19th November

MATTHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We eventually staggered out of bed at around 1 pm and managed to get showered and changed just in time for Pablo and his dad to pick us up in his new (by cuban standards) Kia. The drive to the airport took about 30 mins with a couple of wrong turns but we arrived about 15 mins before Matthew's plane landed. Of course with baggage claim, immigration and customs it was still about an hour before he finally emerged. (we had started to worry he may have missed the plane). We were so happy to see each other and all be together again after so long. We arrived back at the casa around 5 and Matt got settled in and emptied his bag which seemed to be mostly full of chocolate for Mae!! In the evening we went for a little wander around Old Havana showing Matt a few of the places we have visited ourselves and stopping for a couple of beers in a little cafe which seemed to be playing Now 97. Then we finished off the night with a trip to the Chinese take away where we got dinner each for just over $6, of course this is because Mae insists on having the most expensive thing on the menu! We arrived back at the casa around 10 and headed to bed!

20th November

Rumba again and dancing

We got up and had one of Marisela's lovely breakfasts while discussing what we would do for the day. By the time we had finished eating and got out the door it was about 12.30 so we headed straight to the free rumba again for Matt's benefit. When we got there the band was in full swing but there were no people dancing in costume so we had another look round and bumped into a guy called Luis who we'd spoken to there previously and he said the dancers were on a bit later and were we going to 1830's tonight? We said we probably were then headed off to take matt to see the Malecon which was a little feisty as it was quite windy but there were still dry places to sit, which we did for a while until our toes started getting splashed! We decided then to find our way back to the Rumba and weren'r disappointed as it looked like the show was just starting, we had to stand in the sun though as it was already crowded with people and this was the only spot left to get a view of what was going on. There were the usual amount of jinteros selling cd's and when the first dancer came on and started throwing sweets into the crowd there was a mad scramble as people of all ages dove for them, almost as bad as the americans when they try and get a baseball thats landed in the stands!! We watched until almost the end before making a hasty retreat so as to avoid the worst of the crowds and went back to the casa to cool off for a bit. On the way back we stopped at a little bakery window and bought a huge round loaf of bread to go with the cheese we'd got the other day and it cost us a whole $8 nationales, which is about £0.20!! Once back at the casa we spent the rest of the day catching up on all the news from home with Matthew, practising dancing, eating bread and cheese, plus some of the chocolate Matt brought with him and finaly went out to buy some rum and coke to drink before we went to 1830's. We decided to sample another brand of rum as we'd already tried the 2 cheapest which were pleasant enough, this time we got Santiago Rum which was $5.30 or about £3.50 for a 70ml bottle...the most expensive rum in Cuba!! We weren't disappointed as it really was delicious, much smoother tasting than the havanna Club or Legendario we'd had previously. After a couple of drinks we started the trek to 1830's and arrived there at about 8pm. The music was pretty good and we all had a few dances before it started spitting with rain and the music ground to an unceremonious halt as everyone dashed under cover and threw sheets over the sound system!! We were a little surprised how abruptly this happened as it really was only spitting with rain and it only lasted about 8 minutes, it was a further 15 or so until things got going again though during which time we decided to explore the other side of the club which is twisting paths and turrets made out of the coral and really is very pretty! While we were there Luis from the Rumba came to find us and sold us at half price what we hope (we've not managed to play it yet) is a cd/dvd of music with people dancing the Orishas as well as explanations (in spanish) of what they mean etc. He also told us about the congress being run by Baila en Cuba this week....the one we've been trying to get info on...and said that Los Van Van were flying back from France this Wednesday and would be playing at La Tropicana on Friday....Matt's birthday!!! We had previously decided we weren't going to any of the congress parties as they were so expensive at $25 each but were definitely prepared to make an exception in this case! We headed back to the dancefloor in time for the shows which seem to be getting better with a group performing an entertaining routine to the pink panther and the usual cuban dances with tourist show being one of the best we've seen....the guy was from Italy! Then the band came on and were also a big improvement on last weeks as they played pretty much all salsa, we didnt get a chance to dance on the floor as it was so packed but we stood near the bar practising moves and generally just chatting until it got to 11.45 and the reggaeton started to creep in. We called it a night at this point and walked home, after a glass of rum to help us relax we went to sleep.

21st November.

More Rum.

After we eventually got out of bed we walked down to the bank so Matt could change his money and it also gave him plenty of time to decide whether to have cake or hot dog for breakfast. He eventually chose cake and we headed to the Havana Libre for doughnuts and coffee before walking home to pay for the Casa until the end of the week. That afternoon we decided to go on the bus tour around Havana which left from outside the Telegrafo Hotel and took us on a whirlwind tour of the city (with so little traffic it was travelling at about 40mph) taking in all the major sights. Fortunately for Matthew we had read the history section in the guide book which meant we were able to tell him about the various sights and areas of the city as the guide was completely unintelligible!! After the tour we walked back to the casa, stopping just long enough to pick up and devour a peso pizza. We spent the rest of the evening drinking Cuba libres in our room and trying to teach Matthew some of the things we'd learned on our travels so far. At some point we walked to the shop to pick up a new bottle of rum and a hot dog each until it was time to call it a night.

22nd November

Rum Museum and Florida.

We got up and walked down into Old Habana after deciding we would visit the Rum Museum today. For breakfast we stopped at my favourite bakery in town where the boys had a cheese and ham croissant each and I had the most delicious piece of cake yet...moist, dense and very very chocolatey/fudgey!! We carried on through the streets looking in the occasional shop that took our interest until we arrived at the museum and were just in time to join the English tour, unfortunately it was quite a bit more expensive than we were expecting which kind of ruined things really. However it was an interesting tour and we got to taste the 7 year old Havanna Rum at the end of it which was really good though at the price they charged to get in we were expecting either a taste of all of them or a bottle of the cheapest!! The shop is full of merchandise at extortionate prices which we managed not to buy and after looking at the bottle priced at $1700 which didnt even have proper dovetail joints on its presentation case we thought it time to leave! Whilst here we though we should check out the Chocolate Museum, but disappointingly it turned out to be nothing more than a very overpriced coffee shop that sold hot chocolate instead :( We needed to check a couple of things on the internet so went into the Parque Central Hotel only to be increasingly frustrated by Spirit Airlines who we were trying to book our free flights with to find out we needed another code from the code we already had, so we sent them an email and are hoping for the best! Then it was time to find something for dinner...we ended up in the House of Cheese again to buy enough for today and tomorrow before looking for a bakery for some bread then back to the casa. Our loaf turned out to be quite crusty and we ended up with crumbs in our bed as we had sat on it to eat dinner (no room for chairs in the room) A quick change of clothes and we walked back downtown to go dancing at Florida Hotel. It was quite busy already when we got there and we got our first lot of drinks before joining in the dancing. I got twice as many dances as usual because of course I had to dance with both Andy and Matthew now as they didnt like to ask other people to dance!! I eventually got tired and demanded they ask others so I could have a rest and get more drinks. After more dancing we all stopped to watch a couple of guys dancing with each other, this is the first time we'd seen this in Cuba and were impressed as they were really good and not at all like many of the other cubans we'd seen so far. They then got a lady whom Andy had previously danced with and he said was lovely to lead and all 3 of them danced in a kind of reverse threesome..we filmed this as it was awesome and afterwards one of the guys asked me to dance. It was great and straight away I went and asked his friend to dance, it was so nice to be led by people other than Matt & Andy who knew what they were doing and had some kind of spacial awareness!! By now it was pretty much the end of the night and we ended up talking to these 2 (Ray and Juan) for a while. This worked out really well as they are super friendly as well as great dancers and they have a dance teacher who they said would be able to teach us the Orishas as well as Son which we've been looking for everywhere! They got us all a taxi and then walked the last couple of blocks back to our casa with us promising to call in the morning to arrange our lesson with this lady and take us to her. We talked for a while before going to sleep around 2.30.

23rd November

Camelos, Son and more dancing

We had another of Marisela's lovely breakfasts this morning and waited for a phone call from the guys from last night. They called at 12 as promised and said they'd come and collect us in 20 minutes. When we met them they had their german girlfriends with them who both speak pretty good English and the 7 of us walked to the bus stop outside of the University. The buses here are known as Camelos as they are in 2 sections joined by a concertina and are a bit like the 2 humps of a camel. They are also notoriously crowded and impossible to figure out where they go unless you already know!! Apparently the way to find this out is to just get on a bus and see where it goes....!!!! Anyway the other reason we hadnt ventured on to them yet is because the queues are crazy and we've no idea how much it is or who to pay either!! Luckily Juan and Ray just ushered us all on and sorted the money out for us and then we held on for dear life as it wound its way along the uneven roads, lurching every time it came to a stop or pulled away at a junction. After about 20 minutes we got off in a part of town we hadnt been to, quite a long way from our casa, we then walked a couple of blocks to the dance teachers house. She lives upstairs in a one room flat with a large, partly covered, rooftop patio. While she got the boys to clear some heavy bags out the way for her we sat outside with the girls talking until she was ready to give us our lesson. We did it in the covered part of her patio so we were out of the sun and amongst her array of plants which was nice and cool. Starting with a simple warm up of stretches and body movements we then moved on to learn the basic steps of Son, which are pretty much the same as salsa but with different timing and a distinctive quick, quick slow tempo. After getting the basics we moved onto some partnerwork and our teacher seemed pleased with our progress and showed us almost all of the usual steps taking time to lead me and follow Andy and Matt to make sure we were doing it properly. We think her name is Betty but it is hard to tell with their accents, anyway, she is lovely, very friendly, extremely patient and is a fantastic dancer. We guessed she is somewhere between 50 and 60 but were warned to keep quiet by Juan who initially called her an old lady...apparently she would kill him if she found out lol! After the lesson finished we sat and chatted for a while as we drank some water and then some delicious coffee in the tiniest cups ever...espresso of course that is so much nicer than the rubbish bitter stuff you get back home. We left after sorting out times for our lesson tomorrow and Juan found us a taxi to take us back to our casa as him, Ray and the girls were going to look at a church nearby. We bought some bread when we left the taxi then went into our casa where I did some washing and the boys lounged around for an hour or so. It was about 5.30 by now and I felt I deserved a treat for working whilst they werent and demanded to be taken to Coppelia, the huge ice cream complex across the road from the Habana Libre hotel...also one of the German girls had said earlier that we really should go there! We made it past the guard who tried to usher us to the 'tourist' stands around the edge and instead followed a cuban couple upstairs into one of about 6 circular rooms that sat about 80 people. What happens is that they wait until the room is full which doeasnt take long, about 10-15 minutes then waiters come round and take your order, I asked for 3 ensaladas which is what i'd been told is best, then they bring out your icecream...everyone had the same it seems, as it was the end of the day I think you pretty much get what they've got left which happened to be 5 scoops of the most delicious vanilla icecream ever in a yellow plastic boat shaped bowl with biscuit crumbs on top. It was an amazing sight to see so many people in one place of all different ages and backgrounds eating the same thing with such enthusiasm! One lady had obviously ordered about 6 and was filling a tuppaware tub to take home with her, its crazy that its cheaper to do this than just buy a tub of icecream from a normal shop!! Once we had finished the waiter came round collecting money from everyone, it was $5 nationales each which works out at about £0.15...definitely the best 15p ive ever spent!! Feeling very pleased with ourselves we made our way home to a dinner of bread and cheese before getting ready to go dancing again. Juan came to meet us at about 8.30 and we went to his house for half hour whilst Ray finished getting ready. We then caught another bus downtown and headed to Florida where Ray and Juan had to wait for their friend, the compere from 1830 and Canitas, to get them in for free...they sometimes help him out if he needs some dancers and this is how he pays them back, works well for them all. We had some good dances, even if the set was the same as ever and I got a crazy dance with the guys and another man who took it in turns dancing with me to one song that got more and more frenetic. This, coupled with some lovely dances with Matt and Andy and a really good Rueda earlier in the night meant it was probably my best night there so far, it did however end with about 25 mins of reggaeton which we attempted and lastly 2 bachatas to finish on a good note! We got a slightly better looking/running taxi home than earlier in the day (where our ride had very little in the way of interior and nearly choked us with fumes) and collapsed into bed exhausted.

24th November

Rumba, Market & Pizza

After getting up slightly later today we just had time to pop out for a hotdog for breakfast before Juan phoned to say he was running a bit late as he had to clean the flat and would arrive about 1 o'clock. We took the same bus as yesterday although without the girls who were out having a salsa lesson of their own. When we arrived at the teacher's house she was playing a DVD from Bailar en Cuba which apparantly shows many of the steps and dances which we want to learn. Unfortunately they are no longer on sale and Juan said we should try to convince her to sell us the DVDs so we can practice when we get back to the UK. After a drink of water we started the lesson with a quick demo of what we learned the previous day and another warm-up before learning the basic steps of rumba. She really is an excellent teacher and explained that there are 3 different types of rumba Jambou which is smother and mainly danced by older people, Guaguanco which is a game between the mand and woman where the man tries to 'Vacuno' the lady using his hands, feet or pelvis and Columbia which isonlydances by men and includes a lot of acrobatics. She also explained the difference between them and we started practicing with Ray and Juan joining in the teaching as Matt and I had to learn different steps to Mae (who has to use a rather colourful tea towel tucked into her jeans as a skirt) Once we had learned the basics we then took turns dancing with each other to get a feel of what the dance is really like. After the lesson we all agreed that Rumba is very difficult and kills your leg muscles. We chatted for half an hour with another round of water and Coffee. We took another taxi this time with 'air-conditioning' (two fans connected to the battery) and went to Old Havana. We walked to the market we previously visited with Maz, which it turns out Juan didn't know about. We only had 30-40mins to buy some Christmas presents but fortunately we already had some idea what we were looking for. After finalising our purchases we decided it was time for another peso pizza from our usual place which this time included pineapple and mixed vegetables as well and the usual ham and chorizo. We are fairly sure they get better every time we have one and Juan was equally impressed. We then caught a bus back to the Havana Libre where we bought some rum before walking home. We spent the rest of the evening drinking rum, eating chocolate and watching really bad spanish programs on TV. (Including very badly acted soaps and learn english programs which were both incorrect and american). After a few more drinks we decided to practice the lift we learnt in New York, Matt was able to 'spot' us as Mae rolled backwards and upside down onto and over my back. There wasnt room to do the full move which then involves swinging Mae round the front so we generally collapsed on the bed at this point instead in fits of laughter. Eventually we collapsed and went to sleep!

25th November

Matt's Birthday

We started the day with breakfast at the casa then spent the morning packing until Juan came to pick us up for our final lesson. We once again got onto the busy bus which proceeded to get more and more crowded at every stop until eventually there were so many people squashed on they were practically hanging out the doors!! With relief we got off a stop early which only added a couple of minutes walk to our teachers house. We were an hour late this time but it didnt seem to matter, in Cuba 2 o'clock is any time between 2 and 2.59!! Our last lesson was on the Orisha's...the Santeria religion's gods and goddesses which all have their own specific dance and purpose and are actually replacements of various Christian Saints so that the African slaves in the 1600's could continue practising in secret. We started with the usual warm up before getting a crash course in 5 of the Orishas...Ellegua who opens and closes the paths in life, ( ), a hunter, Yemaya, goddess of the oceans, Ochun, goddess of the rivers and lastly Chango, god of fire who controls the lightening and war/weapons. It takes years to learn all the intricacies of these dances, the meanings, the movements and the music and what it represents but we all really enjoyed the lesson and hope to learn more if we can one day. While we were having our lesson Juan and his girlfriend were looking through some of our videos we'd taken at various salsa events and he came to the conclusion the men weren't manly enough...we showed him the dance Mauro and Eva did in Barcelona (my favourite ever) and he changed his mind a bit!! We then showed him a couple of simple lifts which he picked up quickly and with much enthusiasm, his girlfriend was not so sure about being upside down however! It was then time to leave as Betty had a childrens lesson to go and teach, so we all walked out together and Juan got us a taxi back to Vedado which was a really cool one with bench type seats like a truck in the back. Before going in to get changed for the evening we made a brief but important stop at Coppelia, this time at one of the big cafes outside, again following some Cubans in closely to avoid the guards. We had a choice today of vanilla or chocolate and of course all chose chocolate which turned out to be vanilla with chocolate ripples but was still delicious and this time we even got some caramel sauce too...nom!! After ice cream we went and got changed to go out and I managed to haggle down a coco taxi from $6 to $3 to take us to Casa de la Musica...it was great fun riding in this crazy little yellow egg that sounded like a hairdryer through the streets and we were surprised how stable it was. For Matt's birthday treat we went to see Bamboleo again, they were AWESOME, better than when we saw them a couple of weeks ago and Matt really liked them. Andy filmed the Guiro player for about 5 minutes because he's so entertaining to watch, really energetic, a bit crazy, kind of like a traditional base player in a rock band!! I danced with the guys in turn and both of them got asked to dance by different Cuban ladies, the dance floor was packed but we all had a great time. When the band finished the music deteriorated into cheesy 90's pop and we took this as our cue to leave and go and find dinner. We hadnt been able to get Matt a birthday cake yet and as we weren't far away we went to my favourite bakery where he chose a kind of pizza like looking lemon meringue cake which we took away and devoured after the obligatory round of Happy Birthday!! Next we thought we should celebrate in style...with a beer tower! We had seen these at Plaza Vieja in a bar/restaurant that brews its beer on site and thought Matt's birthday a good enough reason to blow the budget for the day and sample one...or two........!! We were given a seat inside which I was quite glad about as it was a little cooler than it has been and we chose a metre high tower (6 pints) of the dark beer which comes with 'steins' to drink from and a little dish of cheese :)))) We also ordered dinner at this point and by the time it came we were well into our tower and decided we should also sample the light beer they brew and ordered another metre!! Dinner was delicious, me and Andy had ordered a traditional dish of salty jerk beef, rice and veg, while Matt had catalonian prawns with the same which was amazingly tasty...me and Andy had to help him finish it!! It took a while to finish our 2nd tower of beer as we were all rather full and more than a little tipsy and the place was closing around us by the time we left to walk (stagger) back to our casa. We had been saying earlier that we should have got Juan's phone number for when we were back in Habana and had forgotten, so when we heard our names being called from across the road we were really happy to see him, Ray and their girlfriends who were just returning from a night out at a place near to 1830's. After many 'Happy Birthdays' to Matt, we got their number and said farewell and made our way finally to bed at about 2am....we had to get up at 6 to get the bus to Trinidad in the morning!!