Living in Miami, I’m well-acquainted with Cuban music, but I was surprised by the range of talent we enjoyed on this trip. From kids to professional groups, we saw and heard a wonderful cross-section.
One of the first we experienced was at Beyond Roots, a community center dedicated to Afro-Cuban culture. We learned a bit about the icons and music in Santeria worship, and enjoyed spirited drumming and dancing. They also had a beauty salon focused on African hairstyles, and a small shop featuring locally made items utilizing African fabrics. To top off the experience, they made us some excellent guava batidos from their refreshment counter.
My favorite entertainment of the trip was the professional group Havana Compass, which performed an exciting mash-up of flamenco infused with Afro-Caribbean beats. It was one part like the Broadway show Stomp, a dash of dramatic flamenco, combined with synchronized footwork like the Stepping originated by African-American college fraternities. The colorful, energetic performance was a real highlight for me. This troupe has performed around the world (and was in Tampa in 2016 when restrictions between our countries were eased a bit). During your travels, if you see they are performing – go! There is a video with a short sample at the end of this post.
Kids Show Off
On two occasions, we visited children. One group of fourth-graders in an afterschool program sang a quick song. They asked our group to sing back, and rather pitifully, our group responded with a very uncreative “Happy Birthday.” The other kids ranged from nine to teens at a neighborhood guitar center. It may not have been where they wanted to be on a late Friday afternoon. They were shy and looked like they wished they were anywhere else. Some of the older girls were also teachers for younger kids in the program. One young lady sang and played a lovely version of “Quiero, Quiero, y Quiero.”
Getting Our Salsa On
Back to dancing – we went to a local studio, KubaSoy, and met a group of salsa aficionados. These folks had other jobs and clearly love to dance. They very patiently tried to teach our group to Salsa. The girls also showed us some performance numbers, but what I liked best was watching the group dance together – you could tell they were having fun and really enjoyed one another.
Cigars, Rum & a Violin
Another highlight was the incredibly talented violinist/singer who played for us as we enjoyed some Havana Club rum and tried Cuban cigars (no cigars for me). The performer was amazing. This was at Vi Humos Boutique, in a beautifully restored apartment leased from an owner living in El Salvador. It was here I learned to play dominoes, and with a couple of excellent coaches, I won. I don’t think, however, I’ll be challenging Miami’s Calle Ocho players anytime soon.
It was another occasion with no power, and Vi was very worried about her humidors, which she might have to move to a place with a generator if the outage continued. No one here knows when the rolling outages will occur or how long they will last.
Dinner Music
Our first dinner in Cuba set the pace with three wonderful guitarists playing in the background. We concluded the trip with rooftop dining on a beautiful, breezy evening at a neighboring hotel, while enjoying rhythms and songs provided by a nine-member ensemble. With violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, keyboard, drums, and vocalists, these kids were all multi-talented.
Tourist Shows
Just for tourists, the price of these shows includes drinks. At least we knew tickets bought with US dollars through certain intermediaries, meant some fees were shared with individuals.
On a free evening, we visited the Buena Vista Social Club ($35) after dinner (they serve dinner there, but I would not recommend it). Of course, it’s not the original BVSC – that was in a house and closed decades ago. But it honors similar traditional Cuban music – like what is currently featured in the new Broadway show of the same name. The seats were at tables and incredibly smashed up against one another (no fire code here). It was very uncomfortable, but the music was actually pretty enjoyable. We traveled by bicycle taxi, arranged by our Tour Director. That young man had to work hard to pedal us over the dark, badly broken, and uneven streets – but he did his best to make it as smooth as possible.
Yes, we did go to the Tropicana ($95), because after all, we were in Havana. It was a big disappointment. Really run down. And the usual open-air roof was closed for some reason. The show was very “thematic” and included representation of phases of Cuban history. At times, the dancers were performing to taped music, and the musicians were just standing in the background. These pictures actually make it look a lot nicer than it was.
There was an abandoned air about the place, since huge areas of the complex were vacant (maybe where a casino or another restaurant used to be?). In any case, I was glad to have seen it. We went after dinner at about 10 PM and stayed about an hour and a half (dinner is also available there, but again, wouldn’t advise it). The show apparently runs until 3 AM. Our table of 8 was able to take away two almost full bottles of good rum to gift to our local guide.
The highlight was rolling down the long drive and pulling up to the front entrance in a vintage convertible.
If you want to see a small part of Havana Compass in action, watch the following clip:
If you enjoyed this post, check out my other content about Cuba: Reflections Intro
All my life, I’ve heard stories about Cuba. I listened to the reminiscences of my Abuelo, who left Spain for Cuba on his way to the United States in 1920. At every family gathering, I heard tales of family members I would never meet, trapped by life’s circumstances after the revolution ended in 1959. In the early 1990s, my Abuelo made five trips to see his brother, taking clothes and medicine. He told me it was as if time stood still and that he avoided any political discourse since many of the younger generation were proud communists, never knowing another way of life.
As a Miami-area resident for the past 48 years, I feel very connected to Cuban friends and neighbors. Many Cuban descendants refuse to visit the island, others with Spanish or Latin American backgrounds (like my mother) stay away on principle, not wishing to appear to support the government. It’s complicated and emotional.
I always wanted to go and see things for myself, and finally had the chance. Indeed, it was as if time stopped. Unfortunately, so did any upkeep, restoration, or improvements.
First, let me say, I loved the trip. It was a “people-to-people” cultural mission. These trips support the people of Cuba as opposed to the government. Americans cannot identify as “tourists,” and we are not allowed to officially stay in the fancy, nicer government-owned hotels.
Our hotel A/C worked at about 10% capacity, but we were just happy to have any; Cuba has had major power outages for the past six months. Most days, we did experience rolling outages in places we visited. Basic wi-fi was only available at the hotel, but again, we were very lucky to have power along with hot water, and the minimal A/C, certainly more than most people living in Cuba. Any visitor needs to know you can’t flush toilet paper here – not anywhere we went. But we were prepared for that too. Americans can’t use credit cards, but our US dollars (paid out to individuals) are very welcome.
The trip was intense, and never intended to be a luxury vacation; it was an experience. These “missions” allow Americans to visit, but we are on a preset agenda and don’t have much time on our own. I am not naïve enough to think we saw enough of the difficulty of life facing most Cubans today. Our Tauck tour director, Xavier, and local guide Edel did a terrific job showing us the culture and putting things in context. I think visitors have to be open to understanding what they are and aren’t seeing.
Havana was our base, and much of our time was spent learning about Cuban art, architecture, and history, as well as visiting local musicians and dancers. Our meals were at “paladares”, which are private restaurants run by enterprising Cubans (now legal), often out of their homes. I found the Cuban people welcoming, helpful, and happy to see us.
We also visited the beautiful countryside around the town of Viñales, but more on that later. My posts about this trip will be organized into categories like architecture, music & dance, paladares, etc. I hope you will follow along.
As my good friend and travel partner, Sarah, said, Cuba is “so close, yet so far away.”
To be honest – our group was really 70+. We were eight girlfriends, most of a group who have been gathering for a winter trip over the past 20 years. This year’s Virgin Cruise is our 16th trip.
Geographically, we live from Maryland to Miami, but we met during the past 25 years at our summer homes in the North Carolina mountains. Our trips used to center on golf, but those days have faded. Our getaways now focus on lots of talk, food, drinks, more talk, cards, and, most of all, laughter. We’ve been everywhere from Vegas, Jamaica, Santa Fe, Sea Island, and most resort areas in Florida. This was our third cruise, sailing on a 4-day voyage out of Miami to Key West and Bimini.
First, I have to report, the trip was fun. Yes, we were among the oldest on the Virgin Valiant Lady, but no one cared.
Virgin’s demographics skew young (but not too young, it’s adults only). They dine on trendy food, toss down assorted shots, and party like crazy. And they are technologically savvy. Most of our group are not.
There is, of course, an app you must have on your phone to check in or even board the ship. And, in the room, a tablet controls everything. There are no written instructions. It became a comedy to figure out if there were more than 4 movies available, any live news, a way to get hold of your cabin steward, or how to control the lights. I think I was the only one who knew you could change the ambient lighting to different “mood” colors.
The food in the restaurants was very good, and the Duel Reality show in the theater was extremely well done (Duel is not spelled wrong; it was a uniquely energetic interpretation of a Romeo & Juliet family feud). We enjoyed playing trivia, the campy show with drag queen “The Diva,” winning in the Casino (not me), complimentary Diet Coke, and some serious on-board jewelry shopping.
The Scarlet Night party and The Manor nightclub were fabulous for most passengers. I was a voyeur for a while – observing all the fun at both locations. And those outfits! Everyone seriously dressed the part. The first night of the cruise, we skipped the big pajama party with surprise guest hip hop star Flo Rida. Believe it or not – I’ve seen Flo Rida, and I’m sure it was great. Watching young adults less than half my age party did make me feel younger – for just a little while anyway.
While in Bimini, we checked out the Beach Club just because we could. We might have been the only guests not wearing swimsuits (temps in the low 70s & breezy). It was very nice, beautiful in fact – but we headed back on the now deserted ship to get in a good, quiet game of canasta.
Sadly, through the years, we have lost three good friends, and four have lost husbands. We missed the gals who couldn’t join us this year and agreed we will do these trips as long as we can. Being together is good for our health and sanity!
Don’t wait to spend quality time with your friends because you may never get the chance. Can’t wait to see where we end up next year.
Tips if you are a “mature” passenger on Virgin:
- Number 1: Find your Cabin steward and have them explain all the features in the room
- Try, try, try to make your dinner reservations in advance, if you have more than 6 in your group it’s not easy and you will have to make multiple reservations at the same time for parts of the group
- They don’t give you luggage tags, getting on and off the ship is super easy
- Don’t be shy about asking for what you need. You want ice – ask for it; prefer a printed version of the daily activity sheet, ask and you shall receive
- Accept the fact there will be loud music everywhere – after all, this is a Sir Richard Branson (of Virgin Records) ship
- Go to the Deck 15 food court to get your free morning coffee, they will charge you at other locations
- You can pick up a ship map at Sailor Services if the app isn’t working well (and it wasn’t)
- If you have status with another cruise line, Virgin will sometimes extend their basic status to you, but it must be arranged at least 2 weeks ahead of sailing
- Take your own salt shaker (food was often spicy, but never salty and finding a working shaker was a serious challenge)
- You don’t have to be off the ship until 10:30 AM, so it’s a much more relaxing final morning
- Soak up the vibe and channel feeling younger!
I am honored to report that Uniworld Boutique River Cruise company selected my post about visiting Monet’s home and garden to feature in their newsletter Sincerely Uniworld. Click to read: Monet’s World at Giverny
