Cuban in Uruguay buys fabric softener to "smell like a foreigner"

A Cuban resident in Uruguay went to a market with his mother in search of fabric softener, with the purpose, in his words, of "smelling like a yuma."

On TikTok, Yudiel (@yudielkaren1) posted a video where they choose two bottles of fabric softener: “They cost only 89 pesos, there are more expensive ones, but this is the cheapest and they say it gives a nice 'yuma' smell.”

Amid laughter, the young man and his mother laughed because they also decided to buy a soap for 189 pesos, which they claimed would also give them "the smell of yuma."

The well-known myth of the "smell of yuma" in Cuba dates back decades, when only a few had relatives abroad, and when visiting them, their clothes and the gifts they brought gave off a distinctive aroma that Cubans quickly associated with the outside world.

Since then, not a few Cubans who have managed to escape the regime seek the famous aroma abroad.

Some find it, like the case of the Cuban Malia Llovet (@maliallovetg) living in Uruguay, who explained on TikTok that the “smell of yuma” is one that reminds Cubans of “the relative who comes from abroad to visit us and had that smell.”

"After years and years of research, and asking all my relatives, my friends, everyone, I came to the conclusion that this is the famous 'yuma smell'," the girl said while showing some laundry products.

"The 'smell of yuma' exists and this is it," said the Cuban, holding several bottles of fabric softener.

Others, like Lisandra, @lis_blonde on TikTok, stated that when she arrived in the United States, the "smell of yuma" simply did not exist.

"I am a Cuban who just arrived in the United States, and of course, the smell of 'yuma' doesn't exist or isn't felt. Of course, the people who came to Cuba, I saw them as white, and here I see them as normal. Naturally, you run into people who are disheveled and have a bad appearance, the point is that on social media from Cuba they look like princesses out of a fairy tale. Of course, I don't have a job," this Cuban woman comments in the video.