Preparations for Cuba

Posted On July 2, 2018

It is illegal for an American to travel to Cuba as a tourist. While former President Obama changed the law to allow American’s to travel to Cuba on a limited basis, and President Trump back off some of those advances, it is possible to travel to Cuba in a few circumstances.

1. Family visits

2. Official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations
3. Journalistic activity
4. Professional research and professional meetings
5. Educational activities
6. Religious activities
7. Public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions
8. Support for the Cuban people
9. Humanitarian projects
10. Activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes
13. Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials
14. Certain export transactions that may be considered for authorization under existing regulations and guidelines.

Disclaimer: While these circumstances are based on my interpretation, it may not hold true in the future, Please do not take these statements as warranty or representation that any subsequent travel is legal. Be sure to look at current guidelines posted for travel to Cuba should you desire to travel.

We traveled to Cuba based on number eight above, in Support of the Cuban People. It is also important to note that as of the time of this writing, documentation of the trip must be maintained for five years for audit purposes if requested by the United States government.

While I would say it is easy to get to Cuba, an hour flight non-stop from Tampa, Florida airport and the required Visa is purchased at the same time as flight check-in, it’s the documentation part that is difficult. First, as Americans we must support the Cuban people and not the Cuban government. Sounds easy enough, however, when you look at the economic structure of Cuba it becomes clear that it isn’t so easy.

The fact is, the Cuban government owns most everything either 100% or partially, with that in mind, booking a hotel in Cuba is not an option for Americans. No problem really as a few years back the government authorized individuals to own property, like apartments and houses. Since booking a hotel was not an option, booking an Airbnb became the only option. Luckily for us, it was very easy to book an Airbnb. There were many options available one bedroom, two, three and even more; we decided on a two bedroom one bathroom place in Central Havana. Ours even came with the option of daily breakfast prepared in the room by the owner. Each morning, except the morning that we left for the countryside at 6 am, the hostess prepared an exceptional breakfast consisting of eggs, a vegetable or two, three different fruits, fruit juice, and a nice warm Cuban roll.

The fruits and vegetables in Cuba were amazing. All organic and very natural tasting, something we mostly miss here in America when we buy produce from the store. It certainly was a positive traveling to Cuba during mango season; I think we ate more mangoes than our bodies could handle, but trust me it was worth every bite. The bananas are just awesome. If you’re able to taste the bananas from Cuba, you will never want a Chiquita banana again. In fact, I bought some today with much hesitation but thought if I couldn’t get myself to eat them before they were overly ripe, I could just make them into a banana bread. Our breakfast also included cucumber, papaya, pineapple, bananas, watermelon, carrot, green beans, and some vegetables were didn’t really know what it was, but it tasted very good.

Each morning we had freshly made juice with the fruit of the day. Each day was different, consisting of mango, papaya, banana, and pineapple just to mention a few. During the evening we would ask each other “wonder what breakfast will be tomorrow”.

The prices ranged from $20 to over $200 a night so one could find something to fit any budget. Airbnb makes it easy as they provide pictures, reviews and the ability to pay for the Airbnb in US dollars prior to travel. Important because of currency issues that will be discussed later.

Airbnb also provides for the option to book, I’ll call them excursions, while in Havana. For example, we booked a walking photography tour on arrival mostly for us to have a guide to get the lay of the land. The guide took us throughout central Havana as we shot photos of Cubans in their natural element. The tour was about four hours and allowed us the opportunity to support our Cuban guide and also others that we met along the way.

In addition to Airbnb purchases prior to leaving for Havana, we also need figure out how to pay for our time in Cuba. Unlike all of our other travels through out the world, American banks are not allowed to do business in Cuba aka NO PLASTIC, everything is done in CASH. This actually was the hardest for me to comprehend. Even when I traveled to India, I was able to use my credit card. I like that option just because the idea of having to carry cash, and large sums of it, is not optional for me.

Also, Cuba has two currencies, the Cuban Peso and the Cuban Convertible Peso. The first is for Cubans and illegal for foreigners to carry, and the second is for tourists. The first is approximately 25 Pesos to $1, the second is marked to the dollar so 1cuc equals $1. Additionally, the Cuban government also imposes a 10% tax on the conversion of USD, so technically, 1 cuc is equal to $0.90.

Prior to traveling to Cuba, we converted US Dollars to Euro currency, then took that Eur currency to Cuba and exchanged it to Cuban convertible pesos (to avoid the 10% USD penalty). Of course exchanging the US Dollar to Euro currency came with it’s own fees, we just didn’t want to take US Dollars to Cuba for exchange unless we had an emergency and ran out. We needed to make sure we didn’t run out completely, because we had no way to receive money in Cuba in the event of an emergency, because remember, no US Dollar banks can do business in Cuba. We ended up traveling with some US Dollar (emergency funds), Euro currency, and converted Euro currency to Cuban pesos as needed. The currency is a closed currency so it can not be bought outside Cuba and is not allowed to leave Cuba either (good thing they have Duty Free shopping at the airport).

So that is pretty much all we did to prepare for our trip to Cuba and our experience with our Airbnb while we were in Cuba. I’ll provide more information in a later post as I get some more thoughts together. For now, here are some photos of our Airbnb and from our photography walking tour (these are from my cell phone).

Our Airbnb: