- I have heard so much about the food and material shortages in Cuba as a consequence of the U.S. trade embargoes and other political and economic factors. What should I pack for my trip?
As a tourist with dollars to spend you can find almost anything you need in the shops of the big cities. No city in the country, however, will match the choice and selection of products found in Havana stores, and be prepared for a serious drop in quality compared to U.S. and European standards. In some other shops (clearly aimed at tourists whims), you even will find brand names of American-made products like CheeriosJ cereal and PringlesJ potato chips. The prices of these brand name products, however, will shock you (three or four times as much as you would pay back in the States) as they have endured an expensive and circuitous route before finding their way to the store shelves.
Other items will be hard—if not impossible—to find. This includes quality running or walking shoes, decent shaving razors, cigarette lighters, men’s and women’s underwear, bras, tampons or sanitary napkins, a good pair of socks, jeans, sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellant, contact lens solution, jewelry, books in English, medicine, toothpaste, dental floss, rain jackets, quality tools, and disposable or cloth diapers and other baby items. The Cuban people get these things from friends and relatives who live abroad and send care packages via very expensive couriers.
