The small time Cuban Hustler's rap

Question: Where are you from?
Reply: I have a cousin/aunt/sister/brother/etc in (fill in the State).
Question: How long have you been here?
Question: What do you think of Cuba?
Question: Do you like to dance?
Question: Do you like cigars?
Question: Do you like mojitos/Cuba Libres?
Question: Where are you staying?

The best thing to do is keep walking. You can give vague 1 word responses but keep walking and go about your business. When you walk you need to walk like you have a destination in mind. If you respond in the affirmative to some of the questions then you'll find that everyone knows the best place to get whatever or the best place to go where ever.

On Thursday, we started with 2 hours of folklorico. Even though we took salsa classes in the states it was intimidating doing it in Cuba. There is a lot of pressure on the guy. Also, AL and I realized that we don't really like the Cuban salsa music. We got an album from the group that is considered by Cubans the best salsa group, Los Van Van, and truthfully we don't even like it that much. We just like dancing with each other. Truly, we like Samba better. But folklorico is fun too. Very hard. By the end of the class, we were drenched in sweat. We danced to the Orisha Ogun who is the orisha of the countryside.

After class, AL and I started to walk to Vedado from our location in Havana Centro. Nothing like walking to help you learn a place. As we walked along the Malecon we came upon the US special interest building. This isn't the consulate but the "special interest" building. The place is guarded all around by Cuban security and they won't even let you walk on the same side of the street. Right next to the building is the Cuban Anti-Imperialist plaza that flies numerous Cuban flags. Actually, the place had more flags in one place than anywhere I've ever been. The anti-American government sentiment is strong in Cuba and all around Cuba are propaganda billboards extolling the virtues of Cuba and the evils of the US and GWB.

From there, AL and I had lunch at a state-run vegetarian restaurant called "Carmelo" in the Vedado region. When we first went in I asked how much did things cost. The lady said 10 CUCs in Spanish. I asked for a menu and on the menu it said 8 CUCs. Everywhere we go people are always trying to hustle us. I pointed to the price on the menu and the lady nodded in the affirmative and said in Spanish, "Si, ocho CUCs." Always ask for a menu. The meal was vegetarian and pretty bland and boring as I found most Cuban food to be. Maybe, when you get meat there's more excitement but the vegetarian fare was sparse and unexciting.

After our lunch, we went looking for our friend's uncle that lives near the Hotel Havana Libre and was actually born and raised in New Hampshire. He said after being in the Korean War something drew him to Cuba. The guy was almost 70 years old and quite a character. He also kept commenting on how beautiful and gorgeous AL was. It was hilarious in a dirty old man kind of way. His neighbor and friend was also the first Chino-Latino I saw in Cuba. So AL and I hung out with the two for a while shooting the shit and drinking rum while they chainsmoked Criollos cigarettes. The whole time we were talking he would stop every so often and whistle or talk to women passing by. Old or young, it didn't matter. A real character.

While the uncle was nice, his age was starting to show as he repeated the same phrases and stories to us roughly 5 times over. It's rough when you get old. So we made up an excuse of meeting some friends near the Plaza de la Revolucion and made our way over there. It's at the Plaza were the famous Che picture is on the side of the building. There's also a monument to Jose Marti there. Other than that, the Plaza isn't much to see and is far from most things.

On the way back, we also had ice cream at Cuba's famous Coppelia ice cream. It was hear that I learned another lesson. Always ask, "Cuanto cuestan?" We thought that since the prices were on the board we'd be ok. But the guy charged us for another thing that he said that he had brought us instead. Now it was only 1 CUC more that he was charging each of us, but it's the principle dammit! But in the end I didn't want to get all hyphy over 2 dollars, so I chalked it up to another lesson learned. When people got it hard they are always trying to squeeze a it more outta you, especially in the cities.

As we walked back, we stopped to sit and relax on the Malecon. This is where I learned by best response to the hustlers. 2 lady approached us and gave us the hustler rap. I answered nicely that I don't drink, smoke, or dance. In fact, I was a vegetarian and very religious. Upon hearing this, the two lady hustlers said goodbye and got up and actually moved down the Malecon 20 yards from us. They just sat there the rest of the time. I guess they figured that hanging with the religious guy would be really boring. Sweet.