When I went to Cuba with a church group in 2011, our counterparts in Havana requested over the counter medications (especially ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetaminophen), vitamins, soap, shampoo, prayer books in Spanish, and Christmas decorations.

While we were waiting for the bus to take us to our church contacts, there was a woman emptying trash barrels in the Plaza, and she approached us asking for soap. I gave her one of the large bars of Ivory soap from my sack, and she acted as if this was the greatest gift ever.

After a while, I figured out that soap and shampoo are readily available with CUCs but either rationed or harder for people who have only moneda nacional to find.

For that reason, I always used CUCs to tip in restaurants or buy CDs from the musicians I encountered or to buy jewelry or books from street vendors.

The dual economy, typical of the Soviet Union and China in the old days, was one of the things that bothered me most about Cuba.