5th December

Santiago De Cuba

We finally arrived in Santiago De Cuba around 12:30 extremely stiff from sitting on a coach for 14 hours and were met by the daughter of the lady who's casa we are staying at. After a 10 minute or so taxi ride we arrived and were shown around the place where we relaxed and promptly fell asleep for about 5 hours!! After waking we set off for some exploring of the surrounding area and tried to find some dinner. Unfortunately by now it was dark and we decided it would be best to stick to the main streets to avoid getting lost. We walked around for about 1 ½ hours stopping to look at the various little squares we came across which there seems to be a lot of in Santiago. We also discovered the Cathedral which is very impressive and has a nativity outside as it's Christmas (complete with beach hut and Palm tree of course!!!) We walked around several more interesting streets, Santiago seems to be a sort of cross between Havana and Trinidad, we found a couple of places to try for dancing and eventually got some food in a 24hour cafe for about $1.20 each including beer!! After that we walked the other direction from our casa and found a park/square which we had driven past on the car journey, the square has a monument in the centre which consists of four very large cannons surrounding and gigantic plinth on which there is what seems to be sticks of dinamite wearing Papa Smurfs hat, needless to say we both found this extremely odd and were trying not to laugh in the taxi. We walked a bit further until we found a lady on the side of the road selling slices of cake for $0.08 each so we bought one each and sat down in the park to eat and watch the local gang of dogs running about for seemingly no reason. Finally we walked back to the casa via a small bar where we managed to buy a bottle of rum and some lemonade which we drank in our room while watching a film Matt had brought us before bed.

6th December

Exploring Santiago

We started the day early by getting up for breakfast at 9 so we could go and explore in the relative cool of the morning, it is much hotter here than in Habana, but before we could leave the taxi driver from yesterday (who happens to be related to our hosts) turned up to tell us about what he could offer. After quizzing him on various places we hope to visit as he speaks quite good English we agreed that we would call him if we wanted to do any of his tours which as it turns out are very reasonably priced compared to an organised bus tour yet still a bit pricey just for us. Finally leaving the casa at nearly half 10 we retraced our steps from last night and took photos of the various places we'd seen so far before heading to the Cubatour office to arrange our bus to Baracoa on Sunday...$15 each for 250km leaving at a ghastly 7.45am!! Once this was done we decided to walk to the other side of Santiago and see what was there, this involved us making our way along the main streets which were today quite busy before arriving at a kind of park in the middle of the road where we turned left and headed towards the Plaza de la Revolucion. There dont appear to be as many buses or taxis here as in Habana however there are many brightly coloured trucks which seem to be the alternative, cramming them full with people so they hang out the sides, they seem to be very popular though as the paths get blocked with people waiting for them! After making our way along the Avenue de los Americas for 10 mins or so we came across the Baseball Stadium which is huge and quite impressive to look at, unfortunately it was closed and we found out from a close by info place that there are no games on until next week which is a shame, hopefully we'll get to see a game elsewhere before we leave Cuba. Leaving the stadium behind us we continued along to the Plaza de la Revolucion which is flanked by a circle of flags on the right which Andy says reminds him of the World Series Trophy and a large modern looking building which may be part of the university as there were lots of students going into it. The plaza in my opinion is much nicer than the one in Habana, maybe because there's a giant statue of a horse.....?!! Anyway we had a look round before crossing the road and going into a little local market where rice, corn, maize and flour are sold off of large platters and fruits of all kinds are available for pittance. We found the only music stall and finally bought some Rumba which we could practice to and a CD with a mix of Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton and Kizomba!! Apparently they play it in discos here but whether they dance it like we do or not remains to be seen...perhaps we could go round telling everyone we're kizomba teachers and trying to get them to have lessons with us as it seems all people here are salsa teachers because they think they can dance it!! They'll probably say they invented that too and that we're dancing it wrong...thats what has been said of our cha cha cha and bachata which the Cubans dont seem to know how to dance at all, but apparently they invented it! We left the little market and made our way back via a side street that led us to the Sagrada Familiar, a pretty church that is actually finished unlike its namesake in Barcelona, before coming across the casa del caribe which is a place where they have classes in afrocuban culture. We were allowed a look inside and found some strange representations of some famous paintings such as the last supper along side several large figures carved out of wood representing some of the afrocuban deity's. Leaving here we were starting to feel tired and quite hot so thought it best to go and check out Coppelia's rival, Turquino, which we had seen last night but had been closed. We got to this slightly smaller ice cream complex (no guards here) and went and sat down where we thought best as no one pointed where to go as at coppelia. After waiting for over 10 minutes and being completely ignored by the multitudes of staff that conveniently looked away whenever they came near us I got a bit pissed off and so went up to one and asked where we should go, she begrudgingly pointed inside and left, so we headed over and were greeted slightly better and shown to a table with a cuban lady and her daughter as well as being given a menu! Eventually the our order was taken (luna llenar which I think means full moon) and after a seemingly long time we were served each 5 scoops of ice cream in a dish, 2 coconut, 2 chocolate and 1 orange, all delicious!! We savoured our treat and paid a whole £0.25 all together before going back to the casa to relax on the terrace for an hour or so as the house was being fumigated and was full of smoke. Periodically houses, streets and even whole towns and cities are fumigated to keep the population of mosquitos to a minimum as in previous times there was a big problem with Dengue fever, a very unpleasant bug. When the battery on the computer died we went back to our room and decided it was late enough to think about getting some dinner so we found ourselves a couple of $5 nacionale or £0.15 cheese pizzas and a piece of fried chicken to share. After a brief hunt for somewhere to use the internet in the morning we once again returned to the casa for a shower and change before going out dancing. At 10pm we left to go to a place we'd found last night that was only $2 to get in and has a different live band on every evening called El Patio de Los Dos Abuelos. We entered to find ourselves in a narrow open air courtyard with a bar on the right at the far end next to a tiny dancefloor where a couple were dancing to salsa playing over the speakers. We sat at one of only 2 tables left unoccupied and ordered a beer each for $1, another thing that is cheaper here than Habana, then sat waiting for the band to start. We were pleasantly surprised when 7 women stepped up to the little stage and began to play some Son, this is the first time we'd ever seen an all female group and they were really very good playing a variety of Son, Salsa and Bolero while a couple in yellow outfits danced quite well in front of them. They played for about 45 mins then had a break, during which we got up to dance when a nice song came on and to much applause from everyone else who clearly werent there to dance, I dont know why they clap, all we want to do is dance not perform for people, Andy says he finds it embarrassing. The place started to empty a little and we had some more dances while not being scrutinised by so many people and then the band came back on for another set, this time minus yellow performers! We danced again and this time it was one of the singers in the band who asked us where we were from as we returned to our seats before continuing with the set, another good mix of music performed nicely though to not much applause as there was hardly anyone left in there. When they had finished and had packed away it seemed like time to go so we made our way to the door and just before stepping through were confronted by a man and 2 ladies who had been sitting near the front of the club. They asked how long we were here in Santiago and said we danced very well which was really nice of them, then one of the ladies asked if she could have a picture of us which we thought a little strange but agreed. She then passed the camera to her friend and stood in between us with her arms around our waists grinning broadly, we felt a little like how the teachers and performers must feel at congresses when random people ask to have their photo taken with them, but we smiled for the camera and she seemed really pleased. Laughing at the strange incident we made our way back to the casa for some rum and lemonade before bed.

7th December.

Internet.

There isn't much to say about today really, Mae spent most of the morning waiting to use the internet while I went out to look for her Christmas present. When she eventually did get online (the first computer was too old and didnt have any programs to allow her to open anything!) she discovered an email from spirit which gave her the codes for our free flights, it also informed us that they could only be redeemed through their reservation phone line despite us having said in the previous email that we have no access to a phone. After checking that the codes didn't work on the website (which they didn't) and sending a couple of e-mails we decided that we would have to phone them. So we went across the street to the Casa Granda Hotel where we discovered that the only way to phone was via a phone card which would give a maximum of 4 mins for $10!! Clearly not long enough. We decided to walk up to the Hotel Melia which is the most modern looking hotel in Santiago where we might be able to let us use a phone and pay after. We grabbed a couple of cheese sandwiches for breakfast and walked the mile or so. When we eventually did arrive we were given the run around by all the staff who as usual have no idea where anything is, even in their own hotel!!! Eventually we found the telephone lady who agreed to call the number for us but it turns out that you can't phone an American free-phone number from Cuba!! We then went on the internet to discover that spirit has no other number to call so we had to send them another email asking what we can do! We spent the rest of our internet time booking accommodation for our first night in Chile and trying unsuccessfully to book the Peru salsa congress, who's website doesn't seem to work properly (no prizes for guessing where the company running that is based!! Americans are just not equipped to deal with anyone who is outside America, this includes their international airlines and booking of events which are happening in other countries apparently!!) Since all this took so long it was now time for ice cream, this time however we thought we should sample the cake as well and bought a large slice and three scoops each for £0.30 altogether!! Whilst eating our ice cream and cake it started to spit with rain and we watched the streets clear rapidly, Cubans dont like rain! We then walked back to the casa and picked up a bottle of rum and some coke on the way. After dropping off all our stuff we went out again because Mae wanted to see the sea. We walked down to the waterfront and watched the ferry crammed full of people making it's way across the bay. The view out is beautiful however it is located in a not very nice area of town and we got many funny looks from the locals as we walked back to the casa. We spent the rest of the evening drinking rum and eating a cake we bought for £0.35 before bedtime.

8th December

Casa De La Trova

We had a superbly cheap breakfast today consisting of Roast pork sandwiches for $0.20 each, a coffee for $0.04 each and a glass of delicious freshly squeezed orange juice for $0.08 each, followed a bit later by coconut ice-cream in a huge cone for $0.20.We stood in the square eating our ice-cream and feeling very pleased with ourselves when it started to spit with rain, as usual the Cubans all dived for cover. Thinking it would just be a light shower like the previous day we stayed beneath the trees and carried on enjoying our ice-cream, unfortunately it turned out not to be a light shower, but a half hour downpour in which time we got thoroughly drenched and made our soggy way back to the casa where we changed before sitting on the patio to dry off. The rest of the afternoon we spent relaxing while we waited to be able to move into the room upstairs which was being vacated that day. We settled in to our new, bigger room at about 6.30 before heading out in search of dinner which ended up being a plate of spaghetti followed by pizza. Not feeling like going back to the casa straight away we decided to sit in the Cathedral Square for a while to let dinner go down and look at the strange Nativity again which now has flashing Christmas lights on its palm tree. Before long we started getting an endless stream of people coming up to us asking for money so we gave up and went back to the casa after checking what time the casa de la Trova opened and who was playing. We got changed and sat around until about 9.45 then went out to dance, the Casa de la Trova opened at 10 and we paid our $5 cuc each (which didn't even include a drink!) and went upstairs and found a table near the front by the very small dance floor (Everywhere here seems to have a tiny dance floor). The band started soon after and were exceptionally loud, probably so people outside could hear and encourage them in. They were very good and played some interesting music as it actually had some breaks in it but unfortunately no one seemed to have gone there to dance and the band all looked so happy to be there (I don't think any of them smiled more than once all night!) that they didn't really inspire you to get up anyway! A couple of people made some shuffling attempts in between the tables and feeling a bit disappointed we waited for another song to start and got up on the dance floor feeling very self conscious but desperately wanting to dance and not waste the night. A few people danced at varying stages throughout the night but honestly it was a pretty poor show considering that all Cubans are supposedly able to dance I'd love to know how they get so good if they never actually do it! The highlight of the evening for me was (other than dancing nicely with Andy) getting asked to dance once the whole night and finding that the guy danced Son which made a nice change and gave me a chance to practice some of what we'd learned with Betty. 12.30 came around and the music degenerated into cheesy merengue and boleros so we called it a night leaving the pleasant venue but feeling a bit ripped off. Once back at the casa we chatted for a bit about the night before going to sleep.

9th December

Practice day.

After breakfast of hamburger for $0.08, coffee and orange juice we immediately went on the internet hoping to have received a reply from spirit. Unfortunately it turns out that the person we emailed is on holiday for a week and has apparently forwarded our email on to someone so they can help us. (not holding my breath on this!!) We sent another couple of messages and then walked back to the casa where we spent all afternoon practising salsa. We first did some exercises on timing changes and flowing between a few simple steps which Mae found extremely difficult at first as she hasn't really done much shines practice. We then moved on to some partner work we have done in the past and working on a couple of technique bits. By then it was time for dinner and grabbed a bottle of rum to drink while we watched a couple of films in the evening.

10th December.

Nothing to say about today really, after having a nice breakfast at the casa and checking our emails, still nothing from spirit!! We filled up a 1.5l bottle with orange juice for about $0.50 and spent most of the day reading the travel books on South America that Matt had brought us. Due to budget constraints we need to know what activities we would like to do and have some idea of their costs before we go. Dinner was the usual affair and we looked around for some dancing but although there was salsa music everywhere most places were pretty dead, even though it's a saturday. Since we need to be at Viazul at 6:45am and nothing seemed to be happening we decided to turn in fairly early, however we got distracted doing some spanish on the computer and didn't get to bed until 1am!