4th November

Flying to Cuba!!

With our flight leaving at 10.30, we had to check in at 6.30am, we didnt sleep at all last night and so had been up for 22 hours by the time we had to buy our way out of the country ($28 each!!) in tax and then fill in cuban visas ($15 each) before presenting our passports and being allowed through the security gate. After a quick look round the tourist shops and duty free where you could buy a litre bottle of Morgans spiced rum for $9...thats £6!!!!! But as we had no room to carry it and were already massively over budget for the day, we didnt buy any :( We caught an hours uncomfortable sleep on the airport chairs by our check in gate only to wake up and find they'd moved our gate to the other end of the airport! Eventually we boarded the plane which was barely half full and settled down to an episode of House and a fairly tasty airline snack as well as a free drink...we had orange but could have had very generous helpings of whiskey, vodka or rum! Despite leaving nearly an hour late we showed up at Habana airport pretty much on time, got through all the security bits, found our luggage, changed some money and got into a cab for our Casa Particular which is in the Verdado region, only 2 blocks away from the famous Habana libre Hotel (Previously the Hilton which was commandeered as a head-quarters for the revolution)! We were warmly welcomed by the owner, a lady named Marisela who showed us where we were to be staying for our 1st 2 nights, we were then to move into the larger room when her other guests left, this one having a bed for Matthew when he arrives on 19th. She then went on to tell us about meal prices and times and offered us a very good deal of breakfast and dinner for $8 each instead of $4 and $7 if taken individually. We would have loved to take advantage of this but unfortunately this would put us over budget by $1 a day before we'd even done anything so settled on probably having just breakfast as it included lots of fruit and juices which are always more difficult to find reasonably priced (and ones that Andy will eat!). I explained to her I am learning Spanish and she said that unless I really dont understand what she's saying she will always speak in Spanish as its better for both of us, I have to say she is very good unlike some other people and speaks very slowly and clearly and most of the time I get it, she is also very patient when I'm attempting to string a sentence together which is great as I'm very slow at the moment. Marisela's house is beautiful, it has lovely high ceilings, lots of windows, beautiful tiled floors and lots of artwork on the walls and plants hanging by the windows. A very nice beginning to our time in Cuba, our room (one of three) was the 'blue room', with its own little bathroom and everything dark wood, blue walls and lilac trimmings, so pretty and cool too! So after a shower each at about 6.30 we promptly fell asleep on the bed only to wake at 9 and crawl under the covers shattered.

November 5th

Meeting friends & Old Habana

It was 10am when we finally woke up, refreshed and excited to be in Cuba after so long waiting. We decided to have breakfast here and weren't disappointed when a huge platter of various fruits, 2 different juices, delicious coffee, plenty of bread and a plate each of omelette, hams and cheese was presented in front of us! When we'd eaten all we could we found out from Marisela where we could get on the internet and made our way over to the Habana Libre Hotel which has a business centre on the 2nd floor. The computers here are all on dial up so are very slow and the fact that its $10 for a card that lasts 1 hour meant that we just had time to check emails before spending a fortune! The good news was that we had a message from Mauricio telling us what hotel they were staying in so we could go and meet up. We had worked our dates to get here knowing that with only 60 days visa and wanting to spend Christmas and New Year here the earliest we could arrive was the 4th which would give us 1 or 2 days with a group of friends from the UK who would be here on a salsa holiday. We walked to the Malecon (sea wall) and followed it for about a mile before turning inland to find the hotel. It was a beautiful sunny day and the sea crashing against the wall was so many beautiful shades of blue. As we walked along we were mesmerised by the old buildings, some of which were in a terrible state of repair and others very well looked after with yet further still under renovation in a large government plan to save these historic houses before its too late. The other thing that kept striking us was of course the cars, they really are all old but so well preserved, we marvelled at the skills of the mechanics here to keep so many of them on the road. People really take pride in their vehicles, they are all really clean, must have regular paint jobs that cover any rust and keep them looking shiny, all in bright colours, it really is quite a spectacle to see them going by! We used the map we had purchased at the airport to find the Hotel Telegrapho and walked in to see Dominic and Darren, 2 friends originally from previous salsa holidays and since from other dance venues across the country. This was the first time since New York we had seen anyone from home so was great to catch up, we then went in the little bar they have there which is done up to look like its an outside courtyard and found Mauricio burning CD's on his computer. We sat and had a coffee together and then decided as there was plenty of time before they needed to be back for the evenings activities that we'd go and visit a market and have a look for souvenirs. Mauricio thought it would be cool to take one of the classic car taxis instead of a regular one, so the 4 of us bundled in to a blue one (no idea what make!) and set off taking pictures of each other as we went, it was awesome! We arrived at a large indoor market full of beautiful artwork, clothes, musical percussion instruments, jewellery and loads of other things that would be great to buy! We spent an hour looking round and watching Maz play with all the instruments like a child in a toy shop before watching him haggle some good deals with the locals. Quite why he needs that many sets of clave sticks we never did find out!! Before long we had to head back and after some more pictures we got another classic taxi to the hotel where Maz and Dom went to get changed. We went for a walk round the streets for a while looking at all the beautiful buildings that were built when there was clearly a lot of money in Cuba, lots of little restaurants had people singing or small bands playing which we stopped to listen too before moving on to a street lined with book stalls, mainly books aboout Cuba, Che Guevara or Ernest Hemmingway's classics that he wrote while he lived here in Habana. We met the group back at the hotel and went with them to La Casa De La Musica who have live bands on at matinee 7-9 on the weekends. This is one of the best known clubs in Cuba for live music and as such was pretty packed! We had a great time watching the band, dancing together and just generally taking in the atmosphere of the cuban style and people in this vibrant place. Once the band finished there was some clubbing/reggaeton/merengue on for half an hour or so before we left to head back once more to the hotel so people could change (it was very hot in the club!). We went with Maz and Dom to a little Spanish restaurant they'd found close by for some dinner and were delighted to find there would be a live flamenco performance there as well as the prices being incredibly cheap! I had a vegetable soup that was huge for $2 and andy had ham, rice and vegetables for $2.50, we are definitely thinking of becoming regulars!! The flamenco dancers were astounding, 2 men and 3 women with a very small band performed for about an hour, taking it in turns dancing or dancing as a group, the expressiveness of their hands and arms was beautiful and one of the men in particular was so thoroughly into the dance that you felt transported along with him. When they had finished a basket came round for tips and Maz said this was probably the only pay they got as it was doubtful the restaurant paid them too, we left soon after and next stop was at the hotel habana Libre at 11pm. Me and Andy said we'd meet them there and walked the mile or so back to our casa to change shoes and spruce up a bit. After finding where to buy the tickets to get in we went upstairs in the hotel to the club Canitas where people were already dancing and joined in, enjoying the ambiance and the music as well as the company of our friends again. It was so nice to be around people we knew again, even if only for a day or so! I got plenty of dances, some with Andy, Dom and Maz and others with local cubans who I had mixed dances with, mostly good but with a few where they were just trying it on and really dont seem to understand no as an answer! Andy on the other hand found the only women who would dance with him were ones from the salsa holiday which is what Dom had told him to expect unfortunately. There are cuban women who will dance but they generally want you to buy them a drink for the privilege or want you to buy something else a bit more pricey...!! We all left the club about 3 and promised to meet up tomorrow before they all flew home. We got back to the casa, I had a shower then we went to bed happy that we'd got a night's dancing in and spent some time with friends.

November 6th

We headed over to Hotel Telegrafo for about midday to meet Dominic and Maz. We sat in the bar having a coffee and chatting to Dominic until about 1 when we discovered that Mauricio had fallen asleep while burning CDs so he said to go without him... So anyway we headed down to the Malecon where we looked at the old fort located here, this part of Havana is stunning with beautiful parks, brightly coloured buildings, the sea crashing over the walls, old forts, a lighthouse, classic cars running about, and even a little play park for kids. We cut back into the Main square to walk back along to the Cathedral Square where we joined a few others for a drink and a chat. It was a lovely day although the wind managed to blow over several of the umbrellas that were put up for shade. We wandered back towards the Hotel through a somewhat less touristy, although no less fascinating series of roads, passed the Tank and Museum of the Revolution, down to a mural of the three famous leaders which Maz had pointed out to us the day before. After a quick couple of photos it was back to the Hotel to say our goodbyes to everyone as they boarded the coach to the airport. Once we were alone again it was time to go back to the casa so we could move our stuff into the bigger room and relax for the evening, reading our new guide book (kindly supplied by Dominic) and writing the blog until it was time to go to bed.

November 7th

Hotel Florida

After getting up at 10 once more we thought it would be a good idea to explore closer to where we are staying today. But first we headed to the Habana Libre in order to check our emails. With that done we walked down street 23 until we reached another called Paseo. This area is much less touristy than old Habana with lots of little cafés selling food at prices in National currency. Paseo however is a huge road which has a pavement and several monuments down the centre of it. The buildings here are huge properties with gardens and high walls. We also found what we think is the British embassy down this street. At the end of the street we found ourselves looking out over the Malecon, the tide here never seems to go out with waves crashing over the wall all day long. We found ourselves a dry spot from which to watch this spectacular sight. About 10 minutes later it started to rain so we decided to head into the shop across the street where we found an electronics shop downstairs which also sold stationary, and a supermarket upstairs which had a very large choice of different rums which we have decided we must try before we leave Cuba!! We also picked up a 5l bottle of water for $2 before we left and walked back to the hotel the way we had come. We had a short rest at the Casa before it was time to head out to hotel Florida for the evening as we had heard there was dancing there every night. We had quite a long walk through Havana to get there as it's about a mile and a half away, but the streets feel quite safe at night and there is always something to see. The cover was $5 but did include 2 free drinks (very strong mojitos or cubs libres!!) which makes it the best value place we have been dancing so far. There were plenty of people dancing, and it seems that here at least the women are more willing to dance with foreigners, perhaps because they are vastly outnumbered by tourists. But overall we both had a good night and also met two dance teachers, one called Pablo who gave us his number so we could arrange lessons the next day and another who is moving to the UK to work for Mambo City! We left about 2:30 as the last hour turned into reggaeton (which unfortunately seems to be rather common!!) and headed back home to bed.

November 8th

Salsa/Rumba Lesson and Cuban pizza.

With Marisela's help we phoned Pablo at about 10 o'clock and he agreed to phone us back, it turns out that in Cuba it is free to phone a house phone but you have to pay to phone a mobile. So after the call back we arranged to have a lesson with him at 1. We then spent the rest of the morning chilling, listening to music and trying to learn Spanish on Rosetta stone until our teacher arrived about 1:40 (it's Latin America) we then had a really interesting lesson for 2 hours where we learned about how the Cuban style is different to the crossbody we are used to, we also learned some basics in (Cuban) rumba (which is different to Rumba taught in Ballroom/Latin schools at home) which can be applied sort of like shines to your salsa, or be danced as a separate dance in it's own right and is like a game between a man and a woman. The lesson went on for 2 hours but cost us only $10 which is unbelievably cheap compared to similar instruction back home!! After the lesson we both needed a shower before heading out to find somewhere to eat. We attempted to go to a little place called Los Amigos that Pablo had suggested but a jintero (like a tout who will get commission for bringing people to a club, bar restaurant etc) managed to attach himself to us and not wanting to pay inflated prices due to his presence we left to find somewhere else. After wandering around for a while conscious of the fact we only had $5 left of the day's budget we settled on a little pizza place and ordered a family cheese pizza for $3.20. You could see through to the kitchen where the guy was making the pizzas and watched as ours went in the oven then to be delivered to us on a plate that was way too small for it! From what we'd read about the pizzas being measly in the amount of topping we were pleasantly surprised with the 14" thin crust well covered one we got, you could actually taste real cheese which we'd almost forgotten about since the rubbish you get in North America! Feeling a little fuller we left and after wandering to the Habana Libre for a while then back to the casa for an hour we decided we'd go out dancing if we could. Pablo had also mentioned a place that was open until 4 with no cover charge not far from us so we got there about 11 but unfortunately there wasn't really anyone there. We blew our budget buying a drink each and listened to salsa (NY style) being played from a computer which also showed the actual music videos on large screens in the bar (its a kind of sports bar and there were widescreens as well as lots of football shirts hanging up on the walls) until we heard one we both liked and had a dance or 2. When by 12.30 the place hadnt filled up at all we decided to call it a night and walked back to our casa to bed.

November 9th

Breakfast this morning!! We have been eating kind of every other day as we are a day over budget and trying to recoup it little by little and so cant afford to eat much...Breakfast is only $4 each and is very good but that only leaves us with $7 for the day and when laundry is $10, BAM, we're over budget again without even doing anything! As we were finishing breakfast 2 new guests at the casa joined us, they are from Spain and I enjoyed talking with them trying to speak as much Spanish as I could, although they spoke English if I got stuck and one of them chatted to Andy in French too which was cool! After this we went to the Habana Libre again to check emails and look at prices for the Peru Salsa Congress in February. Unfortunately it looks like we're not going to be able to go to the Rio Carnival as it is going to cost at least £1000 for the 5 days and thats before eating!! Everywhere inflates their prices so much just for that weekend that its impossible for us to find anywhere to stay for less than £800 and so sadly we are going to have to give it a miss until we win the lottery! :(( We're really gutted about this but just cant justify that much money so we've re-thought our plans and will still be going to Rio, but probably in April when prices are normal, you see the place how it really is and we may even get to couchsurf making it even cheaper! Due to the rescheduling we can now make the Peru Congress if we want so are looking into it. Next we went on the hunt for water...you cant drink the tap water here and so we try to buy big 5lt bottles which last us just under 2 days and cost $1.90, not bad really! The last place we got one from was a long way away and so we hoped to find somewhere closer as they weigh quite a lot and its easier to carry it a short distance. Eventually we got some and took it back to the casa before heading out again to find somewhere to get more money out that wasnt going to charge us ridiculous commission which we've heard is a problem. After sorting this (found a bank that only charged 3%) and changing some of it into Nationales to use instead of CUCs where we could (much cheaper!) we went into a tour agency to get some ideas on where else in Cuba to visit and how to get there. This done and it being a beautiful day, we headed to the Malecon to sit on the sea wall in the sunshine for a while, watching the waves and listening to the locals as they relaxed there also at lunchtime. After a while I could feel my back getting a bit too warm so we started walking and came across a huge monument I'd read about in the guide book...a dedication to 77 people who had died when the boat they were on, The Maine, was sunk by an accidental explosion on board. Castro however insists it was blown up intently to start a war between the Spanish and the Americans and so dedicated this monument in protest of such going on!! We carried on and were soon ushered to cross the road by guards who didnt want us walking on the pavement next to one of the government buildings (not entirely sure why as its behind a great big iron fence and set back anyway, but we weren't going to argue!!) and continued next to the sea for a bit longer before heading back inland towards the casa. On the way we found a very large gathering of tables and stands all selling Coppelia ice cream, with queues of Cubans waiting to buy some! Apparently the Cubans are ice cream aficionados and this is one of their best makes...we saved this information for another day when we have some money!! Before reaching the casa we found another shop (one attached to the Habana Libre) that sold large bottles of water as well as copious amounts of Rum for the same prices we'd seen elsewhere but with more varieties including a yellowish cream rum for $3.10 which we almost succumbed to! Getting back to the casa we had showers and decided to watch Dirty Dancing 2 again and see how many places we now recognised as it was mostly filmed here in Habana.

November 10th

Viasul.

We once again got up at 10, which seems to be becoming a routine! And headed out to get a hotdog each for breakfast, at 10MN (about 30p) each they are a bargain, if not particularly hot. We then spent the rest of the morning trying to find a schedule for the live music venues. Unfortunately this turns out to be impossible and we finally gave up at about 1 o'clock and headed back to the casa. After a chat with Marisela we set off again to buy our bus tickets. The bus station was located right on the other side of town and it took a good hour for us to reach it. On the way we walked through 'La Plaza de la Revolution' which contains a 140ft star shaped monument overlooking a Huge statue of Jose Marti, one of Cuba's heroes! After waiting to buy our tickets which took quite a while as in Cuba people who are late for their bus seem to get priority over everyone else in the queue, we eventually left with three very flimsy bus tickets!! On the walk back we passed a very impressive cemetery located in the centre of Havana, the national theatre and it's two club/bars where live bands play and the 'Casa de la Cultura' which says it has free salsa this Sunday. (we like free) We finally arrived back about 5, completely exhausted and rested until about 9 o'clock (Although I went out for some money and Ice cream as well as a bottle of cream rum!!!!) . After failing to find a taxi that would take us the 2km or so to 1830 (a bar) for less than $5 we walked the opposite direction instead to the Hotel Florida for some dancing and rum :), which once again had a live band and even played a couple of bachatas towards the end of the night. We left as it was finishing around 1 and caught a communal taxi to Conojito's with Pablo where we had a couple of drinks and dances, sat through a power cut and just generally chatted until about 2.30 when we called it a night and headed back.

November 11th

Bamboleo.

An alarm clock may be needed as we seem to be getting up ever later in the morning, 11 o'clock today! After another 30p hot dog for breakfast we decided to walk over to 1830's to see if they had a program to look at. We walked down to the Malecon via another large dual carriage way and emerged by a big monument to Jose Marti (there are hundreds of these all over Havana!) flanked by two Huge Cannons... Even more impressive however was the sea, the quite strong wind was causing it to crash up against the wall sending waves 15 feet into the air. We spent a while watching this spectacular show and laughing at the people in the Coco taxis( A 3 wheeled, 4 person scooter type thing) getting soaked as they drove past, although we were very disappointed that a gigantic wave missed the open topped tour bus by inches!!! After a quick stop to get a tub of delicious mango ice cream and a drink we continued on to the end of the Sea wall where we found 1830's located next to a beautiful old colonial fort, which is now a pizza restaurant. Unfortunately there was no schedule available, but the scenery in the area more than made up for this setback. After walking back to the casa through the centre of town we rested for a couple of hours before heading out to the 'Casa de la Musica' to see Bamboleo. On the way we picked a pastry which was quite nice even though the filling never materialised!! The Bamboleo gig was good and the band had plenty of energy as you'd expect from their new and quite young 4 singers, although we both agreed that the first half of the set was much better than the second! And I would have liked the concert to go on a bit longer, at $10 each (the locals get in for $4) you kind of want a bit moe for your money than just over an hour! We strolled up to china town after the concert where, after a few restaurants tried to charge us excessive prices, we found a little cafe on the side of the street where the very friendly man agreed to make us a chow mein each (mine had pork while Mae chose chicken) despite it not being on the menu. The food was excellent (Mae decreed that it tasted suitably Chinese-sy!!!!) and the portion size was huge, well worth the $3 each one cost, we may be frequenting here quite often!! To finish the night off we went back to the casa and watched a film on TV before bed. We missed the opening credits so we don't know what it was but it had Antony Hopkins in so was pretty good, oh and its an american channel with subtitles in Spanish, just in case you thought our Spanish had become fluent over night!!

November 12th

Exploring and some annoyances.

Again we got up around 11 (really must do something about that...!) and were out the door by 12 and off looking for breakfast. We were going to try El Rapido which is Cuban fast food chain and appears all over the island but there was nothing to tempt us so we went back to where we'd seen a sign for cajitas...little take-away boxes of food costing about $1 but in nationales. Not having perfected my Spanish yet I managed to ask for 2 cajitas but instead of coming in boxes they came on plates and we had to stand at the window to eat. Probably not a bad thing as we didnt have any cutlary with us and we figured u most likely get more on a plate anyway, it consisted of a great mound of rice and beans, some cucumber a banana and some thin pork cutlets. All in all, well worth what we paid and filled us up plenty! We then walked back to the casa and with nothing important to do decided to go through some of the videos on the computer and try and put them in some kind of order as there are hundreds!! We'd not long been doing this when Pablo came round to see if we were interested in going to a Rumba with him, we said that would be good and left shortly after showing him sami's show at the scottish salsa congress...the amazingly fast footwork of the UK's best Cali style dancer amazed him! We walked and chatted as we went along, my Spanish becoming more and more confident (when I'm with people I know!) until we reached a white terraced courtyard with trees giving shade and a large group of Cubans sitting and standing, listening and watching the local 'trova' (singer). The Rumba music is quite intense and we were looking forward to joining the crowd except that they wanted to charge us $5 each to get in...the Cubans paid, we think, 2 nationales which is like 4 pence! We refused to pay this amount, especially as it was already half way through and there weren't really any people dancing which is what we wanted to see. So we left Pablo to go in and we walked around the block to a place where we could hear the music well but of course not see anything and listened for maybe half an hour before heading back. While Andy blogged I started to research where else in Cuba to visit whilst we're here and before we knew it, it was time to go out again! We had decided to go once again to the Spanish restaurant where we went with Maz and Dominic so as to see the Flamenco dancers again. They were just as good as the first time we saw them, although this is the main attraction of this restaurant as the food is very average but at least cheap! We then spent a couple of hours trawling the streets for salsa at various bars and restaurants, though having spent our budget for the day had to listen from outside and dance in the street! After a particularly persistant jintero took our last $1 we found a small posh restaurant crammed with white tourists listening to some of the members of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club who play here every day apparently, though it looks like you have to have a dinner reservation (no doubt very expensive) to get in!.After their finale of Cuba's most famous song Guantanamera we left and started heading back in the direction of home.

13th November

1830's

After we got up and showered, we missed breakfast to head down to the free Rumba (cuban) display which takes place every Sunday from 12-3. This street (which is not on the map!!) has been decorated in it's entirety by a Cuban artist named Salvador, it features his art and poetry which are all based on the cuban religion of Santeria and it's gods the Orishas! After a brief tour by some of the many people attempting to sell you CD's of rumba music and such like we discovered that we were in fact an hour early as Fidel had decided that the clocks changed that sunday, this year anyway!! With our free time we walked to a Cuban fast food chain called 'El Rapido' where we were served a hand made and freshly cooked hamburger for $2. A bit like a bigmac in that there were 2 burgers but cleverly done using one roll with 2 cuts in it, 1 for each burger, it also came with homemade crisps which were ok but not very crispy! After eating it was back to the the Rumba where we watched the live band (of course) and performers dancing with an unbelievable amount of energy!! The show was spectacular but we left early to avoid the hordes of people trying to sell us stuff. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting at the Casa and practising our dancing until it was time to go out for the evening! It was about a 2 mile walk to 1830's, which seems to be the only venue in Havana which charges Cubans and Tourists the same entry fee of $3! The place was still packed with both groups and it was almost impossible to dance with the amount of people on the dance floor!! However we had a really good night, and the venue is spectacular, located at the end of the Malecon with the dancing happening in a garden bordering the ocean! The night went downhill however when the band came on because despite being very good they didn't actually play anything you could dance to. We left about midnight and picked up a couple of hot dogs on the way home for dinner.

14th November

Grammar!!!

We woke up at our usual late hour to a lovely hot, sunny day and a lot of noise coming from outside the front window. The beautiful tree outside Marisela's casa was getting a severe trimming to disentangle it from the electric cables outside. Health & Safety in the UK would have had a heart attack...a man in shorts was clambering amongst the branches with a huge machete and a chainsaw! No PPE, no harness/rope, nothing...but he happily got the job done without injury despite dropping several large branches onto the cables he was trying to free!! Whilst this was taking place we had a leisurely breakfast as we discussed what we were going to do that day. After dousing ourselves in suntan lotion (it really was scorching!) we walked around the venues close by to see what, if anything, was going on this week...the only way to find stuff out here is to go to the place and look at the weekly schedule! Next we walked into Old Habana to check out casa de la musica's listings and found that Monday's seem to be the busiest day of the week here...the place was swarming with people, not just tourists and we spent some time exploring the various shops and department stores which we hadnt seen open when we'd been here before. I had seen some Puma trainers which looked really good as I could use them for dancing and as sandals (they're quite open) and therefore maybe not need to carry so many shoes around with me, but we could only find one pair and they were white...not ideal for travelling really! We also went to the Hotel Telegrapho where Maz etc had stayed as one of the girls on the trip had kindly given us her internet card as she was leaving, which had well over half an hour left on it and gave us a chance to check our emails etc. With this done and once we'd looked around a bit more we found 'Baila en Cuba' a group who were organising a congress here in Habana that we'd been trying for months to get hold of to find prices etc. We chatted to them briefly and when they said that the party each night of the congress, which is held at the Tropicana Hotel, was $25 per person to get in we decided it was extremely doubtful we would be attending!! Leaving them behind and strolling through the bustling streets for a while, acquiring a hat for Andy and a small bag for myself along the way, we made our way to the huge open square we'd discovered the other night to have a look during the daytime, we weren't disappointed, its absolutely beautiful and there was even a rumba band playing with a man and several children in costume dancing. We watched for a while and when it looked as though it was nearly over departed before we could get accosted for tips. I don't have anything against people asking for tips for things but if we gave money to everyone we'd be skint within a week!! As it was now about 5 we decided it was getting on for dinner time and as we were in Old Habana anyway we might as well visit the Chinese again! We passed a large park on the way to Chinatown with a stunning tree right in the middle surrounded by a wrought iron fence and a circle of marble paving and benches. Across the road from this bizarrely is a kind of train graveyard which contains a dozen or more rusting hulks in various states of repair, what's even stranger is that there are no train tracks anywhere near by! Leaving this odd sight behind we entered Chinatown (Havana must be the only city where Chinatown has no Chinese people!!) and found a little street that the guide book had recommended called Chuchillo which was very narrow, had lots of little restaurants on either side and was rather like running the gauntlet at waiters and waitresses unashamedly thrust their menus in your face and stood in front of you so you couldnt get past without practically pushing your way through! This was a real shame as it is a really pretty little street and we'd have liked to be able to look at it but after 5 steps in, all you want to do is get out alive at the other end!! Leaving this crazy place we continued to the takeaway we'd used previously and ordered special fried rice and chop suey (which was really chow mein but I wasnt complaining!) for $4!! By the time it was cooked and we'd transferred the fragile, very full, cardboard boxes into a carrier bag it was dark and we walked the mile or so home quickly so it didnt get cold. Chinese and rum and coke devoured we spent the rest of the night (about 3 hours!!!) discussing spanish grammar as I was getting increasingly frustrated with the odd new tenses and other things that had started to come up in the Rosetta Stone on the computer. After another glass of rum to soothe my aching brain we went to bed!

15th November

Cake & Chachacha

This morning we walked to a place Marisela had told us about for a breakfast of Coffee and a Pastry before making our way to Old Havana where we spent most of our day trying to find any info on dance classes in AfroCuban Rumba and Son. We had no success at all with this as in Cuba no one seems to know anything!! On a more positive not we did find out where the rum museum is, which we will be visiting at a later date!! We also passed an ice cream parlour, of which there are many in Havana as the Cubans are obsessed with it, so much so that this one was guarded by a police officer with a pump-action shotgun! We stopped for a beer in the nice cafe we went to previously with Dominic on our second day and asked about a special monthly event we had read about, only to discover it's no longer on. So after another extremely frustrating day, we decided it was time to get something to eat. Things started to get a bit better at this point as we found a little place selling 6" ham and chorizo pizzas for $1 each, YUM!!! Then we walked down the main tourist street and happened upon a cake shop where we bought 4 different types of delicious cakes for $2, Mae has decided we shall be visiting here again! Since we had a couple of hours to spare before dancing we went looking for live music to listen to but, while there are a lot of very talented bands here they all seem to play Cha Cha which no one dances!!! Whilst walking around we noticed that there were an inordinate amount of people carrying very large cakes about, and at one point we found a huge queue of people waiting to walk 3 times around a tree (very odd). Eventually we sat down on a bench for a rest and soon after proceeded to be serenaded by a guy with a guitar who was excellent and played a mixture of salsa songs and Beatles hits. (they really are mad about John Lennon!) Mae chatted to him for 45mins,discovering that the tree is some kind of national monument and people walk around it and make a wish, the cake is also part of this ceremony somehow! By now it was time to head to Florida for some dancing and of course our free drinks (rum!!!). We danced until about 12 before heading home to bed!

16th November

Another lesson & the best Mojito in Habana

We got up to another baking hot day and were just deciding what to do when Pablo turned up to give us another lesson. We thought he was going to ring and would have put him off until the afternoon when it was a little cooler but as he was here we started. Feeling quite confident in our Cuban style salsa now we asked if he could teach us Rumba instead which he had touched on previously. He agreed and after ages looking through what music we had eventually found a suitable track, after going over what we did before and improving on it he taught us a couple of extra bits and then we mainly practised with him watching and pointing things out as we danced. We are surprised that not more people in Cuba have back problems as the posture when they dance is terrible, not only putting pressure on your back and neck but a lot of strain on your knees too which I particularly felt. We finished with a recap on the salsa Pablo and Andy taking it in turns to dance with me and passing from one to the other. Being nearly lunchtime we vacated the dining room which Marisella lets us use as a dancefloor and went out to see about something to eat. We ended up buying some rolls, ham, very odd dairylea like cheese and a yoghurt milkshake which we took back to the casa. The milkshake was nice although strangely simultaneously tasted like yoghurt, strawberries, milk and red, but for $0.60 (£0.40) was quite refreshing! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing watching tv, reading, snoozing and chatting as we had walked a long way over the last couple of days as well as dancing lots and the heat was really draining us too. At 8 o'clock we thought we should make a move and went to a bar where we'd seen you could buy whole bottles of rum with coke quite cheap and wanted to check it out before Matt arrives to see if its worth taking him to. Unfortunately it was closed, probably too early in the evening, so we went to a little bar opposite the Habana Libre Hotel which claims to do the best mojitos in Habana...they are VERY nice but I'm sure more should be sampled to get an accurate comparison as Ive only really had them in Hotel Florida where they are ok but could do with crushing the mint more. We had another drink each, this time Bucanero, one of the local beers which we've found to be probably the nicest since we left England and sat watching the world go by. A young cat (of which there are hundreds in Habana as well as dogs) decided to join us and I ended up with it curled up asleep on my lap quite content. We eventually left and went back to the casa where we watched a film on the TV before going to sleep early, determined to start getting up a bit earlier in the mornings!

17th November

1830's again.

We got up at 10 today, which is early in Cuba as nothing opens until 12, and walked to Old Havana where we used the internet at the Park Central Hotel, while it's still slow and expensive at least you can use your own laptop! We succeeded in sending the few messages we wanted to and decided to go back to the cake shop for breakfast, Mae reasoned that we had walked ALLLLLLLL that way anyway! We ate a couple of delicious 'coffee cakes' which are distinctly chocolaty and not coffee in the slightest and also bought a loaf of bread to have for sandwiches later. We walked back to the casa along the Malecon stopping halfway along to sit and watch the sea. It was another scorching day and by the time we got home we were both exhausted. Mae then did some blogging while I went out to get some Ham (Mortadella, although the guy behind the counter didn't seem to know what he was selling and I had to resort to pointing after reading the name on the packet failed!!) I also picked up some crisps and a pot of strawberry ice cream. After our dinner we practised some dancing in our room waiting for Raul to call. He had said the previous day that he and some friends might be going to a concert at the university but when he actually called informed us that his friends were dithering and he didn't know if they would make it after all. He suggested that we go to 1830's tonight and we meet up tomorrow instead when we have no plans. We left just before 7 and trekked to 1830 to arrive about 8 o'clock and discovered that the Thursday seems to be a much better night than Sunday as it wasn't so crowded and you actually got room to dance. The music also seemed to have improved but this probably changes on a nightly basis. We danced every other song until just before 12 when it turned into reggeaton (it's far to hot to dance every song here!!) and decided that it was time to walk home. As we were passing the Havana Libre hotel we ran into Raul who had been drinking rum at the Malecon with a friend (they obviously didn't go to the concert after all) he was quite drunk and had had to call a taxi for his friend, which is not surprising as here it's cheaper to drink rum and coke than anything else, but of course only if you buy it by the bottle!!!! We chatted for a bit as we walked home and he said he'd phone us about 6ish the next evening.

18th November

Pizza Cake & RUM

We got up early today so that we could walk into Old habana in the relative coolness of the morning and got to the Parque Central Hotel at about 11. The internet is a little cheaper here than at the habana Libre but the best thing is that it is wifi so you can use ure own computer! When we left we decided we were hungry and went to get another peso pizza as the last one was so good!! On the way we had to make a quick stop as I saw a shop called Casa del Queso....House of Cheese, so couldnt resist going in to see what they had, we came away with some reasonably strong, fairly crumbly but pale coloured cheese and then after the pizza we walked slowly back to the hotel. Once back and after a quick shower as the heat outside had been intense again we chilled out in the room for a while before falling asleep until 5 o'clock!! Pablo dropped in shortly after we woke to let us download some Rumba music onto the computer then a little after that Raul rang up to see what our plans for the evening were. We agreed to meet up with him and a bottle of rum at 10 outside habana Libre. So we ventured out to buy some rum and coke, sooo cheap here £4ish for a litre bottle of Havanna Club rum and a 2 litre bottle of coke!! We stopped on the way back for a coffee and a cake and looked at the whole cakes they sell also, thinking about Matthews upcoming birthday! Once back at the casa we started on the rum and just chatted for a couple of hours so by the time we went out to meet Raul we were already a little tipsy!! He led us to a big monument by the Malecon and here we spent the rest of the night drinking (we had to go for more supplies at about 1.30...another bottle of rum & coke) talking, laughing and generally getting very drunk until we finally ran out and as the sun was coming up thought we'd best head home....we got in at 6.30am...just as marisela was getting up lol!!!