Latin American Cupid is a site for people looking to date Latinas or Latinos living in Latin America or anywhere else in the world. I've been a member for about a year and a half now and have gone out with several girls from it.

If you want a head start on hooking up in Latin America or just practicing your (Hookup) Spanish, here's my honest take on it. Read on.

First some data:

Online since 2003 it now has over 1,000,000 members. They used to put the number of members on their home page but they took it down, probably so competitors don't know their membership numbers or how fast it's growing.

It’s normal to see 1800 or more members logged in during the day and evening. I'm logged in as I'm writing this (Thursday evening) and there are 1912 people online.

It’s a simple, well thought out site that’s easy to navigate. 

Other sites run by Latin American Cupid:

Latin American Cupid runs a few other sites that focus on Latins from a specific Latin American country- Colombian Cupid, Brazil Cupid, Mexican Cupid, Dominican Cupid. Each site also has Latina women living outside the focus country. Design and navigation are similar to Latin American Cupid.

For the guys reading this:

Though Latinas living in Latin America make up the majority of the members there are also Latin women living in the USA, Canada, Europe and other places across the world.

I’ve been happy with the Latinas I’ve met through this site both in terms of beauty and personality. Naturally not every girl on the site is going to be a runway model with a prefect personality but you won't have a problem finding attractive, high quality women.

This evening from 6:12pm until 8:28pm I have 9 Latinas "showing interest." This is the same as sending me a "wink" or whatever they call them on other sites. Basically a way to initiate contact. Maybe in my next blog post I'll give an overview of the 9 girls tonight so you get an idea of what kind of women could be contacting you.

The main benefit for guys planning a trip to Latin America or moving there is you can start having contact with Latinas before you even arrive in Latin America. So once you touch down there you can already have some girls lined up to meet you. This is especially handy if you're only going to be there a short time.

The Latinas you'll hook up with through this site tend to be of higher quality than the typical girl you would run into in Latin America.  They tend to be better educated with better jobs. I've dated some that had their own cars (shocking!) and supplied the transportation when we got together. From my own experience,  I have not run into any gold diggers.

You can sign up for free but with a free membership you can only contact paying members and less than one percent of the Latin women on the site are paying members. Paid members can contact anyone and be contacted by anyone. Basically the men pay. I think it’s fair since Western men earn more than the typical Latin woman and if the women had to pay the selection would be much more limited.

I suggest trying it with a one month membership and if you’re happy with it do what I did and get a year membership for only $8 per month. Peanuts. I'm on my second one year membership. Check out Latin American Cupid here.

For the gals reading this:

I can't speak from experience but this is what I can tell you. There are a lot of Latin American guys on this site too. Now, if you are a girl you are not going to have a problem meeting guys while traveling in Latin America, you will get hit on plenty. The benefit from a site like this for a girl is you can screen your fellas way better than just meeting random guys on the street or in bars. You can get to know them a little better and decide if you want to meet them when you arrive.

Similar to the girls in Latin America there are few guys in Latin America that are paying members. There is a reluctance among Latinos in Latin America to use their credit/debit cards online. In order to exchange messages with the vast majority of Latin men you'll have to be a paying member. I suggest the same thing I mentioned above. Try it for one month and if you like it you can get a year membership for $8 per month.  Check out Latin American Cupid here.

I'm a believer in having some canned responses on deck to the same questions you get asked over and over while traveling. So here's another you'll get asked often: 

How long have you been here?
¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aquí?

If you get asked by somebody you would like to hook up with you can respond with:

Including the time in jail?
¿Incluyendo el tiempo en la cárcel?

This can be used anytime you get asked how long you've been in this city or country or island or whatever. If you want to hook up with someone the last thing you want to be is boring and things like this will keep you out of that category. Plus it gets the other person a little more involved in the conversation.

Sometimes they'll go along with it and answer you and say including the time in jail or not including it.

If they say including the time in jail I'll usually tell them something like three months and two days. When they ask how much of that was in jail I'll say three months.

If they say not including the time in jail I'll say something like two or three days. Then they'll ask how long was I in jail and I'll say three months.

The point is to make it sound like you were in for a few months and just got out a couple days ago.

You get extra credit if you find out the name of a jail beforehand that the locals are familiar with and say that instead of just cárcel.

After that it's easy to throw out some other stuff like:

It worked out ok, I needed to get away from all the gringos and practice my Spanish.
Salió bien, necesité alejarme de todos los gringos y practicar mi español.

Or

I didn't realize being a gigolo is illegal here.
No me di cuenta que ser gigoló es ilegal aquí.

Or

I guess when the customs officials asked me if I had any drugs I shouldn't have said "What do you need?"
Supongo cuando los oficiales de aduanas me preguntaron si tenía drogas no debí decir "¿Qué necesitas?"

Etc…
 

I used to dislike this question when local girls in Spanish countries would ask this... because I thought of it as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" question. Especially early in the interaction before I knew nothing about what kind of person she was.

Social proof is more important to women than men. They will warm to a fella easier if it looks like he is accepted by others. Especially other women. If you're bouncing around country to country in Latin America chances are you don't have a circle of male and female friends following you around though you might be with a buddy or two.

If you are hopping around Latin America by yourself she has nothing to gauge you by. If you say you don't have a girlfriend she might think "Why doesn't he have a girlfriend, is something wrong with him? Is he normal or a loser with no life?" If you tell her you do have a girlfriend it might help put her at ease that you're a cool guy and not an axe murderer but it will probably make it harder to hook up with her.

I'm basing this on having the best chance of getting this girl and not about if you do or do not actually have a girlfriend. If you do have a girlfriend then you've got some decisions to make about your actions. That's a different topic, this is about the best response that will lead you to hook up with this chica.

The solution that I liked best was ambiguity.

Now when a girl asks this my default response is to look in her eyes a couple seconds then pat her on the back, smile and say:

Supongo que tengo lugar para una mas.
"I suppose I've got room for one more."

Deliver this in a humorous, light hearted way. Some will laugh. Some will be caught off guard that you interpreted it that she wanted to be your girlfriend. I like this on a lot of levels. It's funny, if delivered correctly. It's ballsy. It assumes she likes you. You telegraph in an indirect way that there are multiple other girls that want to be with you but you'll make a little room for her. It keeps a little mystery.... "Is he single? Does he have a girlfriend? Does he have a bunch of girlfriends?" You've answered her without answering her.

A few might continue to ask you for an answer either immediately or later in the interaction but a surprising number will never bring it up again. This might be because if she continues to ask it could be interpreted that she's showing too much interest in you.

I added some phrases to the Hook Up Spanish Phrase Guide about Hooking up through friends. These kind of phrases can work two ways, you hooking up through a friend that speaks Spanish or you hooking up one of your friends if the Spanish speaker is asking the questions. Samples:

Who is your friend?
¿Quién es tu amigo/a?
kee-EHn ehs too ah-mee-goh/ah?

I'd like to meet [him/her].
Me gustaría conocerlo/la.
meh goos-tah-rEE-ah koh-noh-sehr-loh/ah.
 
Can you introduce us?
¿Nos puedes presentar?
¿nohs pweh-dehs preh-sehn-tahr?

How do [you/they] know each other?
¿Cómo se conocen? (Directed to two people or a group)
¿kOH-moh seh koh-noh-sehn?

What's [he/she] like?
¿Cómo es?
¿kOH-moh ehs?

Don't get involved with [him/her].
No te metas con [él/ella].
noh teh meh-tahs kohn [EHl / eh-yah].

You should go out with [him/her].
Deberías salir con [él/ella].
deh-beh-rEE-ahs sah-leer kohn [EHl / eh-yah].

More over here...

When you're meeting people in Spanish speaking countries you probably get asked quite a bit about how old you are. This is a good question to have a snappy response to. 

Here's what I usually say…

Her: How old are you?
Her: ¿Cuántos años tienes?

You: Don't worry every part of my body still works… EVERY PART.
You: No te preocupes, cada parte de mi cuerpo funciona todavia…  CADA PARTE.

You can use this no matter what your age is.

Tips:

This is funnier if you say it with a serious face. Misinterpretation is great (especially using another language). Use it as much as possible.

Put emphasis on the last CADA PARTE. Besides putting emphasis on it I usually put my hand on her shoulder and make hard eye contact. Unless they are totally brain dead they will get it.

This type of indirect innuendo works well.

I think it's funnier if a guy says it but girls could probably use this as well.

Similar to my last post here's some positive aspects to this:

1. You've injected some sexual innuendo into the conversation without being direct.

2. You make it look like she's the one who brought up the topic of sex.

3. You've mixed some humour into the conversation and made her laugh.

4. You've avoided telling her your real age which keeps a small air of mystery going.

5. This can be used as a seed for jokes related to this later on in the interaction.
 

 
Using humor can help ratchet up the attraction someone feels towards you if used the right away. When you are traveling in Latin American or Spain there's standard questions you'll be asked all the time in Spanish by the locals. This is the first post in a series I have planned where I take a question you get asked over and over and give you a response to inject some humor or intrigue into the conversation.

How many times have you been traveling and met a local and she asks:

Where are you from?
De dónde eres?

Sure you can answer correctly and tell her where you're from but to be honest this probably isn't as interesting as you think it is.

Try this instead. Find out the worst, most dangerous neighborhood in the city or area you are in. You can ask a cabbie, waitress or any local you are talking to. This works best if it's a barrio that only the locals know and not a place that foreigners have heard of. (Hint: It's better if it's not mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook you are carrying around.)

So she asks where you're from and you respond by saying the worst barrio in the city.

Her: Really? Hahaha…
Her: De veras? Jajaja...

You: Seriously, all my tattoos say (name of barrio).
You: En serio, todos mis tatuajes dicen (nombre de barrio).

Her: Hahaha, let me see them!
Her: Jajaja, dejame verlos!

You: They're in places I can't show you.
You: Están en lugares que no te puedo enseñar.

Her: Hahaha…….

Sometimes the girl will turn it into a game and act like she's looking for your tattoos or even lift up your shirt a little and act like she's looking for your tattoos.

Here's a few reasons to use this routine:

1. You've said something unique and separated yourself from the typical tourist.

2. You've shown you know something about her city that most travelers don't know.

3. You've made her laugh.

4. You've avoided telling her where you're from which keeps a small air of mystery going.

5. If she touched you or lifted your shirt looking for your tattoos then you've got her to initiate physical contact first.

6. This can be used as a seed for jokes related to this later on in the interaction.
 

If you're going to approach someone you're interested in whether they are alone, with a friend or with a group it's best to start with a false time constraint. A false time constraint is something you say first to make it sound like you are only going to talk to them for a moment. Why? They don't know you. They don't know if you're someone they want to talk to. They will be more receptive to you if they think you're only going to stay a second. This buys you some time so you can win them over with your magnetic personality.
 
False time constraints are flexible you can use them anywhere; at a bar/club, at a cafe, on the street, etc.. Say them before anything else you planned on saying.
 
Start with hola, disculpe (excuse me, formal) or disculpa (excuse me, informal), then...
 
Mention that you can't stay long:
 
I've only got a minute...
Solo tengo un minuto...
 
I can only stay a minute...
Me puedo quedar solo un minuto…
 
Quick question...
Una pregunta rápida...
 
I have to go...
Me tengo que ir...
 
And the reason you can't stay long:
 
My friends are waiting for me.
Mis amigos me esperan.
 
I have to get back to my friends.
tengo que regresar con mis amigos.
 
I'm on my way to a business meeting.
Estoy de camino a una reunión de negocios.
 
These are good reasons because they also communicate that you have friends, they like you and you aren't an axe murderer or you're a businessman and important, etc. These are better to say than stuff like "I don't want to miss the bus."