Hotel Parque Central Havana
[QUOTE=MoogieBar;2886752]Hey gents,
Headed to Isla de Juventud for some fishing in a couple months. Have 1 night in Havana and would love to experience the local offerings. Staying at the Parque Central Hotel. Can you bring ladies back to the hotel? I read somewhere that is frowned upon.
Any suggestions to make my trip memorable are appreciated!
Thanks.
Moog.[/QUOTE]A few years ago during corona I chose to spend the 5 days of quarantine in the Parque Central hotel.
When I sent for my fiance on the 6th day, she was not allowed to check in.
Just got back after two weeks in Havana
Well, I'm back in the US after two weeks on the island. And it is good to be home and breathe fresh air, have potable water, and be where I can relax and eat anything without fear of a gastrointestinal disaster (in Cuba I generally live off of protein bars, cheese / salami & crackers, and a few other things I make there).
Anyway, a good trip. My contacts were solely through Badoo and Bumble. I also had some repeat amigas that I looked up again after my last trip in August. If I can give any advice, it's set yourself up in advance with Badoo. And by "in advance" I mean *months* in advance. Some girls get a little data on their phones, create a Badoo profile, but are gone quickly (and sometimes, forever) when their data runs out. You have to strike and get their Whatsapp within a few PM's, and then you are set unless they change their number. If you are really motivated to have a great trip with lots of variety and don't just want to hook up with anything with a hole (I. E. , you have standards and high motivation), it's a process that you must go through to curate a stable of your type of chicas. This means regularly checking Badoo for new profiles a few times a week (months before your trip), and making contact, and getting those Whatsapp numbers. You can't wait until your trip to start looking if you want to find the stars.
With that said, some are extremely flaky, or live too far away for taxis, so be sure to find out how close they live to your casa. Some will just ghost. Some suddenly start just getting one checkmark on your PM's, which means message not delivered. Phone lost, stolen, or new phone number? Who knows, just poof. This is why you build a little rapport with them over time, to keep them motivated to see you. My advice is, if you want 10 girls in 10 nights, you'd better have 20 whataspp numbers. This is work, boys!
To me it is reminiscent of recruiting in college sports. First you have to ID and locate the talent, then you need to convince them to come on your team. Once they meet me, they are locked in because I take care of them. I actually had a few of my repeats mad at me that I didn't see them on my first night (see my entitlement discussion below)! But honestly it was like herding cats, getting them to show up and not end up with a lost night. My advice is to book them earlier in the day, so that if they flake, you can sub in a plan be from your bullpen. But the hard part is getting them to come for that first visit without flaking. Appointment dates and times, like much of Latin America, are general guidelines in Cuba. They will invariably be late.
My Spanish is minimal but improved from last visit (I've been using the Babbel app). But that is unimportant on Badoo since you can just use a translator app. By the time you see them in person, maybe PM them that you are not great at spoken Spanish, and they'll need to talk slowly and you'll be using a traductir (translator) (habla mas despacio por favor!) I was surprised how well Google Translate app could pick up one of my all-stars' machine gun spoken Spanish. (Be sure to download the proper dictionaries so you can use offline). Anyway, for those with weak Spanish, get a Badoo profile and Google Translate.
Ask what they want you to bring them (one girl asked for Nutella! Nutella FFS! So I brought her a jar of that and she was thrilled). Also, you cannot bring too much chocolate. Buy a few of those Hershey's 6-packs and you can't go wrong. And of course bring a full medicine (Immodium laxative analgesic tums antihistamine burn itch antibiotic cremes, etc) and bandage kit for yourself, which you can give away at the end. The girls with kids will really appreciate meds. I even brought my own beer and energy drinks (although I was overweight at the airport despite 2 free 70 lbs checked bags and I had to leave some of my beer with the baggage lady).
And don't forget such gifts for your AirBNB hosts and their employees (whom you should be tipping). You definitely want them on your side.
Some thoughts:
First thing after I collected my baggage, bought an MLC card with $200 on it (the currency exchange stores are on the outside of the airport building), and then across the street from Jose Marti Airport to the mini mall and the ETECSA store for my Cubacel SIM and activation. I don't know how you would call your AirBNB hosts otherwise. There's also a store there that has bottled water.
It was definitely easier to explore on foot during the day versus August, much cooler. There were actually a couple of days that were so windy, it was too chilly to go out!
I didn't walk around after dark, so my street interaction information is limited. I will say that the Paseo Prado is a great walk in the late afternoon, especially on weekends. Most times I saw come chicas sitting on the benches, either starting at me or trying to get my attention. But this is not my wheelhouse, sorry. I think you get more variety and higher standards on Badoo.
The walk up the Prado, then a right at San Rafael at the Hotel Inglaterra, is good exercise and always some interesting people, if you get my drift. Also some great stores on SanRafael. One even had Lysol!
I never once used anything but dollars (other than MLC in some limited places that demanded it). The only peso I touched was a 20 one of my chicas gave me as a momento (She wrote a note on it).
WRT building relationships there, I think it is a spectrum like autism or the amateur-pro jinetera scale. I definitely have some quality starters in my bullpen. Keeping in touch with them and giving them some love and flirtation every so often via Whatsapp seems to help build rapport and keep them in the rotation. Obviously, making one your girlfriend or something serious is a very bad idea. But I take good care of my starting rotation. You get what you pay for (I have very specific standards and they are not low).
Again, I'll say to the guy who says if you pay them well you don't respect yourself. One, don't judge me just because you are cheap. Two, I feel a lot better about myself when I give a little extra to someone who needs it in a shitty situation, when I have been blessed with a lot of discretionary income. Just because you are cheap or poor, don't judge what I do with my money! If anything, a trip to Cuba makes me appreciate what I have more, and I go out of my way to be generous to these poor unfortunate souls. Some of them are very desperate and it can be very depressing if you possess any empathy whatsoever. And I say this as an extremely conservative person when it comes to the deadbeats in my own country. So when I leave Cuba, I do so with my head held high that I didn't lowball some desperate person because some judgmental cheapo on ISL says so.
With that said, the downside can be basic human nature: Gratitude is a very fleeting emotion, and can quickly convert to entitlement. I was very taken aback by the entitlement and attitude of one of my starters, so she had to go on the waiver wire. Not to be too crude, but one starts to understand what having "a strong pimp hand" means. Without setting limits or expectations, people will roll over you. This is not to judge those in a crappy shithole country. It's just human nature. You feed a stray cat, and it is very happy the first time. The next day it expects it, and will resent you if you don't feed it what it likes to eat when it knows you have a huge refrigerator full of food. It is natural for someone to push for more until they hear the word "no". So you have to balance generosity with an understanding of human nature. Treat them with understanding, empathy, and respect. Just don't be a pushover.
I did notice the jineteros seem even more aggressive than in August. Constant offers by the carnival barkers on the streets for puros or money change or chicas. You will be yelled at regularly "TAXI? Even when it is obvious that you are walking on purpose. One dude came up to me after I left my local mercado with a (see through) sack full of beer and was very aggressive in asking for one (no you can't have a beer for doing nothing). I switched to using opaque bags for such store visits. My advice is do not engage anyone on the street who even seems to be nice. Pretend to be deaf (obviously this excludes those looking to meet chicas). I also had a bici taxi guy I offered $10 to take me less than a mile promptly demand $40 when we arrived. I told him to pound sand and left the $10 on the seat and walked away. So yeah, you have be on your guard and be firm. I would advise getting to know some local taxi guys. The ones who are reasonable, get their business cards so you can call them. I had a guy named Leudar of Taxi-Cuba who was great, reasonable and always available. This is particularly important if you go somewhere where there aren't a lot of taxis, like the beach, and want to get home.
WRT AirBNB's, again I think not mentioning guests in advance is the best policy. Look under "house rules. " If it's silent, you're probably fine. And ask if the host lives on site. If they live 20 minutes away, you should be golden. I'd also ask, do they have water and beer available to buy? Or is there at least a close store nearby that has such? One of my hosts had *American* Kirkland bottled water for $1/ ea, like gold bars in Cuba (she claimed that they have been burned by fake Cuban bottled water). Water is life, so ask your host about your options. And bring earplugs if you are a light sleeper. Cuba is always noisy, especially on weekend nights.
I'm sure I'll remember more later. Maybe a list of things I brought, or wish I had brought. Cheers.
