Showcase April - That time I became a Cuban smuggler

The date was April 21, 2017. I was about to leave the Mexican Caribbean. In my mind I had only one goal: to hitchhike all the way down through Central America starting in Belize and finishing in Panama, with the possibility of crossing the Darien jungle to Colombia.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.}

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This post was originally posted in August 2018 and it's part of my initiative called showcase April, where I'll post the best content I've done over the past three years