โรงแรมใกล้กับ José María Carrizo ParkในSan Juan Bautista

We were on the way back from Pedasi to Panama City when we got stuck for a day in la Villa de los Santos due to nationwide protests. Luckily we came through the blockade to end up 10 minutes later in the next protest in Chitre. As it was late in the afternoon we looked for a place to stay and found Hotel Cubita. booked a room without having a reservation, and got our room on the first floor with pool view. The room was clean, had 2 double beds and a small balcony. We had a good night of rest and went to have breakfast. There were 2 choices, American or Panamanian breakfast; we had both and it was OK, breakfast served at the table and coffee/juice was self-service. After breakfast we wanted to continue to Panama City, but the protest in Chitre was still there, so we stayed in the hotel for the day. We heard from a couple arriving in the morning they drove from Panama City at night so we decided to do the same. As we shouldn't stay the whole night we asked at the reception if we could do a 'very late check-out' and they needed to ask the manager (who was in a meeting). During lunch time we had the menu of the day, which was a soup, stewed beef with rice and bananas and flan as dessert for a very reasonable price. In the afternoon they told us we could stay until 02.00 without the need to book an additional night due to the situation with the protests. Next to the hotel is a small shopping mall with a Riba Smith supermarket where we stocked for our road trip back. We slept a half night and checked out to start our drive back. So we didn't want to be in Hotel Cubita but due to the situation we ended up there and had a really good stay.

Here for 2 weeks...leaving tomorrow! Definitely not a 4 star..2 maybe, 3 at best! Rooms were clean and cleaned well every day! The hotel is showing wear and tear! Pool is missing alot of tiles, broken taps, public bathroom doors don't lock. All public bathrooms were always clean, stocked and had soap. Food was better than Cuban food by far! Pool with pool bar is a cesspool of drinks, drunks and alcohol. We spent most days at the beach which often was very noisy with crazy intoxicated people on seadoos and quads racing up and down the water and beach, often spraying sand and water on people looking for some peace and quiet. No shade is an issue as are lack of chairs. Horses on the beach every day selling rides, drugs and photos. Poor horses standing all day in sometimes 40 degree heat...no shade. Beware they are not part of the hotel. Jellyfish and stingrays were a problems every day the 2 weeks we were here! English was a problem...difficult to find anyone who could speak English. Shows were totally in Spanish every night...no English! Staff wore masks in the buffet which made it difficult to communicate with no English. Lack of communication was a problem. Never knew if there was entertainment at night or not or if a restaurant was open or closed. Felt a little lost at times! Japanese a la carte had to pay $20 each. Other a la Cartes not open every night. Sports bar and beach bar you had to pay for drinks. Lobby bar never open. Lagoon or Grand Pool had a Sunwing section way at the other end of the pool with a long, long hot walk to the closest bathroom. Sunwing/Nexus tours ripped us off. We took two tours totaling over $500 USD. They were totally misrepresented. Never went where we were supposed to go. Museum in Portobelo was closed for renovations. On the one tour protesters had set up blockades and blocked traffic. We never got to our destination...27 km. in 4 hours. 13 hour day...spent at least 10 in the van. Sunwing refused to help. Spent many an hour waiting in the lobby for Sunwing/Nexus reps in exhausting heat...no shows, late or non existent. Offered us a $40 refund. Sorry not enough! BEWARE!