The Cuban Hustle is Real (You’ve Been Warned)!

The Cuban hustle is hella strong!! If done right, it’s like a horrible dance you would never have accepted had you known more about your partner.

But that’s the art of the Cuban hustle. Sometimes you see it coming, but often they are so good, it’s not until the ask for money do you realize you’ve been selected for this dance.

If you get caught off guard, be warned, it will cost you money you had no plans to donate, but you often end up doing it out of guilt or respect for their creativity.

The first clue you are about to experience the Cuban hustle is when a stranger asks in English “where are you from?” From there the hustle can go many different ways. Here are my top ten Cuban hustles I experienced.

1. A kid comes up and asks for money. You say no, then they ask for candy.
2. Assume if you get into any yellow taxi, you’ve been hustled. It costs one CUC if you take a shared ride from Vedado to old Havana. However, the yellow taxis will automatically charge you ten CUC.
   

   I avoided the yellow taxi like the plague

3. Cubans get rations of food and alcohol that are only for the Cuban locals. Someone will befriend you on the street and offer to buy rum or cigars at a cheaper price using their card. Don’t trust your new friend. 
4. Older Cuban man walks up in his fancy clothes and offers you his hand. Nobody wants to be rude to an older gentleman so of course, you’re going to shake his hand. You may even take a picture with the nice older man. Then he charges you three CUC for the handshake. That’s a bold move, but you can’t hate the hustler!
5. Internet access in Cuba is almost nonexistent.  Locals and tourist must use Wi-Fi cards and hot spots to get the Internet. Many of these hot spots are near hotels that sell Wi-Fi cards, but they are stingy about giving them out to non-guests. Luckily there are Cubans selling them on the streets in these areas. However, be careful not to purchase a used Wi-Fi card. Always make sure the password is hidden before purchasing a card. 
6. The information desk at the airport is usually a safe place to go for honest info. Nope, one of the best hustles yet. I was told I couldn’t exchange money at the airport and that I had to go into town. That’s when I was sent to a hotel to exchange money and ended up losing $200 dollars in this new exchange rate. On a side note, there are several places to exchange money at the airport. 
7. I get maybe passing for being French when in Europe, but passing as a Cuban local? This is a bold face lie, but that’s exactly what happened when we met our new Cuban friends while walking in Havana. When they said
   

   Handshake hustle happened more than once

   it, I thought they were trying to be polite and didn’t realize it was a setup to their Cuban hustle. Everything became clear when they mentioned they had a hook on rum and weren’t trying to offer us to use their ration card. It seemed so innocent that our new “friends” were willing to help us out. They took us to an abandoned building, which seemed legit that we were about to get a real deal. I was willing to risk it for cheaper rum. However, when they had to knock on the window and not the door that should had been our first clue something wasn’t right. The two options in my head were that we were about to get a real deal or get robbed.Yet, I stayed to play out what was about to happen. 

8. An older woman and another that looked like her adult daughter started chatting with my friend and I. They offered to take us to buy rum or cigars at a better price. When we didn’t fall for the easy bait and that’s when they went in for the kill. The younger one asked for money to buy milk for her baby. Talk about pulling on the heartstrings. I gave her money out of guilt, but when the older woman said she too needed milk money all she got was my side eye look. I am still shaking my head that I got hustled for milk money! 
   

   Milk money hustlers

9. You negotiate the price for a cab before getting in because, at this point, you know better. As you’re riding to your destination, you see the driver attach a taxi sign to his car and he puts on a name badge. All seems innocent, right? Nope! When you arrive at your destination he attempts to change the price on you. 
10. You are asked what’s your name? A simple question that wouldn’t ring any alarms, yet, you have no clue that you’re about to experience the best Cuban hustle ever. You give the man your name and then he creates an entire song based on your name. Many are flattered by the having a song made just for them. And then comes the Cuban hustle. “Pay me for the song I made for you!” 

I loved being in Cuba, but that Cuban hustle makes you nervous to talk to locals. My advice is to not shy away from talking to local as I met some of the most amazing people and some of them were those who tried to hustle me and my friends. Plus, remember it is still your choice to give your hard earn dollars for the creative hustle or not.

Note: The cover picture is of a woman who asked me to give her the jumper I was wearing or the dress from the day before. In her own words, “I am not picky, I’ll take either one.”

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