Outside Jardinas 1830, an outdoor disco on the Malecon also known as a place to pick up jinateras, Maria A. and her sister, Yamilet, two young women from Camaguey province, were showing off their legs and midriffs to tourists who approached the club, hoping someone would invite them in for a drink or take them to a rooming house for the night.
Maria A., 23, said she gave up working as a hairdresser and started sleeping with tourists two years ago. She said she came close to striking it rich when an Italian tourist several years older than she had agreed to pay for an apartment for her. But they quarreled on a subsequent visit, she said, and now she is on the hunt again. In the meantime, she collects US$40 to US$70 a night from any tourist she can lure to a rooming house with which she has a mutually beneficial arrangement.
"Nobody does this because they like it," she said, drawing on a cigarette. "I would marry someone to get out."
Asked about AIDS, Maria shrugged. "We take care of ourselves, protect ourselves, use condoms," she said. "I get a test from the doctor every six months."
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