! all this is mine for 40cuc a night? and the owners were beyond cool. nice, professional folks you can have a conversation with, but totally respectful of my privacy. they live in the place adjacent, but they made it clear that they would totally respect my privacy and could care less who i brought over as long as she wasn't ****. but conversely, they warned me about all the scams out there and said that they would like to see the carnet just to make sure that there's no trouble- not to register the girl, mind you. they didn't even have to see her. i could knock on the door at any hour, slip the carnet under, they'the write down the info, and then slip it back. and. if i found this arrangement too invasive of my privacy, they even let me have another option. i myself could simply write the info, toss it later. they want no issues with police or immigration or whomever. but just write it down on my own and keep it. they wouldn't enforce it, but strongly advised the former option just for my own safety. truly awesome. what more can you ask for?

i took the same precaution as last time and divided my cash into 3 parts, and stashed it in 3 different places, though with the lockable closet this plan could be modified a bit. after a fancy. well, actually so-so dinner at le chansonnier, i was ready to go out on the town.

first stop, casa de la musica galeano.

i really wanted to try la cecelia, but as this was wednesday, decided to settle for casa de la musica. maybe 50 chicas there, maybe 5 tourists. it's low season, and the fact that the economies of italy and spain are in deep doo-doo, can't hurt. mostly mulattas. not my thing generally as i usually go for the lighter-skinned chicas, but some of these cubanas can be quite hot. unfortunately it seems like the mulattas are the most aggressive. i couldn't get rid of all the mulattas and negritas, while the blondes all seemed to bide their time, looking for. god knows what, because the pickins of tourists were rather slim. i tried approaching a few, but they just had the crappiest attitudes, so i finally settled on samantha, a hot mulatta who could really move on the dance floor. i should probably mention that i'm well under 50 and speak decent enough spanish to get by, though my spanish skills go downhill quickly with raggaeton blaring in the background and some chica trying to tell me something in a cuban accent. so anyway. unfortunately my mulatta hottie moved better on the dance floor than in bed. not bad, but not the best. no bbbj, but i actually don't want that anyway. there's no practical difference between hsv 1 and hsv 2, both can be passed both ways, and i want to minimize my chance of either. but that's just me, to each their own. 60 cuc. yeah, probably overpaid, but it's not that big of a deal. i guess i'm not the world's greatest bargainer. i'm also not as hardnosed as some have advised here. i simply can't operate that way. i did set a rule not to pay upfront, which of course everyone wants now. yes, gone are the days when you could take a chica back and screw for hours and no money would ever be discussed except maybe a little "gift" at the end. still, i firmly but politely refused, borrowing phrases from jonesie like "when you go to a restaurant my love, you eat first and pay after." in the end, i'the usually compromise and leave it out somewhere where she could see it. it worked pretty well.

thursday. living dangerously.

getting into the swing of things and just hanging out in havana, some things really haven't changed at all since the glory days. back then cuba was easy, now you have to work it more, like cuba works you. but work you it does, in bad ways and good. i've gotten pick-up offers walking the streets of havana vieja, on the malecóand. particularly outside the overpoliced areas near the hotel nacional, on la rampa, from flirtatious guides at some tourist attractions, you name it. the problem is that my standards go up exponentially in cuba. i'm looking for 9s and 10s, i'm shopping for quality not price. and most of these offers are just not that. i did give in to one caribbean beauty in centro habana who seemed a bit more attractive than the rest. and thus began what i dub my "jonesie experience". up a rickety ladder in a converted shag shack in some dingy side street in centro habana, members of the extended family / friends nonchalantly lounging around down below. no dog under the bed, but pretty much every other element of jonesie's tales was present. this whole "only in cuba experience" set me back 35 cuc including the shack. cautious to the max, having to use local condoms would've been a dealbreaker, but luckily i was prepared. of course in other ways, here i was throwing caution to the wind and shacking up in some godforsaken corner of centro habana after dark. the family / friends asked me to make sure that if i was stopped, i would not tell the policía where i went. they needn't have bothered. i don't think even the policía comes around much to streets like this. fortunately my passport and 2/3 of my cash was safely locked away in my beautiful apartment. i figure that havana is about the safest big city in the world, but just to make sure, it's worth taking a few precautions.

not quite satisfied with the night just yet, decided to check out turquino just to see what it's like. don't bother. at least not for chicas. cover was only 5 cuc, and for the views it's worth going up there for that price. but the chica to tourist ratio sucked, and those who were there were not amazing. tried to find salon rojo (hadn't actually read these last reports). maybe it's for the best that i was disappointed. checked out a small disco called tikoa, but was unimpressed with the talent. the bouncer let me have a look without paying the cover. didn't like what a saw so i left. a cab driver offered to take me to a great club with "a mountain of chicas". hadn't heard about it and i forget the name. i declined. the prospect of going to some unknown club in bfe and then being at the mercy of my newfound "fren" who would no doubt charge me triple to get me home. that just didn't appeal to me.

it was getting late anyway and since i didn't feel like heading out to miramar, that left casa de la musica again as the one good option. unfortunately it was much the same scene, and much the same chicas. samantha made a good effort trying to sell herself for another round, but i felt like something different tonight. still, she taught me how to dance to reggaetóand, but i just can't get into that. but in any case, i was dog tired after an ambitious tourist agenda (i didn't just go for chicas, after all) , so at 2:30 decided to call it a night. two dudes just inside the door corraled me into using them for taxi services. we agreed on 5 cuc and off we went. if this was any other country, getting into a random car at 3am with two random dudes would probably be a surefire way to get you killed. it's still probably a not-so-hot idea in cuba. but the difference is that in cuba. 99 times out of 100 nothing will happen to you. as it happened, they're the ones who got nailed. the policía stopped them not 10 blocks away to collect their pound of flesh. policia is the same the world over. in america, the corruption is just more elegant, more institutionalized.

friday. a long strange night.

also the best, but i think that's enough for now. i'll save the rest for part 2

[Velasco]

I am looking for some advice. And maybe a reality check. I will be in Havana tomorrow for one week. I am traveling with a group and won't have a lot of free time in my schedule. Just to make matters worse, I don't speak Spanish.

Any suggestions for someone in my situation, ofher than come back later under better circumstances? If I do connnect with someone, how much do I need to be concerned with police interest? I have some $$ to spend.

Thanks!

Interesting situation indeed. I think you should be able to get away if you are in Havana. I was once in the exact situation on my first visit to Cuba 17 years ago, but this was in a very small town. The difference is, I was with a group of my fellow college students. Our Cuban- American professor had read us the Jinetera riot act. I chose not to pursue anything, as it was a small town and he just might have heard something. I would have felt very weird continuing to sit in his classroom had that happened, not to mention my fellow radical feminist classmates that were part of the trip. When I returned to Cuba a few years later, I was married, so no activity on that trip either. It was not until after my divorce that I returned to Cuba to monger.

My advice, Havana is big enough for you to get away and do something, so go for it. However, do weigh the cost benefit analysis should your group find out about your activity.

[Kalifornication]

Don't worry about the police so long as you do not engage minors, as you should NOT. I am leaving Saturday and will be in Havana Tuesday the 9th of July in the evening. Probably about 10PM as I am arriving from another province. If you want to meet, pm me soon.

I am looking for some advice. And maybe a reality check. I will be in Havana tomorrow for one week. I am traveling with a group and won't have a lot of free time in my schedule. Just to make matters worse, I don't speak Spanish.

Any suggestions for someone in my situation, ofher than come back later under better circumstances? If I do connnect with someone, how much do I need to be concerned with police interest? I have some $$ to spend.

Thanks!

[NyMontreal]

I am looking for some advice. And maybe a reality check. I will be in Havana tomorrow for one week. I am traveling with a group and won't have a lot of free time in my schedule. Just to make matters worse, I don't speak Spanish.

Any suggestions for someone in my situation, ofher than come back later under better circumstances? If I do connnect with someone, how much do I need to be concerned with police interest? I have some $$ to spend.

Thanks!

[Hotzo]

Although Salon Rojo is closed there are still many good places in Havana; Johnny's, La Cecilia, Don Cangrejo, La Maison, Casa De La Musica and others.

Exactly, I never had the requirement to take a chica from SR, head to Havana Centro (I always have my casa there) and you will be served.

Hotzo

[Travel2040]

Hi!

Since they closed closed SR I got some doubts staying in Cuba for 2 weeks. Does anyone know of any cheap flights to South America / Centralamerica or DR from Havana? Like under 500 $.

Although Salon Rojo is closed there are still many good places in Havana; Johnny's, La Cecilia, Don Cangrejo, La Maison, Casa De La Musica and others.

[Travel2040]

Although Salon Rojo is closed there are still many good places in Havana; Johnny's, Don Cangrejo, La Maison, La Cecilia, Casa De La Musica and others.

[Big Dogie]

Mongers-

To the poster "big dogie": Salon Rojo has ALWAYS been called Salon Rojo, dating back to its opening in the Bautista late 50's heyday; it was the nightclub and showroom for the adjacent Capri Hotel (now closed, SR stayed open until recently apparently). Actor George Raft was actually Salon Rojo's frontman / owner before Castro pissed on everybody's parade.

Suerte.

Rock Harders

I stand corrected, I must have misinterpreted what a Cuban friend told me, he always called it Capri. On a funny note yesterday I was watching the Godfather part II, Hyman Roth promised the Capri to the Corleone family after his death or retirement.

Be the

[Denom]

I also think the closure of SR is a political move. It's timed with negative articles in the international press last March and some stupid statements by the lesbian daughter of Raoul Castro.

Still possible to have good fun in Cuba but it does take a lot of work and quite some luck. At least to get the real gems, because for the others all it takes is to cross eyes. It's true that it has become an expensive place in a poor country, and everything is just an uphill fight.

A scam I ran into is the double menu thing in restaurants. They have a menu for when you go in there with a local, and another menu if you just walk in from the street. What would cost 6 CUC in the walk-in menu, would cost 16 CUC in the other. They count on the fact that once seated with your guest you would be too ashamed to protest. So a good advice: check the prices before you sit down and walk out if overpriced. You can always claim you don't like the choice of food.