Funny Stories from Cuba, by Marina and Missy

Missy and I were roommates for the week in Cuba and many people in our group, including Missy and I, found that people don't always translate things quite correctly.

On our first day in the hotel at Veradero, Marina realized that the door wouldn't lock when closed. We tried opening it and shutting it and still it wouldn't lock. We called the front desk, thinking we were dealing with a major security issue, and they sent a maintenance man right away. When he got there he initially didn't understand what we were talking about, but then he understood the problem. He looked concerned for a second, and then quickly opened the door and slammed it furiously shut. Of course it locked and we just hadn't been pulling hard enough. He looked at us like, what's wrong?! And we all laughed and moved on.

In our hotels we weren't always sure how room service worked. On our last night at the hotel in Veradero, after dancing on the beach, we were starving. It was around midnight and we weren't sure that anything would be open, but we had heard there was room service included in our all inclusive hotel, but it was hard to figure out who to call to get it. We called the front desk, and they transferred us to someone else, who transferred us to a third line, at the "snack shack". After trying to order two grilled cheeses to no success, we switched to asking for a "croque monsieur". A lot of the resort guests are Canadian, and we had seen croque monsieur on the menu at one of the restaurants, so we figured they would understand and it was close enough to a grilled cheese. We also ordered fries with ketchup to finish the meal. When room service came a short fifteen minutes later, it was a young man carrying three tiny plastic plates--two with sandwiches, and one with fries. We thanked him and he left, and then turned to eat our food. The sandwiches, it turned out, were not quite the croque monsieurs we were expecting. They were ham and cheese cold cuts on white bread, not cooked or toasted in the least, with ketchup dumped on top. This seemed very weird, and very unappetizing. Marina attempted a bite, and then couldn't eat anymore, and Missy didn't even brave it at all. We ate a few fries, dipped in the ketchup on top of our sandwiches and went to bed.

On our second to last day at a hotel in Havana. Missy had gotten a pedicure the night before. Missy and I went to the front desk to check out and we gave them our keys. The woman at the desk spoke broken English and told us that we owed 30 Pesos for a "Hair Drying". We looked at her and we instantly thought of the hair dryer in our room. We wondered why she was asking us to pay for using the hair dryer in our room. Missy and I went to the tour guide, James, and asked why we had to pay for using the hair dryer. We figured out that on the bill, the pedicure appointment was labeled as "Hair Dresser" but she was saying "hair dryer". Missy and her mom then paid for the Pedicure. 

-- Marina and Missy