Cuba - Lonely Planet [356]
Osmaida Blanco Castillo ( 32-51-93; Pedro A Pérez No 664 btwn Paseo & Narciso López; r CUC$20-25; ) Another well-appointed place with a superb roof terrace (with bar!), two spacious rooms, a shady patio (with fish tank) and excellent meals available (you’ll need them in this town). If it’s full, try house 670A in the same street.
HOTELS
Hotel Guantánamo (Islazul; 38-10-15; Calle 13 Norte btwn Ahogados & 2 de Octubre; s/d CUC$23/30; ) A lick of paint, a quick cleanup around the lobby and some newly planted flowers in the garden, and hey presto – the Hotel Guantánamo’s back in business after a couple of years serving as a convalescent home for Operación Milagros. It’s still a long way from the Ritz, but at least the generic rooms are clean, the pool has water in it, and there’s a good reception bar-cafe mixing up tempting mojitos and serving coffee.
Villa La Lupe (Islazul; 38-26-12; Carretera de El Salvador Km 3.5; s/d CUC$23/30; ) Located 5km north of the city on the road to El Salvador, Villa La Lupe – named after a song by Moncada and Granma survivor, Juan Almeida – is Guantánamo’s best lodging option, despite its out-of-town location. Attractive, spacious cabins are arranged around a clean central swimming pool and the adjacent restaurant, which serves the usual staples of pork and rice, overlooks a leafy river where young girls celebrate their quinciñeras (15th birthdays). For music geeks the words of Almeida’s famous song are emblazoned onto a granite wall.
Eating
RESTAURANTS
Restaurante Vegetariano Guantánamo (Pedro A Pérez; noon-2:30pm & 5-10:30pm; ) Vegetarians needn’t get too excited; this is a slightly scruffy-looking local peso place situated by the main park, though it could help you jump off the daily cheese-sandwich and tortilla treadmill.
Cafetería Oroazul (cnr Los Maceos & Aguilera) A good place to catch a breather, feel the cool ceiling fan on your face and grab a revitalizing plate of spaghetti cooked a good 10 minutes past al dente. There are cleanish toilets inside.
El Rápido (cnr Flor Crombet & Los Maceos; 10am-10pm) It’s a testament to Guantánamo’s dire dining scene that you may have to resort to Cuba’s gastronomically challenged fast-food chain. Rapid it ain’t.
Restaurante Ensueños (Calle 15 Norte; noon-midnight) There’s no sign; just a nude statue denoting the entrance to what is, by process of elimination, Guantánamo’s best restaurant. Housed in a diminutive modern house tucked away behind the Hotel Guantánamo, the Palmares-run Ensueños serves up chicken, lobster and fish in some interesting sauces. Your agua con gas (mineral water) will probably go flat waiting for the meal to emerge from the kitchen, but who cares; for once it’s worth the wait.
GROCERIES
Plaza del Mercado Agro Industrial (cnr Los Maceos & Prado; 7am-7pm Mon-Sat, 7am-2pm Sun) The town’s public vegetable market is a red-domed Leticio Salcines creation and rather striking – both inside and out.
Agropecuario (Calle 13) The city’s other outdoor market is opposite Plaza Mariana Grajales, just west of the Hotel Guantánamo; it sells bananas, yucca and onions by the truckload, plus plenty of peso snacks.
Panadería La Palmita (Flor Crombet No 305 btwn Calixto García & Los Maceos; 7:30am-5pm Mon-Sat) sells fresh bread, while the Coppelia (cnr Pedro A Pérez & Bernabe Varona) dishes out ice cream.
Drinking
La Ruina (cnr Calixto García & Emilio Giro; 10am-1am) This shell of a ruined colonial building has 9m ceilings and a crusty feet-on-the-table kind of ambience. There are plenty of benches to prop you up after you’ve downed yet another bottle of beer and a popular karaoke scene for those with reality-TV ambitions. The bar menu’s good for a snack lunch.
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ASK A LOCAL
The word Guantanamera means ‘woman from Guantánamo,’ while Guajira means ‘from the countryside.’ The famous