Kent Foster’s Tips
November, 1997

On my way in and out of Havana airport, Cuban immigration stopped me for at least an hour and looked at every single thing in my bag. Letters that Cubans asked me to mail for them were opened and read. Addresses in address books were studied. My journal was read. If you are an American you can expect to be intensively questioned.

The Hotel Plaza in Sancti Spiritus is still the best accommodation value in Cuba. $7 for a single. There is really nothing to do in Sancti Spiritus, but it is good to see an average Cuban town, if you are into that. Peso restaurants are the only way you will eat well and cheaply at the same time. Don’t chew the rice too hard because they don’t sort out the tiny rocks as well as more expensive places.

Meson a la Plaza is a very good peso restaurant but you will go crazy trying to find it open. Go for lunch, ask what time they will be open in the evening, get a different answer from every single person there, and then when you pick an early time to go you will see them locking up. They have very creative excuses: no water, no gas, no electricity, no meat, etc.

The only other peso restaurants in S.S. were the always-closed Shanghai Restaurant and the restaurant in the Hotel Colonial, but the latter had the worst food I tasted in Cuba, but maybe I deserve to be sick after trying the “lobster enchilada”.

If the Hotel Plaza is reason enough to go to S.S., then the peso restaurants are the reason to stay longer in Santa Clara. There is an interesting system here. On the same side of the main square as the Hotel Santa Clara Libre is a “buro de reservaciones” and they handle bookings for 7 or 8 peso restaurants. You can’t do this at the particular restaurant; you must go through this bureau. A couple of restaurants are near town, some are a long walk. Some specialize (and have) just one thing. I tried three and all had live music, fascinating atmosphere and good food. Sometimes portions were a little small. I always ordered two entrees plus a couple of side dishes. It’s a lot of food. Not once was the bill more than 25 pesos.

The Restaurant Colonial 1878 just off the square has exceptional food, but you must wait forever to eat here. Bring a fat book. The wait will be so epic that you almost need to eat before you come! You must wear long pants at the Colonial, but foreigners are forgiven.

Try to find a private home in this town. I know a sweet family who rents a nice room, but they are not legal yet. The Hotel Modelo is depressing for $15 and I met a German couple who stayed in the Hotel Santa Clara Libre and had to change rooms three times because of disco noise, cockroaches and a third reason I don’t remember. By day S.C. is really lethargic, but at night you hear live music all over the place.

The only hotel in Remedios is closed for repairs, and I’d guess that all the people renting rooms know it. I didn’t stay. It looked depressing, but I saw very little. The drive from there to Santa Clara is scenic, however.

Matanzas also wasn’t impressive--but you’d say the same thing about Sancti Spiritus-- and in the afternoon there are no trains to Havana and only one bus if you are lucky.

My bag was very heavy with gifts when I arrived. I brought a box of pens, small bars of soap, baseball gloves, spanish-english dictionaries, small bottles of shampoo, and other stuff, but the best things were pens and usually soap. I felt funny giving away soap until I thought of first saying, “I know how expensive soap is in Cuba” and then offering it, and it was always appreciated. I found a school for kids with vision problems and gave a boxful of pens to the teacher. One reason it is not a good idea to try and hand things like that to the kids directly is that you may not have enough for everybody and feelings may get hurt. In Cuba I would trust any teacher 100% to do the distributing themselves; there is a beautiful communal feeling in this country--though some of my Cuban friends disagree.

Near the Museum of the Revolution on Aguacate #12 just north of Tejadillo is a nice little place to eat. Delicious smoked pork, yucca, rice, and an avocado slice for 22 pesos in a kind family’s home. It is open from about noon to 7 pm. The only drawback is that it is served at a standing counter, but maybe the family will let you sit at their dinner table inside if you come at a slow time.

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