Girl on Tour: February 2009

Whoa, what an amazing trip! Words cannot even begin to articulate the adventure I have only just begun to recover from, emotionally and physically, but I will endeavour to do my very best as this holiday definitely rates a mention.

Let's start where it all began. PPP* and I have been doing salsa lessons for a few months together last year. He being a good few years ahead of me however it was an interest I had wanted to cultivate from a course of lessons I undertook when I lived in Glasgow in 2006. During our recent classes, a trip to Cuba was suggested as being an excellent way to improve our moves and learn it from the experts. Over a few months the Cuban Valentines trip was arranged through an specialist Cuban Salsa holiday group in England.

11 nights and 12 days of Cuba including: 21 hours of Salsa classes (usually 2 hours tuition a day) including Salsa, Rueda, Reggaeton, Afro-Cuban dance, Partner work and Body Movement, 50 hours on the dance floor at various salsa venues (mostly VIP tables - yes!!) and off the tourist track program which included the most amazing experiences you are not likely to see unless you are fortunate enough to have a tour organiser on the inside as we did!

Our holiday experience started on arrival at Havana airport where our 20 something strong international group were greeted by our tour leader (Kylie Minogue's personal salsa coach thank you very much!) and one of the Cuban dancers who would later be one of our partners in our daily lessons and on the club dance floors. Not to mention the Cuba Libre we were handed on boarding of our coach to our new home for the next 12 days, The Ambos Mundos Hotel (Ernest Hemingway's first refuge in Cuba was room 511 of this hotel that he chose exclusively for the privileged view of the city that could contemplate from the windows).

Most days consisted of midday salsa lessons to allow a little lie in from a usually late night of rum drinking and salsa dancing at one of the clubs with our Cuban dancers. The highlights of my evenings were:

Horse drawn carriage on our way to a Rumba Party

Being delivered by classic car Cuba is just oh so famous for to the VIP section at Los Van Van concert at Casa de la Musica
Horse drawn carriage to a private Rumba Party
Salsa clubs, salsa clubs and more salsa clubs
The privilege of being looked after and dancing with our Cuban brothers and sisters
Being invited to a private Bemb e complete with Orisha dancing and Cuban home cooking where we were all asked to wear white as a sign of respect

Although a 'Salsa' holiday, we were also exposed to some truly magical parts of Cuba, including a beach party with another local band for dancing practice and Rumba Street where we were invited to the artist Salvador González Escalona's studio, where some of our group were fortunate to purchase some of his work. He is famous for painting his whole street in decorative Afro-Cuban murals.

Salvador González Escalona in Rumba Street

Of course for me, the most life enhancing aspect of this wonderful experience was meeting and sharing our time with the dancers. All handpicked by our tour leader and part of a top dance troupe, their generosity and patience with me whilst attempting to learn their naturally god given talent of dance was amazing as was their endurance (better than mine!). Some of which had travelled each day over an hour to meet with us for our dance lessons during the morning, only to stick around for our matinee sessions (usually 5pm-9pm) at a local club then onto dinner or another club for even more dancing. With most of the dancers only speaking limited English, I was forced to practice my very beginner level Spanish and most communication was of course done on the dance floor. These people opened their homes, hearts and lives up to us and for this I will forever remember.

To culminate our Valentines Trip, we took an hour visit inland to Las Terrazas, in Pinar del Rio. With the government only allowing a few tourists to visit this reserve each day, you can understand why after visiting the pristine natural project, designed to encourage nature tourism. With a population restriction on the inhabitants living within the biosphere, the majority of them have occupations within the reserve. A day there for us involved dining at the hotel restaurant to the music of the local band, a canopy tour finishing up with a dip in the fresh water streams. I took off my shoes on arrival and reconnected after a gruelling but rewarding 10 days of non stop madness.

As the excitement for the holiday subsides and we all return to our daily routine here at home longing to be back in Havana, we have the photos, video and countless CD's we brought to take us right back to the smokey clubs where us tourists and the local cubans danced side by side with massive grins on our faces.

I have plenty of video footage of some great salsa club dancing, which I will share with you all once I have sorted through it.

*My boyfriend and Salsero partner ;)

+++++Edit :Key2Cuba were the tour group operators based out of the UK. Contact Kerry Ribchester for more information on their tours on
Telephone: +44044 0 7767 313 168/
Email: Info@key2cuba.com
or Website: www.key2cuba.com