El Mejunje — "The Mixture" — is one of the most remarkable cultural spaces in Cuba. Housed in a ruined colonial mansion with an open courtyard, it has operated since 1984 as Santa Clara's open cultural centre and, uniquely for Cuba at the time, an openly gay-friendly space. The result is a venue unlike anything else on the island: drag shows, rock bands, trova music, children's theatre, and film screenings all happen in the same courtyard, often in the same week.
The atmosphere is loose and genuinely inclusive in a way that Cuba's capital still hasn't quite managed. Bolero and salsa nights draw older couples; rock nights bring out the university crowd; drag shows get the widest cross-section of the city. The bar serves Cuban standards at Cuban prices. El Mejunje is both a brilliant night out and a serious piece of Cuban social history — the fact that it survived the 1980s and 1990s intact is itself a story worth knowing.