What type of gifts will you be taking on your next trip to Cuba?

jajajajajaja!! Hay Dios mio!! I almost wet my pants laughing when I read your post, CW! But all kidding aside, I'm sure that your question is legit and comes from the heart.

Let's see... of course taking Tylenol to gift to those long-term Cuban friends there would be well received... and I say "Tylenol" because that would be better for the pain relief of Dengue - especially for the hemorrhagic strain of Dengue that causes internal bleeding and is rather quite life threatening. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is much better for that than taking Ibuprofen, as Ibuprofen will definitely worsen that specific Dengue condition to the point of death because of its inherent blood thinning qualities.

CASH!! I know that goes without saying, but as you know, CubanWaters, anything can be had in Cuba if one has the money to pay for it. So money is the most flexible form of GIFT that one could ever possibly provide to anyone there who's deserving. Takes up little room in one's suitcase as well.

Apart from those 2 suggestions, anything else worth gifting would need to be specific to what someone living there might actually need. Case in point - for my Cuban best friend, I always bring him a new 32oz. bottle of Rooster-Booster B-12 supplement that he feeds to his racing pigeons. My friend, Maikel, is now once again the champion of all of Camaguey city because of that powerful supplement that I provide. His pigeons are all built like falcons! jaja Especially his enormous male pigeon and the leader of his flock who's affectionately know as EL JEFE!! Terry

If I'm there before you CW, I'll send you a list of gifts you can bring me.

Terry, every Cuba forum needs a gifting thread.

Simon you will get what others will get. I am giving, across the board, the same gift to everyone I come across, mainly to save luggage space. To the doorman, maid, taxi driver, money changer and gal with the fine culo, a choice of spearmint, cinnamon or juicy root chewing gum is the gift that keeps on giving, depending on how long you chew, from yours truly.

Lol! We got taking gifts as our trips got more. I would pick up w six-pack and sometimes more of nutellas at the airport before flying to Cuba. Always a big hit and good for toast any time of the day. One time we took a suitcase just full of gifts but it wasn’t the hit that we thought it would be probably because it was full of dollar store stuff. I guess nobody gets too excited for that kind of gift. Dog food is apreciated but leave the soap at home.

I have less suitcase room than you CW. I give tic tacs instead of gum.

Oh geez, a gift thread! My wife takes those girlie nick-nacks for the female employees. I don’t know what and I don’t want to know either but I suspect it is lipstick and stuff like that. I just take the cash in my wallet and dole out a tip here and there. A cash tip is always welcome.

I have seen some strange tips given by tourists in Cuba. Pens being the strangest until dalemartindale wrote “dog food”?!

HA! Yes, I had a good chuckle over the "Dog Food" comment too. The thing that most don't understand about Cuba and Cuban Dogs and Dog Food, is that 1) there is no commercial dog food sold in Cuba anywhere, and because of that, 2) Cuban dogs will always turn up their noses at any commercial dog foods that have been gifted by unknowing tourists in Cuba because Cuban dogs would much rather eat leftover rice, and leftover pork and chicken bones too. Cuban dogs just won't eat what they aren't familiar with. Terry

Not true. I never heard of a dog refusing a free meal, dog food or not. Our dog food gift was given to our taxi driver friend and was received well. Some people in Cuba and even online forum thought it was for the beer drinking donkey but we brought food for our taci drivers dogs.

But Dale, did you actually SEE your taxi driver's dogs eat that dog food that you gifted? It was still a nice gesture to give it - don't get me wrong. I suppose, depending on how hungry a dog is, you're right, dogs will generally eat anything they can find. One only needs to watch those dogs that live in the streets of Cuba - the almost hairless and skin and bone dogs running around looking for hand-outs. All of those dogs have owners, but owners without money who will keep their leftovers for themselves before feeding it to their dogs.

By contrast, our 3 large Boxer dogs are spoiled like children. They don't want for anything there in our casa in Camaguey. My wife even cooks up rice mixed with meat especially just for them - for her babies. And then each dog gets a big bowl of powdered milk that my wife prepares for them to wash it all down. I brought down some kibble for them once, and only once. They looked at the bowl full of kibble and gave it a sniff, and then looked up at me as if to say... what's this crap? The bowl stayed there on the floor for an entire week and none of our dogs touched it. Given that your taxi driver friend is likely not hurting for money either, he might have had the same experience with his dogs. Just saying. Terry

Terry the dog food we gifted our taxi driver friend was not kibble but cans of wet dog food. He thought it to be amusing but was really grateful.
Why does this thread look funny on my phone. It is condensed thinly vertical when opened and all the other threads look normal.