I'm feeling so popular! when I arrived in Santiago de Cuba there again was a little placard with my name on it. I pushed through the throngs of hustlers outside the station and furiously bargained down the price of a ride to my casa. The place was absolutely lovely. I would recommend to all travelers who are thinking about going to Cuba: stay in a casa particular and not a hotel. They are amazingly clean, friendly and best of all cheap! I cleaned myself up and flipped though my lonely plant guide and found out about a small club a little outside the main town that plays great trova music on Fridays. Just as I walked out the door I heard drumming and peeked inside a nearby house where Cuban men and women were dancing what looked almost like a slow waltz but to the beat of drums so their hips were shaking ever so slightly. So suave.
Walking through town to the club I immediately decided that I love Santiago. I was somewhat not looking forward to a big city like Havana but this has such a small town feel and the downtown historic area is stunning, even at night. I arrived at the club, called Casa Traditiones, which was full of mostly locals with a few tourists thrown into the mix. My kinda crowd! Within five minutes I was introduced to the owner and seated beside a guy who owns a dance school listed in the lonely planet. He gave me a quick one song lesson and I was hooked and agreed to meet him the next day for a real lesson. On the way home I decided to check out another club but it was tourist central with lots of Cuban hustlers (jinteros) outside so I took a pass.
Spent the next morning running around town looking for a place to move all my pictures from my camera to a CD. A surprisingly difficult task for a big city like Santiago. After walking a few kilometers out of the city center only to be turned down again I gave up in defeat. Luckily my guide book showed that there were a few interesting museums nearby so I headed to check it out. First was a small obscure museum of images that has one of the most extensive collections of cameras, tv tubes and movie cameras in the world and its walls are lined with phenomenal photos of Fidel and historical figures in Cuba. Next was a museum devoted to Santeria which is the African religion here in Cuba. It was only a small display but in the back there was a patio bar and a few men milling around, one of whom recognized me from Casa Traditiones from the night. He was sitting at a small desk rolling cigars and showed me how to do it. I ended up with the sorriest looking thing you've ever seen, more broom than cigar.
I had to quickly head back to my casa to take a quick shower before my salsa lesson. Cuban salsa is so different from the salsa I've learned previously. Instead of the guy keeping step and spinning the girl around to make her look good, in Cuban salsa its the guy who is the more flamboyant one. There's still lots of spinning but in the meanwhile the guys is shaking and preening like a peacock. Very entertaining. On my way home I decided to check to see if the crazy long line at the Cadeca (money changer) had grown any shorter as it was almost closing time. To my surprise, there was no line. Cubans are so used to lining up for everything that they would never fathom showing up at a place 10 minutes before closing time! Casa Traditiones was closed for the night so I checked out a different small bar which unfortunately had been taken over buy a bus load of tourists. I stayed for a while because the performers were a female trova group which is quite rare.
Early morning salsa lesson and then on my way to find a bite to eat and ran into Janelle, an Australian girl I'd met at the bus station. We found a cheap restaurant and then met up with her friend and we all agreed to rent a taxi for the day to check out a few sites a bit outside of Santiago. The first was El Cobre, a beautiful church with a nearby mirador. Back in the car the taxi driver next stopped at an old cemetery where Joe Marti is buried and we were just in time to see the changing of the guard in from of his giant mausoleum.
Last but not least we headed to see the castle fort Castillo de la Morro. It was a gorgeous structure and one of the most well preserved in all of Latin America. We walked around and around passing old cannons and lookouts and found the secret path down almost to the water. Back into town where I barely had enough time to get some greasy fried chicken from a street vendor before I had to head to the bus station. Luckily I left early because getting a taxi was more complicated than I had imagined. The grandmother in my house went outside and asked people on the street if someone had a car who could take me. Then that didn't work she started trying to thumb me a ride. Finally a random guy stopped and took me all the way to the station in time to catch my late night bus to Trinidad. Gotta love Cuba.
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