Just got back from 3 weeks in Cuba and wanted say that we had wonderful experiences and interactions with the Cuban people and enjoyed the portion of the country we got to see. Just a few notes/highlights:
• Thanks to Wow Cuba for diving recommendations and vouchers that were hassle free and allowed us to carry a bit less cash with us. In some ways we found Rancho Luna by Cienfuegos better than Maria La Gorda. Our dive master, Fidel, was helpful and conscientious, a nice plus for us infrequent divers.
• Remedios is a lovely small town worth a day or more to just hang out and explore. Unfortunately many people visit on tour buses that disgorge them into the town square, they take some pictures, get back on the bus and are off.
• Somewhere in my pre-travel reading I came across the Cuban slang word for people from the US, is la Yuma, and when Cubans asked the obligatory Que pais? And we said Estados Unidos, La Yuma the people got great delight in us using the term, it always brought a laugh and smile.
• Dominos is a great way to interact with Cubans. We had our set with us and all we had to do was sit down and start playing and like a magnet we’d have a couple Cubans ask if they could join. I realized I’m out of my league in dominos strategy plus not used to playing teams but was fun none the less!
• Lluvia de Oro in Habana was a nice place to listen to music and we met a Cuban couple working on restoration activities in Habana. Much discussion about many topics and we had to chuckle afterward when we looked in our Moon guidebook to see that this place provides opportunities to meet “wayward Cubans” (I’d say!).
• The casas particulars was our lodging of choice, outside of the dive locations, and as many have said, the best way experience the people. Only wish we’d brushed up on our Spanish more than we did.
• No problems with carrying loads of cash. Took what we needed with us during the day, then left the rest in locked packs with cable locks to a bed/chair etc. (not that we ever felt concerned with any of the casa particular owners).
• No problem bribing Mexican immigration official in Cancun to not stamp our passports. Seems like what we’ve read is that this isn’t as likely as in the past but it went like clockwork.
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<hr>Somewhere in my pre-travel reading I came across the Cuban slang word for people from the US. . . . la Yuma<hr></blockquote>
Yuma is not limited to US visitors. It generally is used to refer to any foreigner from a non-Spanish speaking European or North American country.
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<hr>No problem bribing Mexican immigration official in Cancun to not stamp our passports. Seems like what we’ve read is that this isn’t as likely as in the past but it went like clockwork.<hr></blockquote>
Since this is the first report in several months where someone has avoided a stamp by offering a propina, you might want to describe what actually happened. This is a frequently asked question.
Thanks for the concise report, OP. Nice of you to take time to post it.
The way I gather it, "La Yuma" is the country, the US, thus the way the OP used it to reply the question "which country?" is correct.
"Los yumas" are foreigners, mostly Americans but it also includes pale-skinned tourists from other countries (I've never heard of a Turk or an Italian called a yuma, for example; i think skin complexion has something to do with the term).
OP, I'd like to know more about Lluvia de Oro, please.
I think skin color is probably the defining factor. I was trying to be politically correct and just point out that any light complected non-Spanish speaking foreigner is a Yuma, not just someone from US. At best it is a neutral term. I think it is more commonly derisive rather than complimentary.
Nice post!
#3 - the fact that la yuma is derisive and OP used it anyway with a smile is what makes it so funny....self-deprecating humor, I guess, is universally funny.
Yuma and/or La Yuma is not necessarily used with such a derisive meaning all the time and in fact it’s meaning differ from two generations. Up to around 1995 Yuma was used exclusively for Americans. It has been recently that it has taken the meaning to refer to any non local.
And skin color is not definitely the most important factor.Black Africans can be called “yumas”…neither the language as any Latina American Spanish speaking foreign traveler will be also a “Yuma”.
OP:” No problem bribing Mexican immigration official in Cancun to not stamp our passports. Seems like what we’ve read is that this isn’t as likely as in the past but it went like clockwork”
Thanks to let us know. I hope this is enough to convince others around in this board that such thing has never stopped happening.
Interesting. I have never heard foreign blacks called yumas. Lots of other things, but never yumas.
Cheers,
Terry
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<hr>No problem bribing Mexican immigration official in Cancun to not stamp our passports. Seems like what we’ve read is that this isn’t as likely as in the past but it went like clockwork”<hr></blockquote>
What the OP probably read were first hand reports from a half-dozen recent travelers who said their bribes were refused by front line Mexican immigration officers they encountered in Cancun. For that half-dozen or so who got stamped in spite of their attempt to offer a bribe, those such things (bribes) definately stopped happening. This is the first direct report in six months where someone says that Mexican immigration in Cancun accepted money in exchange for not stamping the passport.
If this is an important issue for someone, it is not going to be much consolation knowing some anonymous poster on the internet said he didn't get stamped, if they emerge from the line with a Mexican entry stamp. Anecdotal evidence is useful in planning for contingencies, or deciding whether or not to go to Cuba. It is not a guarantee of anything though---just what someone posted on an internet bulletin board. The bottom line is not whether ribitx got by without a stamp, it is what happens to you when you step up to the box with the $10/20/50 bill stuck in your passport.
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