November 2007

October 2007

I've been thinking of sending an e-mail to you for a while, but simply haven't had any time .. I am still thinking of Cuba and great time that I had there..

How is your family? Wife, children? Your wife is just great.. I remember when I arrived to Havana on the very last day of my stay in Cuba, so I went to your place and you were not there, but just your wife.. and she brought me to the balcony and talked to me in Spanish.. and in spite of the fact that I don't speak Spanish I could understand what she was talking about because she was explaining everything so vividly with her face and hands.. So, it was not difficult to understand that you had gone to the market to buy some food, that you were going to come back soon.. than she asked me if I wanted some water and she was explaining something and than I figured out that she was trying to tell me that there were not many tourists really keen to drink a tab water in Cuba, because they were afraid of catching some virus or something.. Please send my best regards and kisses to your wife and tell her that the conversation I had with her that day was one of the most interesting in my whole life!!

I hope your beautiful children are doing fine.. Please thank your son on my behalf for helping me to carry my suitcase down the stairs.. Such a strong young boy!!!

Also, if you see Alberto and his wife, send them all regards of this world from me.. I had an incredible stay at their home and if I ever go back to Cuba again (and I want to believe that might be soon) I would like to go there again.. Speaking of which, a friend of mine is coming on March and he has asked me to tell you that he would get in touch with you.. He comes from Serbia.. He would also like to go to the Alberto's place..
Furthermore, I posted all information relating to my stay in Cuba, which means recommendations for you as well as your e-mail address, so many people have sent me e-mails asking for more details.. I have told them not to be afraid to get in touch with you, so I guess they will.. I have also told them not to behave like I did, asking zillion of questions, because Internet in Cuba is very slow and expensive (now when I know how expensive is it I hope you will manage to forgive me somehow for bothering you so much during all those months).. And please Pototo, don't hesitate to charge your services and if someone asks how much your services cost, just tell them the price.. you save a lot of money to tourists and you give them just the best, so you have all rights of this world to charge your services!

...and before I forget, do you know by any chance if citizens of ex Yugoslavia are allowed to buy some real estate in Cuba and if we are allowed - what are conditions?

As I said, this guy is coming in March and we will be in touch meanwhile, but please keep in mind that if you need something that I can get you, just tell me and I will send it through the friend of mine..

Many regards, kisses and hugs to your entire family!!
Tu amiga Aleksa

September 2007

Dear Pototo,

......how should I start?....that I am sooooooooo sad that I am back to my country:-((( ....a lot of work, no sunshine, no salsa, no Malecon, no frejoles, con ropa vieja, but what I miss the most: the gorgeous people I've met there.
THANKS A LOT for all what you arranged for me, for your help, for your everlasting kindness. You are great, helpful, sympatic and trustworthy.....I am really sorry that we met only one time, but my time in Cuba was flying with a terrible speed:-( Believe me please, I hadn't time enough to do all what I would have liked to do...buuuuuuuuuuutttttttttt...all the rest I will do during my next travel to Cuba!! Because I certainly want to go back!
The casa you arranged was great...Luis and his family are great, they do all what's possible that there guests feel like home: very clean rooms, indeed a very good working shower, delicious food in fact ALL what you need for a perfect holiday. I m so sorry that I couldn't say more to Luis, but in the day of my departure I was so sad that I could not speak because of my tears....anyway I didn't forget what I promised him and I will keep my promise for sure!
On 15th of September (saturday)I'll leave to Bangkok(Thailanda) for two weeks with a group of friends; it's a trip that was arranged in advance, but to be honest, I am not in the mood to go...I am sure it will not be as good as in CUBA!
I stop now, but not before thanking you again for your help!

Muchos besos y un fuerte abrazos!
Silvia

September 2007

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that Cuba-Junky, and Pototo in particular, have been a great help to me. I was in Cuba last year and met with Pototo when I ran into some finacial difficulties. He helped me out greatly in getting money from my home bank to me. And, afterwards I was able to enjoy the rest of my holidays no problem.

This year, I went back again and stayed at some of the casas he recommended. It was all wonderful. No problems with anything at the casas. And, when I got sick from food poisening, his family even took care of me and nursed me back to health. It was like home away from home.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude for what Pototo and his family have done for me these past two years. Both times I was in Cuba, and both times he/they helped me out when something went wrong.

Highly, higly, recommended. I just can't say enough about this website and Pototo in particular.

Sincerely,

Peter

Toronto, Canada

May 2007

Hola Pototo,

I am back to poland, sitting at my desk in the office,missing cuba a lot.

I want to thank you again for your help, for having usat your house, for pizza, for contacts with Margarita
in Vinales, for arranging the hotel in Varadero, for being friendly.

W e had a great time in Havana, and we also had a great time in Vinales. I finally managed to dance salsa with cuban men :) Margarita is a fantastic woman!!! I almost cried again when we were leaving Vinales but I was a strong woman that time.

I hope your daughter will get to another round. pleaselet me know, if she does.

Say halo to your lovely wife and to your kids.

All the best to you and your family.
With all my love
Gosia

April 2007

Hello, Pototo

I want to thank you for arranging for us to stay at Luis's casa when we were in Havana. He is a very good host and the place was very clean. We will recommend your site and his casa to anyone we know going to Cuba.

We enjoyed our holiday in your country and would love to come back some day My daughter has been to Cuba three times and is returning in June with 9 other people from her university class. They will be visiting schools in Matanzas and learning about the education system in Cuba.

We hope that all is well with you. I did leave some money for you with Luis. I hope that he gave it to you. I had hoped to meet you but it did not happen.

We hope that your country can keep capitalism at bay. The Cubans are so much better off than most North Americans even though most of us have so much. We think that the quality of life is better there and people are more relaxed, not as paranoid.

Take care.

Jeannie

April 2007

Hola Pototo and family,

Frances and I wanted to thank you and your family so much for making our visit to Cuba and especially Havana so enjoyable..It was such a pleasure to meet you and to have you make the arrangements for us while in Havana. Everything was perfect!!!
We especially want to thank you, your wife and family for that wonderful supper that you prepared for us ,and of course the surprise phone call from our son ,"Senior Philipo Blanco"..This trip will always be remembered ,not only because of his surprise engagement to Lise in Havana , but more important, because of you and your family's hospitality to us all....
It was amazing at how fast the time passed while we were at your home...We talked about so many things of interest to us all...It was nice to meet the young couple from Scotland and share their stories of Cuba too...
Frances and I said on the bus trip back to Varadero, that we had forgotten two important things while visiting you in Havana... (1) a group photo with you and your family and (2) We forgot to talk about La Herradura..... We will have to do that next time we meet....

March 2007

Dear Pototo.... and of course all of your family,

I have returned safely but tired. Plane was late but a coupe of drinks an yet another cigar (maybe I will learn how to enjoy them in time) eased the boredom :-)

The feeling of Cuba lingers in my head and ears and I am playing some music I brought with me. Tomorrow I will give my camera to the repair men in order for me to see my pictures. Your UBS worked fine and I await further instructions from you how to return it. For some reasons, you managed to copy the pictures I took on the cemetery (I thought they were the ones lost!!!) but the ones in your camera obviously are the ones still with you. So in some odd way, all the pictures were taken more or less. I am happy for that and to you very grateful for this and for everything.

My kids sends big thanks to Lourdes. No one has yet seen the pictures of your kids and you know way, but all in due course.

I wrote a rather lengthy story on the dives community site to toady, when I finally woke up and it was appreciated. I miss Cuba already, and I will return, hopefully soon, but absolutely next spring. By the way it is spring here in Sweden now and + 9 C.

I hope to hear from Mike and Diana soon and do hope Tyler's visit to MLG turned out to be a good one.

Time wise I am still in Havana, and can not understand that a place could have such impact on only so few days.

I will send you a mail now and then, especially when I uploaded all pictures to my Canon based sajt for you and those I alert, to see.

Big hugs and thanks to all of you and to Mario and his wife (no one named nor forgotten as you say).

Claude

January 2007

Hola Pototo,

I didn't have a chance to call you when i was in Habana. Everything went so fast and at the end of our trip we stayed just a couple of hours in Habana.
but I wanted to send you my warm thank you for all your help.
We really enjoyed staying at Carlos's house.
We had a very wonderful time and lots of rest.
Which was much needed !

have a great great year 2007 !

Marie-France

January 2007

Hi Pototo,

Thanks for putting us in touch with the Conception family - we had a great time in Trinidad at their house. They were very nice people and we loved staying with them - the food was great!

Cheers,

Dan

January 2007

Hola,

I just wanted to thank you for your help in getting me the house (Casa de Ana and Pepe) that I stayed in cuba during my visit. I came back to the US yesterday after a wonderful time in cuba and my hosts were absolutely incredible and exceeded all my expectations. I cannot but thank you for your help in getting the casa.

Actually I am a bit surprised that their casa in not included in the recommendations on Cuba-Junky because in my opinion, they were the perfect hosts. I hope to be back in cuba sometime this year and to also discover more of your beautiful country and it's wonderful people. I wish that we could have met in cuba but I assume that you are a very busy person but perhaps on subsequent visits, we might be able to meet.

Thanks for the help

Su Amigo
Fenny

January 2007

Dear Pototo,

A very happy New Year to you and your family. Thank you so much for the BEST casa we ever had in Cuba. Humberto and his family share their beautiful appartment with us and looked after us very well. I left a very small gift for you at his house. Being 6 people was not always easy...i felt a bit like a tour operator...complaints and all!!! But we did have a wonderful time both in Havana and in Vinales. We managed to stop in Soroa on the way back. Muy linda!!! Two things I need to do, learn Spoanish properly and learn to dance salsa and son with confidence before our next trip.
All the very best to you - things have changed a great in Havana.

Warm regards
Raman

January 2007

Hola Pototo,

Info Luis

Thanks for everything you organised, and I had a great time in Cuba. It has made me very thirsty to come back and drink more mojitos.

The casa owners have asked me to write to you and let you know my thoughts. So this email is feedback for you.

Casa Miguel y Damaris ; Clean and comfortable. Very good location and very hospitable; a home away from home. Good knowledge of the city of Santiago, and were very helpful in organising sightseeing.

Casa Rogelio Inchauspy: One of my favourites, Rogelio met us at the bus station with his dog. The rooms were very grand, with great views over the township. The house is one of the oldest in Trinidad, and Rogelio was a great host. Trinidad is a must see.

Casa Cuqui: Very eclectic where Miami meets Cuba. Cienfuegos was a surprise with a nice malecon with clubs and restaurants. Great food at this casa, and Cuqui is keen to practice her English. Not the most authentic “Cuban” experience, but the hospitality is genuine.

Casa Luis Miguel: This Casa has the best showers in Cuba!, the rooms are large and airy. A great patio with some very nice stained glass. The location is perfect as it is one block from the Malecon and easy walk to Vedado or Palacio Nacional. Luis is a great host; there seems nothing he can not find or recommend from Salsa to the restaurant where Fresa y Chocolate was filmed. He is very safety conscious.

The only thing I would not recommend is the “Tren Frances” from Santiago to Havana, it seems dirty and run down compared to what the guide books say. The service was 15 hours, bathrooms filthy and no food available for Gringos apart from the touts at Camaguey with Cola, queso blanco etc. Even the Casa owners were quiet when I told them, and this was the only time I found a Cuban lost for words. The bus seems the better option now.

Thanks for your service,

Kind regards
Shane Bidois