JULY 2009:
After an eventful week of salsa, rumba and lots of sweat, we've moved on from Habana to the northern province of Pinar del Rio and the Vinales valley. Feels like an entirely different country! Habana is a total one off- the revolutionary slogans EVERYWHERE, the music, the rum, the music, the cigars, the music, the cars the music...all juxtaposed against very colonial architecture. We stayed with a wonderful couple, Hector and Ery in Habana vieja, which is a truely beautiful area of the city, inspite of the tourista onslaught. The two currencies make it really difficult to escap the well thought through tourista bubble, but staying in a Casa definitely helped. Through a variety of contacts, holly managed to organise rumba dance and percussion lessons which gave an enormous insight into the habana music scene - aside from the salsa groups all over town. Last Sunday, Chiquito, the percussion teacher took us to what can only be described as the worlds most beautiful street party in Cajejon de hammel ( a backstreet of centro habana) to see an array of brilliant musicians doing their thing -including a womens rumba group, which is the first all female group i've seen. Wonderful artwork and powerful slogans fill every available wall space, and the atmosphere just incredible.
Vinales couldn't be more different - calm, peaceful aside from the pigs and goats which fairly roam freely, and lush greenery as far as the eye can see. More wonderful dancing lessons here, with a man who must be well into his 80s but is seriously hot on the dancefloor! Tomorrow we're riding to explore artwork in nearby caves, and then off to the coast for what promises to be world class scuba diving...more soon!
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