"Sancti Spiritus illegaly seen " a Sancti Spíritus Travel Page by Nanumi

Jorge, my illegal taxi driver, was getting positively anxious as we were approaching Sancti Spiritus. He's never said a word against my touristy spell of driving around but I was getting uncomfortable. His eyes were darting around. Ever since we left Cienfuegos Jorge kept complaining about no views, no interest, no need to go there. It took us some 3 hours through the breathtaking views of mountaints to get there. Upon approaching Sancti Spiritus Jorge grew more dense and finally he said that it had an ill reputed fame for cops being like mad dogs. He was afraid. I became afraid. Jorge said they would have killed him if a tourist was found in his car. I was frightened for him and myself and angry for not being said all that earlier. I was also scared that I might get stranded in the no no land and I just had to catch my plane the next day and I just had to get on that plane the next day.
Jorge made a brilliant move : there are always people waiting to get a ride on a highway; he picked up a cop off duty in a unifrom. I froze from fear initially. A beautiful move. An off duty cop in a uniform won't let us get stopped by a road block.

Sancti Spiritus as promised by Jorge, was a dreary little town with gloomy, unhappy people. There was a bit of pretty little buildings in decay and all the town was infested with jitanieros asking for soap, money, whatever.
This street was the nicest street in the town, with cobblestones and pastel houses.

Further away from the city's historic centre everything was falling apart and even though still somewhat colorful it begun to fade.

Sancti Sp?ritus , Sancti Sp?ritus prov., central Cuba, on the Yayabo River is the commercial and processing center of an area that raises sugarcane, tobacco, and cattle. Founded in 1514, the city was moved to its present site in 1522. It experienced several pirate attacks. During the 19th cent., it became one of Cuba's most aristocratic cities. Sancti Sp?ritus was the first important city to be captured by Fidel Castro's guerrilla forces (late 1958). Declared a historic monument on its 450th anniversary, the city retains some of its colonial atmosphere; landmarks include a 16th-century bridge over the Yayabo River, a 16th-century church, and a theater dating back to 1839.