Cuba 5: Friday night

Back to the hotel we wanted to go for a walk. This time we went inland. We quickly identified a pattern when we were on the corner of E Street and  3rd Street. Letters. Numbers. We've got this! We walked up for a while crossing two busyish streets. Then over because I wondered what the street after A would be (it was PASEO). Other than walking past many locals, nothing stood out, so we started to walk back towards the Malecon on PASEO. We passed large homes with international flags in front of them. Some had basic security. Many did not have any security. Later I confirmed that these are indeed embassies. The US embassy is in a new fortress-looking building with a tall fence and a flood of security located on the Malecon -- we passed it in the bus, and again on foot on our last night. These looked like mansions.

As we walked, my first wave of deja vu came over me. I know I am a couple of blocks away from the John Lennon statue -- the statue Martha and I made as a major quest, and one of the two biggest highlights of that weekend. I wanted to see if it was still there, but my Spanish isn't strong enough to just ask (and though I brought my 2015 map with us, I left it safely in the hotel room). I didn't want to subject Don to a game of "it is here someplace," and we were running out of time, so we started to walk back.

I don't remember how the conversation started, but a local started talking to us. This was our first experience that trip with a local wanting to provide a service to us in exchange for something. It starts of innocently enough: "where are from?" "where are you staying?" "what are your names?" And other small talk. In this case "George" offered to show us the John Lennon statue. (I knew we were close!) Well we weren't as close as I thought we were (when I had the sense of deja vu we were the closest). The park was not like I remembered it, so even if I had found the park on my own, I would not have realized it was the right one.

As we walked George told me his wife had a baby that morning. Even showed me a picture on his phone of his wife and baby. Visiting hours weren't until 8 pm, so he was waiting until then to go see them. He admired Don's shirt (he was actually wearing a nice shirt that day, not just a t-shirt) and asked us to send him some clothes because it is hard for him to get nice clothes. He could even pick it up from the hotel after we go home. In the end, I was debating between tipping him $5 and $10 dollars, so I went with $5 (it was about a 15 minute walk out of his way). He asked for $8.50 for diapers. I did give him $9 (considering I was thinking about tipping him $10, I was still ahead), but refused to send clothes.

The experience at the statue was rushed because Don was uncomfortable with our new friend. There was a mother with her adult daughter who also wanted to take a picture. They let us go first. I took a couple of pictures of Don and George, and a selfie. I offered to take a picture of the other family, but they turned me down. I left without a picture of Don and I with the statue. I looked around for the old man with John Lennon's glasses (they keep getting stolen), but did not see him.

Our pictures:

I was disappointed the old man with John Lennon's glasses didn't make an appearance. The story goes the statue originally had glasses, but they kept getting stolen. The old man, an entrepreneur, has a pair of glasses he brings out to tourists in exchange for a tip. I was hoping to see him again. Later when I recounted the story to Lian she said he still exists. I'll truly never know if he survived the COVID years, but I'd like to think he did.

By this time we really were running late for our next activity: Buena Vista Social Club Tribute.

When I looked at the itinerary for our trip, I noticed Friday night's dinner was not included so I booked a show for us. Last time I went to the Cafe Parisienne at the Hotel National with Martha and loved it! It was my second favorite activity from the trip, probably because it was so spontaneous. I wanted to do something different with Don. We both enjoy Bossa Nova music, so I opted for the Buena Vista Social Club Tribute. Reviews were mixed (8.5 out of 10) for everything from the food to the show, but I decided to give it a try. Meanwhile, the schedule changed and dinner was now included so the group went and had a nice time dancing and eating a good meal.

The evening started off as one of the most frustrating parts of the trip. We pre-paid Civitas.com for transportation to and from the hotel. They said the driver would reach out to us with details, but he should arrive around 7:45 pm to get us to the 8 pm show. We were downstairs by 7:30 pm (silly Americans) and we waited. I tried to ask to concierge for their experience with this tour group (none) and the bellhop (none, but he could get us a taxi). We kept waiting. By 7:55 pm we were set to give up and pay for a taxi. For $50 the driver would take us, then pick us up after the show. Miffed because I already paid $40 for this experience, but unwilling to miss the show on principal we were debating this when someone called "Jacquelyn!?" It was our pre-paid taxi driver with another couple going to the same show. Whew!

Our companions were an older couple from Turkey. He is an ophthalmologist. She didn't say anything (maybe she didn't speak English). It was a lovely drive through Havana.

An odd thing happened when we arrived. Our Turkish friends were shown to a room to the right. We were sent to a room on the left. We both ordered dinner with the show. They have two shows that are exactly the same that end at exactly the same time. The show was formulaic at best. Before the show there was something akin to a high school band playing Bossa Mova music in the background. I recognized more of their tunes than I did from the headliners.

Next to us was an English couple. They said they transferred their money to US Dollars before the trip because our smallest bill is a $1, and theirs is a 5 pound note. It was an interesting realization for us. The locals don't want a bunch of foreign coins, they only want bills.

The food was so-so, but at least we didn't get sick. I forgot to take a picture of my entree. I had a chicken dinner. Don ordered a pizza. We skipped the salad out of an abundance of caution. 

The tagline of the show was "Living the Life of the 1950's." Everything was designed to evoke images of life before the revolution. The waitresses wore tight polyester white dresses with tiny brown purses to collect payment for the extra drinks we were encouraged to purchased. I wished I could have purchase one of their purses as a souvenir. Don thought of Disneyland's Frontierland when we entered the room. Its decor was Wild West complete with wagon wheel's hanging from the ceiling and cheap wooden tables and chairs. It was actually a bit sad and very dated. Still, I'm glad we went.

They got the audience into the show by going around to the different tables and asking where they were from. Then they sang a song from that country. Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, England, Australia, Serbia, Italy ... we wondered what will they sing when they get to our table. The anticipation! Well, they skipped our table and a few others so we'll never know. We later learned back in the other room, they did not reach out to our Turkish friends, either, so they'll never know what song would have been sung. 

It was a rare experience of international travel where we were not surrounded by other Americans.

The cast seemed large for the small stage. Each person had a solo. Here's what I don't know ... did the cast flit between the different rooms, or do they have two whole casts? I would have said they bop between the different stages except they all seemed to show up at the end. Was it like a magic trick where I just thought the all appeared or did they really?

It was light entertainment. A night away from the regularly scheduled activities.

The best part was as we left the theater the taxi driver from earlier easily found us in the crowd and ushered us to the taxi where our Turkish friends were already waiting. Whew! One less worry. For the drive back I sat in the front. I was surprised how much I recognized from the 2015 trip. I was looking forward to exploring the city on foot the next day.