cuba tales II - Calle 62

One of the highlights of Cuba was visiting a Cuban bar on Saturday night. It's a little snack bar that has music and entertainment at night. Jon had been there before and just loved it, so I had heard about it, but to actually see it for myself was something completely different. It was beautiful! We got there around 9pm and got a table. By about 9:30 or 10 the tables were all full! The band started probably around 10:30 or so, and by 11 the place was really busy. Not only were the tables full, but people were standing and dancing in the street and on the sidewalk across the street, or at the restaurant across the street. The locals can't all afford to go and buy drinks, so some of them bring their own - we saw a couple different guys with their own rum and mix.

The kids were beautiful. There were a couple of little girls, probably 8 or so, who were dancing - and they could dance! It was priceless! Reminded me of my little sis and made me wish I could take her dancing. Salsa is a great dance style too. Watching the cuban people dance is just incredible. I wish I could move half that well! There were another couple of even smaller girls dancing up on the side of the stage during an intermission when the band was taking a break - again, incredible!

The band was good too. I really enjoyed watching and listening to them. The girls on stage were dancing pretty good too. Boy can they move! It certainly inspired me to take some serious salsa lessons and learn to move my own hips like that - or as close to that as I can get?

They had a little dance contest. First they pulled 6 girls out of the audience, then they had them each do a little dance. Then the girls were to pick a guy to dance with and the contest continued with the couples dancing, the guys dancing, and the finalists dancing. Finalists were determined by the audience applause. Would you be surprised to know that it was a local couple who won? They rocked. Just watching them dance together, or separate was amazing! I was definitely voting for them right from the start! There were a couple of girls from Montreal who were in the contest and could shake it pretty good - but nothing near as good as the locals. The couple pictured above isn't the one that was in the contest - they were out dancing on the street - but they were just as good from what I saw!

The price of beer was comparable to what it is here - maybe a little bit less. It was $2.50 (Cuban convertible pesos), which converts to around $3 or a bit less. Probably less than you'd pay at most bars here, but not THAT much less. We did find it cheaper other places, but more on that in the Varadero Walk tale (coming soon).

Our night concluded with a Taxi ride back out to our resort - about 15 minutes out of Varadero. And yes, that 1927 Ford was indeed our taxi! Is that beautiful or what? I will be posting an album on my Photographity site with Cuban cars - it is a must see if you love those classics! I'll let you know when it's up...

It was interesting to talk to the taxi driver. Jon got asking him about politics and how the government is compared to what it used to be and all that fun stuff. Basically, the guy was saying that the only thing he would change is higher salaries for everyone. So, even though it is a communist country, the people seem to be happy and content with the way things are run - except they'd like to be paid more. Interesting.

And that concludes our trip to Calle 62!