Havana

Pippo01 One of my good friends got back from Havana on Nov 21. He spent 8 days there and visited Johnny's. It is open and fully stocked.

Does anyone here have any comment about "Email/Joe Cuba"'s warning post in the General Info section? Sounds rather foreboding, yet no one in this section has mentioned any changes in perceived policy.

I was seriously contemplating trying a first-time visit (Havana) in February, but now i'm quite wary.... Please, convince me it's all okay....

Also, i thought i'd be able to get in through Cancun, but i found out that my milage program doesn't go there....Any other recommended portals from the US? I'd rather not have to go north, first, to Canada.....

Thanks.

Adam Bomb, Gentlemen,

Like you I am VERY disturbed by that "Email/Joe Cuba’s warning post in the General Info section”. Worried, but not overly harassed. I’m in the process of making a few calls. Due to the backward nature of the “Cuban communication process” it takes a few days for me to make contact with my contacts… I will keep you posted.

Jackson, not wanting to offer any insult whatsoever to the author of that email: if he can send you an email for posting, why can’t he join the forum, wait for acceptance and post for himself (unless off course he is in the process)?

I guess I’m disturbed not only because of my own forthcoming trip, but also because Cuba has been in my heart for many years now. I need to confirm these “new revelations” before I can believe them. Right now, they are still in my “in” box and thus unknown quantities.

Can I please ask any fellow Cuba enthusiasts who have contacts over there to start a discrete investigation…

Regards,

Havanaman

Adam Bomb,

Wow…….. hold that cancellation thought! I am looking into this, and should be able to give some initial third-party feedback in the next few days. Please excuse this delay; it takes ages for me to make the contacts. The problem is at the Cuban end….

Also, regardless of the “state of the nation” I have my tickets booked and my usual casa reserved… so without doubt I WILL be on the ground very soon: 11 – 13 Dec (just 2 nights), and then also 23 Dec for 10 nights. I will report back as soon as I hit Havana, you can count on it.

How can one convenience you? Simple:-

* Read the all the glorious WSG report. That should be enough.
* If “that” email is bothering you, wait for me and the other Cuba mongers to find out…
* Go anyway! Add to the adventure… LOL …but seriously you will enjoy it, first trip or not.


About your mileage programme: I should still go via Mexico. Hop to Cancun and skip to Havana. Best route possible in my view (but then I travel from Europe…). A lot of my USA friends take this route and love it. The number of USA travellers really does make you disappear in the crowds. You next best IMHO is Canada. I’ve never had a need to try this route and so can offer you no opinions… sorry.

Regards,

Havanaman

I e-mailed my casa particular landlady the other day to verify this new policy about guests begining Jan 1st 2003. She said she hasn't heard anything about it. She plans business as usual.

Fellow Forumites:
Pay no heed to "Cuba Joe" aka, "Gusano Joe" because he is a steaming pile of monkey shit playing into the hand of the right-wing Miami mafia. "Methinks he doth protest too much" as Bill would say. He first emphasizes that he is not a Miami gusano but then mimics their tantra. Believe me, all is cool in Cuba! Numerous trips to Cuba as recently as October lead me to say with certainty that nothing "Gusano-Joe" muttered comports with reality. Also, phone calls this evening to friends in Holguin and Habana confirm this assessment. But then he couched his apocolyptic epistle in term of pending events Besides, Cuba survives from money derived from tourism so it is counter-intuitive for the government to harrass tourists. Even a rock-stupid gusano can figure that one out. So please, any forumites planning on traveling there, do not be daunted by this sub-cretin moron "Gusano-Joe" who simply can't accept the fact that the embargo will collapse next summer and the shit-eating gusanos in Miami will be stuck with worthless deeds to property in Cuba they'll never recover. Eat shit and die Gusano-Joe!!!!!!!

Gentlemen,

Monkey shit indeed. I have now managed to contact 4 different people, in different cities: Havana, Varadero, & Cienfuegos. No one has heard / seen anything about what Joe Cuba was posting. Make your own conclusions about this.

I full agree with arecho66: Gusano indeed!

I’m still going on my trip. Nothing that has been posted by joecuba123@hotmail.com has put me off. If my contacts are wrong, then so be it and I will take my own risks… However it should be mentioned that Cuba’s economy is so reliant on tourism that joecuba123@hotmail.com must be wrong.

For anyone wondering what the situation is “on the ground” I will post regularly from there (my first stay is for 2 nights, second stay is 9 nights). In fact anyone who is in Cuba now, PLEASE post and update us all.

I believe this forum was intended for the sole purpose of sharing mongering information. I do not feel that this forum is appropriate to espouse ones political views…. Anyway: live and let live…

Regards,

Havanaman

Guys,

Regardless of how shit the book is, I thought I'd better mention the fact that JoeCuba posted exactly the same message on the Lonely Planet Thorntree web forum.

Regards,

Tomster.

Hello fellow WSG-ers,

I'd like to visit Havana for New Year's Eve. My initial plan is to meet up with some friends in Jamaica on December 29th and then fly to Havana, stay in a casa particulares and tour around.

I understand from some readings that this time of year is a heavy tourist season. How difficult will it be for me to fly to Montego Bay and then purchase tickets to Havana that same day? Should I purchase tickets in advance? If so, how can I arrange that? And is Air Jamaica a recommended airline?

My concern really is with getting my flights and tickets into and out of Havana. My friends are arranging our accomodations and some of the other details. I just need to get to Havana on the 29th.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hello fellow WSG-ers,

I'd like to visit Havana for New Year's Eve. My initial plan is to meet up with some friends in Jamaica on December 29th and then fly to Havana, stay in a casa particulares and tour around.

I understand from some readings that this time of year is a heavy tourist season. How difficult will it be for me to fly to Montego Bay and then purchase tickets to Havana that same day? Should I purchase tickets in advance? If so, how can I arrange that? And is Air Jamaica a recommended airline?

My concern really is with getting my flights and tickets into and out of Havana. My friends are arranging our accomodations and some of the other details. I just need to get to Havana on the 29th.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I forgot to mention in last post that all Cuban laws are identified and promulgated via a disciplined, codification process. That is, each law has a unique ID number with similarly identified sub-components such as articles and decrees.

For example, Article #17 of Law #87 was promulgated in mid-1999 and it delineates various penalties for varying levels of involvement in the "delito" or crime of "proxenetismo" or pimping. It is only logical then that a new law going into effect January 1, 2003 (as "Gusano-Joe" alleges) would have a similar codification ID and implementation date readily verifiable. This is especially true for any law that would have such a profoundly negative impact on the economy and more importantly on the informal sector which includes casas particulares and paladares which are often run jointly esp in places like Baracoa and Santiago. Moreover, with less than 30-days before the alleged date of implementation, owners of casas particulares would have been informed by now of this drastic change and attendant penalties for non-compliance. Owners of casas particulares I have contacted have heard nothing of this "new law."

I suspect Gusano-Joe is unaware of the fact that "El Codgo Penal de La Republica de Cuba" is posted on the internet. Gusano-Joe's big problem is that he thinks everyone on the internet including this forum is as stupid as he is. The null-hypothesis concept can be applied to the verbal-vomit spewed by Gusano-Joe. Once a single element of a therorem is exposed as crap, then by extension it can be inferred that the entire theorem is bullshit. So again I say to forumites, ignore this sub-cretin moron and go to Cuba and have the time of your life. Just be nice to the girls because I promise they will be nice to you. Peace.

I will be in Cuba just after Christmas and then for 3 weeks. Is it hard to find hotel rooms in Havana around this time of year? Should I be booking now? I am looking for a place close to the center of town that is not too expensive. What about the Hotel Lido? Of course I would rather have a private room, but I am under the impression that when arriving at the airport you need show that you are staying in a hotel and not at a casa particular.

Anyways, I hope it is as fun as it sounds!

Arecho66,

I'm not sure who is talking the most crap, you or him. But I do agree with your final sentence, treat the girls well and you will get the best from them.

Tomster.

Tomster:

FUCK OFF!

Now you're making sense :)