the Russians were still running the place and it was quite the experience. We were told by the Port Captain that we were the first "yacht" to enter Santiago De Cuba sense the revolution. Santiago is a commercial port and private yachts were not allowed and were required to clear into Havana only. We went in on a medical emergency and were immediately put under house arrest on the police dock. They took our friend away to the hospital in an ambulance and we spent the next two weeks sitting on a dock with two armed guards. We finely ran out of food and water and had to be taken, under escort, to lug water from a spigot and then taken, again under escort, to shop for food. It's a long story but we finely talked them into letting us go and we rented a car and did several days of sight seeing through the mountains on that end of the island. We had to leave the boats on the police dock while we were gone which was good because they were still guarded. My overall impression was that the people were great. They were absolutely afraid of their own government and the infrastructure was falling apart but it was falling apart cleanly. I was told time and time again not to talk about the government. Even before the subject was even mentioned. Kind of a preamble to the conversation. The museums were particularly interesting because of the different take on history. The night life was fantastic with stage shows like you were back in the 50's. It was all very fun. Check out the sign above the stage.