Cuba is a Country full of contradictions and opposites. Cuba is a country with a lot of greedy people and every kind of mild criminals and hustlers. Cuba is a country where I spent a lot of time searching for most things, and luckily, I found Trond at last. Cuba is a country where the adrenaline has been rushing through my body - but unfortunately not in the good way.

My search for Trond took approximately 2,5 days and involved 4 persons at the end of it. A number of unfortunate coincidences made my first days in Cuba confusing and at some points I thought I would be unable to locate Trond. The misfortune started when Trond and his friend, Espen, managed to forget the time of their flight from Sao Paulo to Cuba. A lucky coincidence made them remember the time of their flight, only 9 hours before the flight. With a minimum of 5 hours drive in a taxi, depending on traffic etc, they rushed out of their hotel, out of the city they where in, out in the streets to find a taxi and after 5-6 hours on the road and USD $300 less in their pocket, they arrived at the airport in fair time before the flight. The only problem was, that checking their mails was not possible on the airport - and they would leave Brazil without even knowing that I would arrive in Cuba shortly after their arrival. Ignorantly arriving in Cuba, without any chance to check their mail due to the great shortage of internet, they did not really think that I would take the time to visit them. So while they were doing the sights of Havana, in a comfortable pace and without any stress, I would run around and search for them. At the end, I had to get a friend from Denmark to send an SMS to Trond and 1 day after, we managed to meet - at last. A great reunion and the beginning of a joyful, but somewhat painful journey.

One of the things Cuba is well known for, is the high number of "mild crimes". A mild crime in my world, is pick pocketing, hustling in the streets and purse snatching. Encounters with prostitutes are not a crime, but they are absolutely everywhere and just talking to them is definitely not a crime, but they will steal anything from you if they get just the slightest chance. Most prostitutes in Cuba walk together with a male "protector". The protector is the one who initiate any conversation with a tourist, and he always start the conversation by asking you for a light, asking for the time or just where you come from. If you are dumb enough to stop up for a second, at least one of at least two things can happen. Either someone comes up from behind and snatches money, cards, wallet or similar from your pocket, or a woman comes up to you and start talk to you. As prostitution is illegal in Cuba, they have different ways of getting paid. They want a drink, either for themselves or their imaginary son/daughter. They want food, a date, a ride home or anything that does not bring cash into their pocket. This is at least what I have heard. The true trick of this trade, is that some of these people actually seems nice, but as most Cubans - they are only after your money. Even though I never ended up being hustled by these people, they are definitely sneaky and annoying as hell. Unarmed robbery is also definitely a borderline crime, but somewhat common.

Probably the most common mild crime in Cuba, is pick pocketing and I already acquainted myself with this the first evening after locating Trond. When searching for Trond during the day, I got in contact with 2 Norwegian girls. They invited me to join them for a party later that same night, because it was the day of the revolution in Cuba. I thought that even if I found Trond or not, that could be a fun thing to do. We agreed to meet at 21:00 outside the hotel we met and we had to take a taxi to the square where the party were at.

Arriving at the party, I found myself in a crowd with only Cuban people. Walking around in this crowd, with 3 very blond persons, a big camera bag on my back and an even bigger backpack on Tronds back, I don’t think it is necessary to say that we attracted some attention. The party was a bit different than we expected, though, and agreed to just get something to drink and sit down somewhere. There was a gas station at the one side of the square, and this was the only outlet of alcoholic beverages around. Since Cubans have no knowledge of how to queue up for alcohol, we were passive bystanders for a number of Cubans who just cut in front of us and everybody else. When we finally arrived at the counter, I noticed that my big camera bag got a lot of attention and I moved it in front of me. Even if I tried to hide it between me and the counter, 4 or 5 guys looked over my shoulder to take a look at it. I felt like a target and became as alert I have ever been on this trip. And thanks to this, I managed to avoid getting broke.

Seconds before it was my turn, I noticed a very brief touch around my left trouser pocket. Not thinking too much of it at first, I started to wonder about the touch after a few seconds. It was a strange place to gently be gazed by a stray hand from anyone standing in my proximity and I got a bit suspicious. I slowly checked my pockets and noticed that my VISA card was missing. I tried to recollect if I actually brought it with me and I had to admit to myself, that I was 100% sure that I brought it with me, because I needed money that day. Normally I never walk around with important items on me, like passport and cards, but this day was an exception. I silently panicked but behaved calmly. I briefly looked at the guy to the left of me and just by looking at him, I just knew there was something fishy with him. I checked my pockets one more time and looked back at him. He started to look nervous and I looked at his pocket closest to me. To my surprise, I saw 3 millimeters of a card sticking up from his pocket and the bit of the card sticking up from his pocket displayed the name of the bank it had been issued from. The letters were too small to read, but I managed to count the number of letters in the two words that made up the name. The words had exactly the same number of letters as my bank and I couldn’t recognize the Spanish word for bank: Banco, so I suspected the card to be mine. I looked at him again, pointed at the card and made gestures that I wanted to see it. He put on an act, pretending he didn’t know what I was insinuating and I knew I had to be more aggressive. Without resisting at all, he actually let me retract the card from his pocket. I was actually pick pocketing his pocket right in front of him, while he was watching and his friends standing right next to him. He knew I had spotted him, but he was too stupid to know how to behave. He should have left right after he got my card, he should have given it to a friend of he should have put on a better act when I spotted him. I’m sure, though, that he will be a better pick pocket after some more practice and I am sure that he will manage to get some money from unaware tourists. My adrenaline was pumping as I asked him in Norwegian what the f**k he did with my card in his pocket and he just lifted his shoulders as if he didn’t knew anything about it. I am glad I encountered a novice in the art of pick pocketing, but I learned my lesson - never bring your card or more than money necessary for one night out, because many of these thieves are very skillful. Unfortunately this was just the beginning and the next encounter was not as pleasant.

One of the really sad things in Cuba, is the "system". I have tried several times to talk to Cubans about how things really work, but I have been met with a raised index finger to the lips, hushing sounds and dead silence. Cubans are afraid and most people don’t approve of the country they are forced to live in. The government is everywhere - controlling, supervising, dictating, preventing, suppressing and oppressing. Private individuals can’t even own a computer or a store. The government sets the amount on the paycheck for everyone and people renting out their houses to tourists, have to pay mad amount of money in taxes for the privilege. It seems impossible to make money in this country, but it is still madly expensive. Because of all the rules and lack of money in circulation in Cuba, a lot of people go to the streets in search for their fortune. Some find their fortune, others don’t, but for a tourist, the fight for money is frightening and apparent. Beggars and/or hustlers in the street, can actually make more money than a medical doctor. How sick is that? I heard that a medical doctor, even after 10 years at the university, only gets the equivalent to USD $22.

Everyone wants a piece of the tourists and if you are not aware, they will try to hustle you for as much money as possible. After a week in Cuba, we traveled from the city of Trinidad, to the city of Viñales. In Trinidad, we stayed at a really nice house, with a very nice lady. We payed $25 for the room and $4 for the breakfast. This is more or less normal prices in Cuba, but the fact that the service was excellent and the woman of the house was the sweetest person, justified the price. We had one meal in the house and this cost us $10. This is relatively expensive, but it was a seafood dinner, with lobster, shrimps, fish and all the garnish in the world. Lobster is actually prohibited in Cuba, among a lot of other things, so the price was a bit higher than normal, but the food was so good, that we had no problems paying the price. When we left this house, to go to Viñales, the woman of the house called a similar house in Viñales and made reservations for our stay. Everything was set for a good trip so see some of Cubans finest areas of nature.

The thing is, that when one house, calls another house and make reservations, they also tell what prices the guests have been accepting. The normal price for a room in Viñales is $15-20, but this little piece of information was not known to us at the time of arrival. Few seconds after arrival, I suspected the behavior of the couple running the house. They were very eager to serve us everything and almost forced us to eat, drink and sleep more - so they could get more paid. I didn’t pay much attention to my first impression and just let it pass. The last day, when eating breakfast, we tried to make a rough estimate of what the stay would cost us. Considering the information we got from most people we talked to, we thought that approximately $250 would be a fair price for the 3 nights we stayed there. This price was actually a bit higher than our estimate, so we thought it was within reason. When we were presented with the bill, reading the amount, our jaws dropped to the floor - $358,50. More than $100 more than our estimate, and we had to go through it to thoroughly to figure out how that could be. They charged us way more for food and the room, than the normal rate in town and when complaining about the bill, we were just told "why didn’t you ask for prices when you arrived?". The man of the house told us to pay his wife and left without talking to us.

Luckily, we met an Italian guy some days before, who spoke Spanish and we got some help from him negotiation. The woman of the house was apparently the boss of the house and when she heard the commotion, she came running out. A huge discussion started and I’m sorry to say, that after discussing with her, I do not think much of the Cuban intellect. I know I make general assumptions, but after several encounters with Cuban "reasoning", "logic" and "trustworthiness", they have a lot of work to do, to convince me that Cubans are good people. The woman of the house complained about us not asking for the price of the room on arrival and she said that if we had asked, they could have set the price lower. I’m still surprised though, how 3 nights make a difference. What is the difference of lowering the price when we arrive or when we leave? They couldn’t even give us different rooms, because they only have two rooms in the house. They couldn’t have done anything different and the only difference is, that they have been walking around for 3 days, thinking that they will get $25 for a room instead of $20. Her argument was that we came to her house paying the same prices in the previous city, so we knew the price. For the first time in my life, I have been presented with this kind of floating economy. With her reasoning, I would have had to pay $50 for a room in her house, if I paid that in the previous house, even if the normal price in town is $10. When I told her, that I am not going to pay more than $20 for the room and $7 for the dinner, she got angry and told me that it was her house and I was not the one to set the prices in her home. Strangely, she uses the prices in a town halfway to Europe, to set the prices herself. Strangely, she only followed the prices in the other town, and not the rules. In the last town we got our own key, but in her house, we had to knock on the door in the middle of the night to get in. If I knew they were ripping us off, I would have come home even more late and definitely not together with my friends - just to get more value for my money. After a lot of unreasoning and amazingly stupid arguments, she threatened us by saying she would call the police unless we payed and left right away. Not even thinking about the rights of tourists in Cuba she managed to scare me a bit, and since we only had 30 minutes before our bus left, we backed off. In hindsight, I know we could have negotiated a massive discount, but we didn’t think fast enough. The tourists are almost better protected than Cubans in some areas of the law and we should have stood ground and said "then call the police - we are not paying". We managed to get a $25 discount and got a very expensive experience. I learned my lesson - always agree on prices up front and people are not as nice as they portrait themselves as.

Two days before leaving Cuba, we planned on seeing the carnival of Havana. A three days event which normally attracts a huge crowd. We went down to the area of the carnival, the Italian guy, a Danish girl, my friends and me, and after just a few minutes in the crowd, the pick pockets were at it again. This time, they could just try, cause I did not have anything valuable except my money, and they were in my shoes. Trond and me encountered three attempts on pick pocketing, but we noticed the attempts before they could have gotten anything from us, so nothing really happened. We spent a few hours looking at the most boring carnival show I have ever imagined, and we decided on going up to a square by the pedestrian area to get something to drink. As we were sitting here, we attracted a lot of attention from loads of different kind of people. Some of them were really nice and we spent a lot of time talking to local people. Some of them were unfortunately not nice, and I will definitely remember this night for this kind of people.

After few drinks with good friends and a lot of fun, I had to go to the toilet, but there were no toilets around, that could give me the quick relief that I needed. I didn’t think about in what country I was in and did what I could have done back home if it was an emergency: find an alley without people and do what I need to do. I was still alert of everything happening around me and I did not see anyone following me or any spooky guys hanging out in the alley I went into. I relieved myself and just as I was about to turn around to return to my friends, I felt a strange bump in my head. I didn’t really know what it was at first, but after a few split seconds, I realized that I was being more or less violently robbed. Attacked from behind with an arm around my throat, unable to breathe and pulled out on the street, I felt 2 or 3 sets of hands going through my pockets and underwear. The only reaction I was able to have, was thinking that if I don’t get air, I will suffocate and I tried to make the one choking me, to release his grip by pulling his arm away from my throat. This attempt only tightened the grip and I realized that the only thing I could do, was not to resist at all. I let them finish their job, knowing that assaults with fatal results are very rare in Cuba. The Cubans have too much to lose if they get caught killing someone, so they do not put themselves in that situation. They only want money and they grab every chance they get for this. This particular night, their chance was me and my relative stupidity. Even though I felt fear of death by strangling for a short period of time I knew that it was a highly improbable outcome. I was stupid enough to walk into an unlit alley at night and I was stupid enough to carry money in my pocket. I moved the money from my shoes to my pockets short time before this happened, but I thought about moving them back to my shoes 2 minutes before the attack. The money is the least of my worries, though, and it is not the reason that I got attacked. I lost approximately $65, my dictionary, the key to my room and nothing more really. The experience itself was unpleasant enough to think twice the next time I have a chance to put myself in a situation like this. I learned my lesson - stay together in groups at night.

I am fine, though. There is no need to worry. My neck and throat hurts a bit from the strangling arm, but I was not hurt in any way. I did not see or hear any of the attackers. The attack was not more than 15 seconds long and they disappeared as quickly as it started. When turning my head to look for them after they let me go, the alley was absolutely empty. Somehow, 3-4 persons managed to sneak up on me without a sound and managed to disappear in the same way. I suspect them to have come out of a building, but it is hard to know.

Right now, I am back in Colombia, a country I actually feel more safe in than I ever did in Cuba. Unfortunately, my impression of Cuba have been tainted by cheaters, hustlers, robbers, dishonesty and fake friendliness, but despite all of this negativity, Cuba is an amazing country, if you manage to find the core of the country. I want to go back - hopefully a bit more wise from this visit and I know I will get a chance to experience a Cuba with everything else than greedy scumbags.