Cubans have the best food. It is a misconception that us Cubans eat hot peppers and salsa all the time. We love garlic and the yucca, which is a root vegetable. A yucca with some garlic on it – now that’s the best.
My desert-island luxury would have to be crushed red pepper. I’m addicted to it. It just makes everything taste better. Sometimes I take it with me when I’m eating out but I have to hide it in my bag. Chefs can get offended if you ask for it in a restaurant so I have to be sneaky about putting it on my food. I haven’t been caught yet.
Cameron Diaz would be my ideal travelling buddy. I’ve travelled with her before and she is fearless. We went to Nepal and Bhutan and it was like having a boyfriend or a protector with me. Cameron is an explorer and a real worldly traveller. I’m not so brave. I see a huge bug or an arachnid and get all girly and freaked out. She’ll just pick it right up, observe it for a bit and then set it free.
I can’t swim. Very ironic, I know, because Cuba is an island. But I just never learnt. I can splash around in the ocean but someone has always got to be watching me.
If I wasn’t an actress, I’d be an archaeologist or an Egyptologist. I haven’t been to Egypt yet, but I’m dying to go.
I’d like to make a movie in Italy. It would be great to spend time on the islands of Ischia or Capri. I’m a big fan of Italian cinema and especially the film director Michelangelo Antonioni. His L’Avventura is one of my favourite movies of all time. Manchester is my favourite city in England. Once, I randomly met some Mancunians who were backpacking in Los Angeles and they invited me to visit their home town. The city is very different to where I come from. A lot of brilliant bands are from Manchester like Oasis and the Charlatans so I suppose that’s how my attraction to the city started.
Eva Mendes stars in The Spirit, on general release this month.
Interview by Jonathan Crocker.
