Cuba Questions

[Nengal]

I'm an American and, as most of you know, Americans can't exactly go to Cuba whenever they please. However, I have an opportunity to go to Cuba (legally) this summer and I'm taking it. I'm flying into Havana from Miami via chartered flight.

I was wondering if any Canadians, Europeans, other Americans who have been, ect... could tell me anything about what there is to do there or specifically what I should make sure to or not to do while I'm there.

I speak Moderate Spanish, enough to communicate, but it isn't fantastic.

I also recently got back from Colombia, South America which was beautiful and amazing. If any of you have also been here, are there any similarities or big differences?

[BLCalliente]

Smoke a cigar. Order a cuban sandwich.

[Vizardlorde]

im sorry i dont fit your description but id still like to help you, If you can try to visit the beaches of Varadero and Guardalavaca you can also visit the Morro in Havana and if you've heard of Jose Marti (a cuban) poet you might wana pass by his empty house that was turned into a museum in Havana, if you are not interested in museums then id recommend that you try to enjoy your stay at the hotel because the cities are shittier than before and im not sure what the government will or won't allow you to do since Im a cuban.
PS watch out for prostitutes or whores coming on to you even if they dont ask you for money or profess eternal love they might use you to get out of the country and forget about you when they are on this side...

[Nengal]

The Morro sounds and looks interesting. I googled it and it reminds me of Cartagena, Colombia a bit. I'm interested to see if the government does control where we go and stay. I guess if they do, then I don't have much choice in the matter of my itinerary.

As far as prostitutes go, I generally just ignore them and keep walking pretending as if they aren't even there. That tends to work fairly well.

[Vizardlorde]

Do you like hiking? If you do, you might want to go to some of the tallest mountains in Cuba. The Pico Turquino is about 2km tall, and La Gran Piedra is a huge rock at the top of a 1 and half km tall mountain. The cafetal La Isabelica is a Spanish coffee plantation where the main house burned down, but you can see the slave barracks and stuff like that, and it's not too far from La Gran Piedra. But all of those are on the eastern part of the island and I dont know if youll enjoy spending time in the countryside of Santiago de Cuba . In Santiago there's another "Morro" by the bay its not a replica and it was actually used by the Spanish when Santiago was the capital of Cuba. And last thing i remember is that the Diego Velazquez had a house in the middle of the city but very little things of importance remain you can go to admire its architecture along with rusty metal artifacts if you are interested.

[Nengal]

That sounds more like my style. I especially look forward to the countryside and I love hiking and areas that have old towns or things in them. I'll write down all of these places and see if I can get to them. I only have ~10 days so I'm trying to cram as much in as I can. I am really looking forward to the historic side of Cuba as that is why I want to go. I want to learn about Cuba from the Cuban perspective, not an American (diluted) one.

[smelltheglove]

i envy you OP. ive heard that cuba is a beautiful place, and id love to visit it some day. shame all the political bullshit gets in the way

[Tychus]

People from the US can go to Cuba from other places, i.e. fly to Mexico/Jamaica/Bahamas then book a flight to Cuba. Of course, when returning officials will question the presence of "Cuba" stamped in your passport...if you search around there are articles on how people circumvent that.

[Fuzzzie]

i was just in cuba. its was awesome. best island to visit if you can.

[Nengal]

People from the US can go to Cuba from other places, i.e. fly to Mexico/Jamaica/Bahamas then book a flight to Cuba. Of course, when returning officials will question the presence of "Cuba" stamped in your passport...if you search around there are articles on how people circumvent that.

Not worth the $10,000-$250,000 fine if the US government finds out. I know the Cubans couldn't care less if you come, but the US does.

And I've about people going to Cuba through Canada and they come back with sunburn and immigration is all like, "How'd you get sunburn in Canada in the winter?..." I'm not sure how or if they'd find out if you went through Mexico or something, but not worth the risk.

[obdigore]

I honestly don't understand why Cuba is still under 'sanctions' from the US. Are we afraid they are going to get some more missiles from Russia if we start allowing tourism or them to export cigars directly to the US?