Callejon de Hamel — Local services in Cayo Hueso

SCAM - READ REVIEWS!

If you end up talking to local in the surrounding area and they offer to walk you around, immediately say no and go on your way. Unless you are up for an impromptu tour that is not free.

They will offer to show you the university, the baseball stadium Fidel Castro played at, the former Bacardi factory (now legendarily) and then last but not least bring you here to Callejon de Hamel.

The bar at the end of the street sells drinks at 3X the price of what they would be anywhere else, and your local “friend” will of course recommend sitting down and having a few.

The catch: the drinks are way over priced and the locals get a commission on all the drinks you buy.

You will notice the other tables are groups with a mix of other tourists and other local “friends” running the same hustle.

I hate to say this because I typically love talking to the local people I meet during my travels, but it you go here, don’t engage the locals and just spend enough time to walk through, see the art, and take a picture.

My name for this hustle and similar hustles is “The Cuban Long Con” where a local will engage you for minutes or even hours under the pretense of being kind and friendly, but really having only one goal in mind the entire time - making money off you somehow and someway.

I’ve been in Cuba for 2 weeks and sadly have not been able to talk to a single local (outside of a restaurant or casa particular) without the experience turning into a hustle, con, or straight guilt trip / handout ask such as “help me buy some milk...

SCAM! We were walking along the malecon street when 2 cubans walking next to us started talking to us. We started making conversation with them thinking it was nice to interact with the locals. Then they mentioned that they were going to this place were music and dancing will be happening etc. we thought it sounded nice so we went there. At first we liked the scene, loads of colors and art around. The two cubans started showing us around which we didn’t really ask them to as we expected to see dancing and music and were waiting for that..but there was nothing yet. Then they continued to show us around which soon felt like they were giving us a tour and something started to feel wrong. We started realizing that this was a scam as the led us towards the bar, we kept asking them when will the show start? In 5 minutes they kept saying…(no indication of any festival happening like they mentioned) the bar had no menu, they started being a bit pushy with sitting down with them for a drink, the barman too, we could see other tourists at the tables around accompanied by cubans, and thats when we decided to leave as it was obvious to us that it was a trap to give them money.. we told them that we have something else arranged and they still did not miss the chance to ask for money from us… It is a total shame, we really thought that they were being friendly with us but they only wanted our money. So disappointing!! The man on the second picture was one of the cubans who took us there ( just to avoid being...

Scam! I only checked this place out because it was on Google Maps… should have read the reviews first. It’s a nice alley with cool art, but they’re trying to get money out of you at every turn. I tried to brush off the guide when he first approached, but he said “don’t worry the tour is free.” Then after 3 minutes of walking around, he sold me his “family” CD for $10 USD. I’m wondering now if his father really did die 2 weeks ago, like he said… I thought $10 was a bit steep for Cuba, but OK to support the music and the programs they give for children. And then he asked for a tip! I gave an extra dollar, and he asked for $5. The non-alcoholic drink was $5 too. I tried to reason with the bartender, but didn’t feel safe so just paid and left. All in all, more money than I’ve spent at any other establishment in Cuba, and I only spent 5 minutes 🙃 Even the super fancy places are cheaper than that. Really unfortunate. All other “scammers” in Cuba have been respectful when I say I’m not interested, but these guys had a whole play. Cult vibes for sure. I’ll head back to Havana Vieja where the scammers are...