Havana

[QUOTE=StripperMan;2976186]Hi, can you help please. I have a permanent Cuban Sim card (not tourist sim). I was lucky enough to get one in August trip from my Cuban friend.

However, I could never get a straight answer from her or several other people on how to reload the card! Is it as simple as buying a 500-peso recarga card from "many places on every other street corner", and then inputting the numbers from card into your phone with the SIM?

Thanks for your help. I go to Havana next week and want to be prepared.[/QUOTE]There is somebody on every corner and every barrio that can charge it for you. Simply tell them your phone number and they charge it for you. For about 500 pesos. You can do it online also but you need to get help from a local. You have to ask around to find the person that charges the phone for 500. Havana is full of fraud at every corner. Don't pay more than 500 pesos or you getting hustled.

[QUOTE=StripperMan;2976186]Hi, can you help please. I have a permanent Cuban Sim card (not tourist sim). I was lucky enough to get one in August trip from my Cuban friend.

However, I could never get a straight answer from her or several other people on how to reload the card! Is it as simple as buying a 500-peso recarga card from "many places on every other street corner", and then inputting the numbers from card into your phone with the SIM?

Thanks for your help. I go to Havana next week and want to be prepared.[/QUOTE]If you go to Cuballama, there you can do recargas to your Cuba number before you get to Cuba.

You need to register to be able to do this transaction, I. E have a telephone number from where you are doing this transaction out side of Cuba.

Again, you need to do this before the period expires, I think it's about 11 month or so since your last recarga.

The way it works with Cuballama, once you register they'll ask what number you want to do the recarga for, there you put your Cuba sim number and they credit whatever amount you choose to purchase to that number. Btw, they are running a pretty good special now. Make sure if you go this route to get an explanation about the process since you mentioned about traveling next week.
Also, if you don't speak Español to ask for an English speaking rep. Their c.s. is very good as far as explaining things and getting the help you need.

Also Cubacel has a website where you can purchase a recarga but I think it's for tourist cards only, not sure if you can purchase a permanent sim card recarga.

Mondo.

[URL]https://www.cuballama.com/[/URL]

[URL]https://cubaceltourist.com/[/URL]

[QUOTE=Nomars777;2975613]On my last 2 trips, I got bareback pussy from about 30-40% of the girls 3 out of 6 in July, 3 out of 11 in October.

Obviously not all were willing, but I just ask nicely if we can move forward without the condom. Some will hesitate, then proceed, others will say no, others will hesitate and ask for more money and then proceed.

Bottom line. Ask if they'll go "sin condon" or "sin preservativo". And you've got a good chance of it happening, at least based on my experience.[/QUOTE]This is very scary! I've had bareback sex but with girls I knew who were clean and not a puta. Imagine if even one of those girls you banged had a disease. Now all the other ones have the disease plus other men sleeping with those sick chicas.

[QUOTE=Sammytheman;2976376]This is very scary! I've had bareback sex but with girls I knew who were clean and not a puta. Imagine if even one of those girls you banged had a disease. Now all the other ones have the disease plus other men sleeping with those sick chicas.[/QUOTE]Alot of Cuban girls carry the new Russian VD called "Rotchacockoff".

Where are King Santo's currency conversion rates coming from? He says he paid 9000 pesos to the first girl. That's $375 USD according to google. But he also says he gets 31 k pesos for $100. Does anyone know how much he means by 9000 pesos? What are girls going for in Havana?

That's super funny, going to use that one!

[QUOTE=HumbleHal;2976465]Alot of Cuban girls carry the new Russian VD called "Rotchacockoff".[/QUOTE]

So, $100 * 310 = 31,000 Cuban Pesos (CUP).

9,000 CUP / 310 = $29 USD (say 30 USD for easy math) - this was a common price quoted for anything less than 1 hour in the sack. I sometimes got 1-2 hours for this price, but if I was with them that long, it was because I really enjoyed their company and generally gave them $40 or a little more for that time.

What I realized when I was there the 3rd time especially, was that the girls really prefer receiving USD, even if you give them an equivalent in CUP. So I decided not to change much USD to CUP, but just use USD for the girls, and even in restaurants and bars where they were offering "street" exchange rates, basically anything approaching 300:1 (my personal cutoff was 275, it was close enough). Many, many places you could order food or drinks, pay in USD, then get a nice chunk of pesos back in exchange for use with tricycle cabs, buying waters, snacks, tips, etc.

Made it easier and I wasn't constantly running around getting change, or getting a mountain of pesos at the beginning and being stuck with them on departure day.

But just go with what is easiest for you.

[QUOTE=Noobie92;2976656]Where are King Santo's currency conversion rates coming from? He says he paid 9000 pesos to the first girl. That's $375 USD according to google. But he also says he gets 31 k pesos for $100. Does anyone know how much he means by 9000 pesos? What are girls going for in Havana?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Noobie92;2976656]Where are King Santo's currency conversion rates coming from? He says he paid 9000 pesos to the first girl. That's $375 USD according to google. But he also says he gets 31 k pesos for $100. Does anyone know how much he means by 9000 pesos? What are girls going for in Havana?[/QUOTE]The street rate right now is between 300 and 340, so 9000 pesos is between 26.50 and 30 $.

[QUOTE=Noobie92;2976656]Where are King Santo's currency conversion rates coming from? He says he paid 9000 pesos to the first girl. That's $375 USD according to google. But he also says he gets 31 k pesos for $100. Does anyone know how much he means by 9000 pesos? What are girls going for in Havana?[/QUOTE]Check El Toque to find the most updated street rate. Right now it's 340 to the dollar. Where I was changing my money, they were consistently giving me 5 pesos above whatever was on El Toque so right about now I'd expect to get 345 in that place. Look into my "Day 1" post which goes into detail about how to get the best rates. It's super easy.

There are conflicting opinions on whether you should be paying in CUP or USD but I can only speak on my experience. I cut my teeth mongering in Santo Domingo where I only pay in Dominican pesos, so I just carried that same M. O. Over to Cuba. I never had an issue.

My reasoning is this: When I change my money to pesos, I know the rate that I got. When I'm at a restaurant, I have no idea what rate they're going to decide to use for USD and on all of the bills I received, the number that they quoted in dollars on the bill was always higher than what I was paying in CUP. Now, was it a big difference? No, maybe a $4-$6 swing each way, but it adds up and I'm not in the business of giving away free money. Like the previous poster said, evaluate your options and do what works best for you.

Best,

KingSanto.

Day 4:

So I wake up feeling pretty good. I had plans to meet up with slim girl again today so I wasn't pressed. I'm a little hungry and still have a lot of Cuban pesos from when I changed it the day before so I'm not worried about my money levels yet.

I walk down the street to a restaurant named "El Idilio". Chill, outdoor vibe. I get a coke, water, pork ribs (massive, massive amount of ribs), fries and rice; 5800 pesos (18.41 at the 315 rate I had gotten the day before). Nice staff. I didn't really like the ribs but I think it was more of an expectation problem. I was expecting BBQ ribs. Now I understand that if the menu doesn't say "BBQ Ribs" then it's probably not BBQ ribs LOL. Still, I can tell it was a good place because the other dishes that people were having looked delicious.

Anyway, I pay my bill and head back home. I hit up the pro that I hit on Day 2 and have her come over for another 9000 pesos ( 28.57 at that 315 rate which is the money I'm using now). I send her a La Nave from Havana Vieja for 1100 pesos. Similar to when I'm in Santo Domingo, I prefer to send them the transportation because then I know exactly when they're going to arrive / if they're coming at all which greatly assists with planning. She arrives, we do the deed, I pay her and send her on her way - 900 pesos for the La Nave back to her place.

Slim girl (non pro) is getting ready to come over so I take a La Nave over to Papi Rey to exchange some more money, I'm almost out LOL. I head in and ask the rate, it's 320 now. Nice. I trust them at this point and it's my last day so I change $150 for 48 K pesos. Just in case I need to spend extra tonight, plus some wiggle room for my La Nave back to the airport in the morning. Once slim girl is ready, she sends me her location and I send her the La Nave like clockwork, remember she's pretty far away so it's 2700 pesos, no issues there. She arrives and I'm hungry again so I decide we should go out to eat.

We hop in a La Nave over to a jazz themed restaurant named "Habana Blues" and man this restaurant is fire. Excellent atmosphere, excellent decor and apparently popular because we had to wait a few minutes before they could seat us. Chicken fajitas appetizer, Tostones Appetizer, full pizza for her, fish dipped in lemon sauce for me, chocolate cake w / ice cream dessert, 2 beers, 2 malt drinks and a water - 10 K pesos. Cuba is so cheap its absolutely blowing my mind man. We decide to walk back to the AirBnB because slim girl really feels like I'm wasting money on short La Nave trips LOL such a sweet girl. Unbelievable.

Get back to the AirBnB and do the deed (keep in mind I haven't given this girl a dime yet). We chill out and she helps me pack my things for the trip the next day. We fall asleep, wake up at 5 AM. I still have like 35 K pesos so I give her one of the 10 K bands. She's confused and doesn't want to take it. I'm like relaaxxxx go get your hair done with it or something. She reluctantly puts it in her purse. I give the AirBnB host my last cigar because something was telling me not to take it to America with me (more on that later). I send slim girl home in a La Nave and then take a 10 K peso La Nave to the airport.

All in all, for my first ever trip, I consider it successful. Didn't hit as many girls as I normally do in Santo but I'm a veteran there so I wasn't expecting the same results. The potential of Cuba is clear to me and I'll be back very soon.

I should also mention that when I got back to America. While going through Global Entry. I was pulled aside for secondary screening (surprise, surprise). They took my phones and laptop, my passport and driver's license. I gave them the passwords to my phones (I travel with 4 of them thangs) and my laptop and they put me in a room by myself for about an hour. I suspect that I got flagged because I'm normally in Santo every two weeks and then suddenly I took a detour to Cuba. After about an hour, they come back with all my stuff and say they're returning my property. I guess they didn't find whatever they were looking for. Then they search all my bags (thank God I didn't take that last cigar with me. Always trust your gut! After searching my bags and finding nothing they sent me on my way. Strange.

All flights to my home city were cancelled due to the snowstorm raging across the USA So I decided to call an audible and actually flew back to Santo for a day (it's funny, I spent more money in Santo in a day and a half than I did my entire Cuba trip, so that gives you an idea of the differences in prices). When I got back from Santo the day after next, customs pulled me to the side again, took my phones again and searched my bags again. Damn, why'all really hate Cuba huh? LOL. Anyway, all is well and I'm back now. All of the airport headaches were worth it though. I will definitely be back to Cuba, I don't care how many times customs wants to persecute me over it.

Best,

KingSanto.

10 days ago when I was in Havana, Cuba I was getting 330 CUP for $1 USD. I've heard it as high as 340 CUP /1 USD. It's not hard to do. People are all over exchanging money. Request Cuban peso bills of larger denomination (200,500 and 1000) to avoid too much change and counterfeits.

I have now moved on to Colombia and enjoying life. I took a direct flight from Havana straight to Bogota. From there you can catch a flight to any major point in Colombia.

During a recent trip (within 2 weeks) to Havana revealed once again that some target rich areas were San Rafael, Parque Central and Prado with San Rafael taking the lead. Chill out and grab a table and a drink near Brule 66 on San Rafael and they will come or you can take a stroll. I do both. Parque Central was completely dark at night with none of the lights in the park working. Also here's a bonus nugget for you, during the weekends I would hit La Feria in the area over on Galiano between Simon Bolivar and Neptuno. Everytime I went to La Feria I had all I could handle so I had to pick and choose who to take. Some good eye candy there too.

In regards to the La Nave ride share app, I used it. Here is an example, I took the basic ride from near Parque Fe del Valle to Miramar and it came out to 1900 CUP. On the way back I used a taxi and it was only 700 CUP. I also got quoted a ridiculous amount to go to the airport so I just stuck with the $20 USD from Havana to the Airport. I would have used the bus from Parque Central to the Airport but my flight was too early. The first bus picks up at 10:40 am.

I don't bother with the hotels. I always do Airbnb or Casa Particulars. It's much better IMO and I always have a few chicas cooking traditional Cuban food for me and let them take the rest home so they tend to cook a lot.

I've been using my Cubacel sim card for about 3 years now. That's the advantage of knowing locals and not just running around chasing tail like you're a pervert. It's easy to load online and cheap. Sim card last about a year so that is correct.

There is an abundance of talent in Havana if you are doing the right thing in the right places. I advise not to seek out and hang around Gringos or foreigners of the likes. Save that for when you get back home. Only spend Cuban Pesos whenever you can and limit spending Dollars, Euros or Pounds. You'll thank me later for that advice. My next move is to get the Cuban spending cards to use at the Tiendas Cardenas and load it with foreign currency. Also there has been some business opportunities open up for me. There is benefits in knowing the right people.

[QUOTE=MongerHunger;2976940] I've been using my Cubacel sim card for about 3 years now. That's the advantage of knowing locals and not just running around chasing tail like you're a pervert. It's easy to load online and cheap. Sim card last about a year so that is correct. [/QUOTE]I wanted to clarify this. The Cubacel sim card that is available to locals (Not the Tourist Sim) will work almost for 1 year (I think 335 days) if it is not reloaded and then it will expire. I have been loading my card before it expires and I can confirm that as long as you are reloading the Sim Card before the expiration it will continue to work. Reloading online is possible. If you are going to frequent Cuba I suggest that you get the right Sim Card. Not the Gringo Tourist Sim Card.

Hey fellas. Cuban veteran here. Had my Cuban friend book me a house in Vedado for $40 USD per day but that stupid Cuban landlady gave it to another tourist today. She couldn't wait 6 more hours. I'the really appreciate if anyone has contact for a house in Havana. I'll write a detailed report when I get back next Sunday. Thanks.

[QUOTE=Sammytheman;2978084]Hey fellas. Cuban veteran here. Had my Cuban friend book me a house in Vedado for $40 USD per day but that stupid Cuban landlady gave it to another tourist today. She couldn't wait 6 more hours. I'the really appreciate if anyone has contact for a house in Havana. I'll write a detailed report when I get back next Sunday. Thanks.[/QUOTE]That's messed up! Airbnb dot com works great when looking for casas and other accommodations in Cuba. I vouch for it.