Havana nights are definitely hot, and not just because of the Carribean weather! While exchanging money at the Hotel Nacional, I was able to purchase an Internet card (7 CUC/Hour) to get ahold of some friends that were also in Havana from LA.
I went to meet up with them at the prestigious, brand new, free-wifi-having hotel, the Saratoga, and from there we all went to the infamous Tropicana show.
I felt like we were in the movie ‘Midnight in Paris’ except..obviously in Havana…as we rolled up to the Tropicana in the 1950’s convertible Ford. We had had quite a few Cuba Libres at dinner it took some effort to get us all through the door and to our seats.
On our way in, we were all given cigars, which I attempted to smoke (and failed). We were also given yet another bottle of rum for the table, which we had no problem finishing by the end of the show. The show itself was unbelievable, the costumes, the dancing, the voices — everything exceeded my expectations and then some!
The ‘and then some’ part is mostly referring to the fact that someone actually convinced me to get up and dance salsa with them! We were dancing in the aisles of the Tropicana then suddenly the hosts of the show told everyone who was dancing to get up on the massive stage to dance! It might have been the rum, but I did it anyway!
When the show was over, I thought we’d all head home, but nope, one of my friends instructed the driver to take us to Casa de la Musica, a local dance and music venue in Centro Habana. It was like a huge theater with a live band up front and everyone was either dancing salsa, or drinking rum at their tables.
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