That time I became a Cuban smuggler
-Hey Eric, how about a free plane ticket from Cancun to La Habana, Cuba?
-Oh nice, I've wanted to go to Cuba for a long time! What's the catch?
-It's easy, you just have to bring two 20 kilo suitcases with you and give them to my guy when you arrive to Cuba. He'll meet you at the airport, take you to the city and will give you a ticket back, open date that is. You can stay for as long as you want. All you have to do is deliver the suitcases.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
But a few days before my departure date I was offered to go to Cuba. I didn't have a lot of money - as always - and if I wanted to go, I would have to find cheap options, travel wise and accommodation wise.
That's when I found out about this guy. The guy who pays young people a round trip plane ticket from Cancun to Cuba in exchange of them delivering two suitcases to someone on the other side. That means that those who accepted the deal could only bring a handbag for their entire trip in this beautiful island.
Wow, this whole situation sounds shadier than the real slim shady
I mean. I'm trying to lower my travel costs but not to the point where I could end up in jail.
Oh yeah, I bet you are curious about the contents of the suitcases.
I was also curious. In fact, I wouldn't even think about documenting a suitcase without knowing the what's inside it.
Well no, sorry to burst your adrenaline craving bubble, it wasn't drugs or guns, it weren't ancient swords or Mayan archaeological pieces.
It was just clothes, mostly bras and jeans… some cosmetics, a few bottles of deodorant, soap bars and some jewelry.
All brand new and ready to be sold at the or four times the normal price.
Oh Eric, you are such a coward, I was starting to enjoy your posts for once and you let me down again. That's not smuggling and there's nothing to be afraid from getting to Cuba some clothes and other petty things.
I know, I know you're probably right. I should change the title but if I don't it, how am I going to clickbait people into reading my post?
Anyway, try to walk in my shoes for a second:
A stranger you met through a dude you know from a beach bar in Cancun is offering to pay your plane tickets to another country. A country where the police and immigration officers are known for being strict to say the least. You have no money in case shit hits the fan and internet is scarce there, so you can't speak to anyone back home. You are traveling alone and it will be your first international flight to a country that is not the US. You have to deliver two suitcases that, even if you know the contents, you still don't know if there are drugs hidden within the clothes or perhaps those push up bras have diamonds from Sierra Leona stitched to the internal part of the bra.
Well, at least you speak Spanish. That's gotta count for something, right?
I asked the street about the guy and his deals. As it turns out, some of my guys knew people who went to Cuba the very same way I was planning on going. With the same shady deal made by the same fishy guy.
My mind started to ease and after I got to speak with some of the girls, yeah girls, who went to Cuba a few weeks before me, I was confident I wasn't going to end up in Guantánamo.
So I said yes. I called the guy, gave his secretary my passport information and I got the confirmation. I had a two way ticket from Mexico to Cuba.
And it was completely free.
Are you curious about how the story continues? Well, I'm currently on a plane. A plane to a secret place but, if I get more inspiration after I take a long nap, I'll continue the tale.
Dear FBI agent reading this: after reading the post, I hope it was clear that I'm not a smuggler and I'm not Cuban. I don't even drink rum or smoke cigars.
It turned out a very interesting story.
Indeed it was! Thanks for always dropping by my posts and commenting, my friend, I really appreciate it.
Still a risky adventure, not?
Don’t know what I would have done! Guess I would have bailed out and put the offer besides me!
But I will never know!
Oh yeah, I mean it wasn´t what I thought at first but still, it wasn´t a walk in the park, I could still get in trouble with customs and having to pay a big sum of money for importing good.
Well you clickbaited the shit out of me here.. :-)
Hahahaha mission accomplished! But I mean, it´s not like it wasn´t a good story.
I´m not like those youtubers who tripped in the street and title their video "how I almost die while running a marathon"
Lolol
Agree with you the story is funny. Reminds me to read part 2 lol :-) And we all use clickbait from time to time I guess :)
Now you really got my attention! Very curious for the follow up post!
Oh yesss, I don´t know if you already read but if not, Part two is out!
"Wow, this whole situation sounds shadier than the real slim shady" jajaja omg this sounds like something I would have written! Except I never get lucky enough to smuggle suitcases.. haha where can I apply for tHis? Apparently I need to go to bars more often!
De verdad no sabías si habían drogas a dentro?!?!
Funny, I actually asked some random guy at the airport to smuggle my Cuban stuff on the way back to the US from Cuba because I didn't want any evidence that I'd been to Cuba.
Three months later I got my stuff back and the guy said "I've been wondering if I smuggle drugs for you" haha.
You better continue. I'm a secret FBI agent reading this and I said you have to (ok, I'm not, but I have a friend who is...and I can tell her to make you finish the story!)
hehe.. I might have done something like this when I was 20, but not now. One time this dude from Chiapas who I knew in Austin Texas asked me to drive down to San Antonio to pick up his friend for him. He said, here man I'll give you a bunch of money. It was around $500. I was like, hell yeah!
So we get halfway down there and we stopped at a gas station. Then he says to me, 'Pos si wey.. el coyote lo llevó hasta San Antonio pero no quiso venir a Austin"
I was like no mames!
He kept saying, 'Dude you are white! No one will notice you.' I felt so stupid and stressed out. haha
Wow I would definitely take a suitcase full of clothes for someone to get a free return plane ticket! Sounds like the best deal ever :)
If it's drugs you have to carey then of course it's a different story, I wouldn't do it then of course, I wouldn't want to end up in jail...
What is it about those perfectly normal consumer goods that requires them to be "smuggled" in such a fashion? XD
You're much braver than me, I would've been like yeh, nah. I'm much too paranoid to take a free flight under such conditions I don't care how normal everything seems.
Your footnote cracked me right up! XD Though I'm curious, since when was being Cuban a crime? :O
Another nomad! Also this post is kind of hilarious-- haha you've hacked the system! at Steemit and at life.
Hey nomad! Oh well, now I´ll have to stalk you and see what you got in store.
I really thought it was a story to smuggle drugs for a free trip to Cuba! That could be called the magic of placing an interesting title that calls the attention of many, well played Eric ;)
Oh at the beginning it thought I was getting into something similar haha but I´m glad it was just clothes and petty stuff.
Well, as long as the story is good (please be honest and tell me if it wasn´t) then I don´t feel guilty for clickbaiting the readers every once in a while :P