Hola mi amigos y amigas!

I'm finally back and gotten over all of my jetlag and sleep deprivation! I'm sure now that all one of you who actually read my entire postings are itching to know what's going on on that tiny island just 90 miles off the coast of florida, right? Well, anyway, if it's only Ms. Voodoo then here goes a little reflection of cuba...

The biggest thing I remember is the hospitality of the people there. How many times do we see tourists and we just let them pass by without even an acknowledgement? Well, definitely not there! You cannot walk in the streets without hearing, "My frain, my frain" [sorry, that's about the closest I can get to their english!] Actually I'm gonna go day by day this next week so you can actually get an account of everything i saw and did.............

- 4/9 -
We left SFO at around 1pm on American Airlines for a direct flight to Miami. The in-flight movie was "Ocean's 11". Cool movie. Anyway, a pretty eventless flight that got us to Miami around 930pm EST. After checking into our hotel, we went to Benigans for some food and hanging out. Then it was back to the room for a quick sleep because we were supposed to be at the airport at 6 am!

- 4/10 -
We woke up and after a quick breakfast [of the standard hotel continental kind] we were on our way back to Miami airport for an 8am flight to Habana. After checking in our stuff and boarding the plane, you kinda realize, "I'm about to go to a place that the U.S. doesn't want me to go to. Sucka!" =)
Anyway, the flight was less than an hour and by 10 am we had our suitcases and luggage, ready to go through customs. Customs is a trip though. You wait in line, then go through a door, into a tiny enclosed passageway. There's a window where a cuban military guy looks through your visa and passport. Finally, after what seems like hours, he lets you throught and
TA DAAAAAAAA...you're officially in Cuba! We met up with our guide who showed us the way to our bus, the air-conditioned, equipped with a bathroom, chartered kind.
As we drove from the airport to our hotel, my friend Joe [who happens to be pinoy] and I remarked how similar this place is to the PI. Same looking houses and stuff, just a little less tropical looking. We stopped in at the Jose Marti monument to take pictures. Jose Marti is the national hero in cuba [isn't it weird how our motherland's hero is also named Jose?] This is the place where Castro comes out to make his big speeches. Apparently they are able to fit over a million people in this area. Castro comes out about 6 times a year, mostly on holidays and stuff. Otherwise, nobody knows where he is.
We stopped off for lunch at this beautiful restaurant just outside the edge of town. Since we paid close to $1500 for this trip, most of our food was paid for. I was able to try one of Cuba's beers, Cristal and we got our food, which was, some chicken dish, rice [with sauce that was a new taste for me], black beans, and vegetables. In a chivalrous sort of way, the women were served first. OH yeah, dessert was ice cream. For most of us, we were still in shock of the fact that we were here, and most of this lunch we were letting the feeling settle in.
We got to our hotel, the Inglaterra, which was built in the late 19 century [i think]. The place was beautiful. Tiled inside and sorta neo Spanish looking on the outside. The hotel faced Parque Central where everyday, at around 11 am, a group of about 25 men come out to discuss, debate and argue. Over what subject? From all the finger pointing and yelling, you'd think it was about politics, but NO, they're talking about.......BASEBALL!
So we went down to the front patio and had a welcome coctel of cuban rum and coca-cola. Coca-cola is available at places such as hotels but since nothing American is allowed on the streets they have their own version called TROPICOLA. I listened to one of the many house bands, RUMI and bought a tape of them, which I'm still playing in my car right now! Then I went to the room to rest before dinner.
At around 6 we walked to a restaurant near La Catedral in Habana, a venue where we would be singing on the coming Sunday. Dinner consisted of fish, rice and black beans, in addition to two Cristals, which had me in a pretty good mood. Once again, we had musicians there, a violinist and a guitar player, who sang to us as we ate. After a dessert of ice cream, we ended up singing them a song too! We exchanged pleasantries and after a bit of picture taking, we left the restaurant.
Walking back, we stopped at a bar where a Spanish band was playing. They had a very beautiful flamenco dancer in the group, so a few us decided to stay and watch. We were accompanied by the chair of music at SFSU, Patricia Lee, her husband Dick, and one of the music faculty, Saul Gropman. Dick actually bought our first round of drinks. By the way, Mojitos were the choice of drink by many of us during our stay. It's a concoction of sugar, lime juice, liquor and mint leaves. Anyway, the band played a set and the women were mesmerized by their lead singer, while us guys were hypnotized by the woman who danced flamenco. The night ended up with us dancing on stage and getting a conga line going! We walked back to the hotel around 2 and ended up hanging out in a friend's room before turning in.

Well, there's the first day! Tune in for the next exciting day of my trip...

Make Mine Music
~ No Tations