 | Havana Local Customs | Tips 1 - 10 of 81 |  |
Popular Local Customs | Miscellaneous Local Customs Tips | All Tips (81)  | |  |  | Please Pay the Band | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
In Cuba, Mexico, and other Latin countries, bands will expect to receive a tip from you if you are sitting on a patio, cafe, the beach, or a small bar enjoying their music. This is custom and standard, it's how they make a living and they're not getting paid by the venue. Generally $5 for a table of three people is a decent enough tip. The band will consider it stealing if you don't give them something, they're troubadours or mariachis, and they incorrectly assume you already know about the payment arrangement. Even locals give them some money if they stop to enjoy the music. I've seen way too many Western tourists treat them as common buskers or bums trying to rip people off. There can be loud arguments. It's a cultural misunderstanding, with both sides feeling cheated in the end. Know before you sit down that you will be expected to pay and have some money ready to give them when they do a break in their set.
Bonus Tip: If they have a CD for sale and you buy one (approximately $10-15), you won't be expected to give them a tip on top of that. (Get them to sign it for fun, it makes a nice souvenir!) Leave a Comment
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Be nice, give one kiss in the cheek and offer your too. If is too formal, just shake hands and say your name.
Younger girls are open and mind free, as cubans are. Don't be afraid to say a "piropo", is a short and daring phrase to express how U feel about that particular girl or woman. It's tipical to say this things in Cuba, for example:
- que niña mas hermosa...los angeles se han enojado conmigo porque en vez de soñar con ellos sueño contigo
- tu papa debe ser arquitecto y de los buenos, por ha creado un monumento de lo mas bello
-quisiera ser un lagrima tuya para nacer en tus ojos, vivir en tus mejillas y morir en tu boca corazon
-tantas curvas y yo sin freno bombon
- eres como Santa Barbara, santa por delante y barbara por detras Leave a Comment
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Cubans are noisy people. Don´t be scared if U see people shouting one each other in the middle of the streets or maybe from house to another, specially in Old Havana and Centro Habana, where the streets are so narrow and each house has it balcony. Shouting is usual between cubans and even whe you talk to someone standing right next to U they for sure will speak out loud. Íf it bothers you, don´t hesitate to tell´em to speak more quiet. Leave a Comment
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| | | | Make sure to carry some change | Tip Rating: | | | | |
It's not a very big secret that Cubans in general don't have much to live on but they can be very resourceful when it comes to taking their small share of the tourist industry to make a living. There are lots of very good musicians around, or people dressed up in tropical costumes offering you to get a picture taken with them, improvised tour guides, people braiding hair, offering horse carriage rides, selling (fake) cigars, CDs, fried plantains, handing out toilet paper near restrooms... It might get a little tiresome after a while but these people are all nice and friendly and have chosen an agreeable way of making a living so why not thank them for making your day more colorful by helping them out with some spare change. I'm not saying that you should be buying cigars at every street corner: in that case a simple "no gracias" will do the trick. But when it comes to street or restaurant musicians or people working in restrooms, I think it's only fair to hand out a few coins, which is why I highly recommend carrying petty change at all time so you don't get stuck having to turn someone away because you only have 10 CUC bills in your wallet. Leave a Comment
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on August 30, 2004
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