GILLIAN IVORY's week of sunshine, colour, music and dance begins aboard a buzzing flight to Havana
THE BUBBLY Havanan woman next to me on the flight is juggling conversations with the man in front and the girl behind. She hasn’t met either before, but by the time we’re somewhere over Toronto she’s gleefully sharing the most intimate details of her life.
Three rows behind, at the flight attendants’ station, a crowd of men has congregated. Within 10 minutes the rum and beer are flowing, a fully fledged party forming faster than I’m able to mouth the word mojito.
My transition from orderly Europe to the buzzing Caribbean is being hosted by Cubana, an airline that marketeers might call an experiential brand. The 10-hour journey gives the virgin traveller to Cuba a generous taste of what’s to come.
Nearly five years after I was last on the largest of the Caribbean islands, little has changed. Remembering that logic lives in a tight space in Cuba – a country where arbitrary rules are not to be broken and salsa and rum are king – I’ve tossed analytical thinking on the back burner and zoned in on the creativity of the right-brain cortex instead. It’s going to be a week of colour, sunshine, music and dance.
In the main parts of Habana Vieja, the city’s old quarter, a recent restoration effort has created a polished new look. The grand old Spanish colonial buildings are now brightly painted and sparkling in the sunshine. Bars and restaurants with large patios seat throngs of tourists. A primary school sits in the middle, its agile pupils performing aerobics in the square.
A few streets back from the gleaming facades, men and women lounge on doorsteps of run-down buildings, hiding from the glare of the afternoon sun. Laundry is strewn from every second balcony, and men play chess at makeshift tables on the paths.
On billboards around the city the patriotic rhetoric of poets and politicians leaves little space for slick advertisements. If you haven’t heard of Nicolás Guillén or José Martí when you arrive, by the time you leave the island they’ll be familiar names. The nation’s favourite poet and the 19th-century guru of independence are leaders of the pack when it comes to fervent slogan material. After these two literary legends come Che Guevara and Fidel and Raúl Castro, followed by “the Five Heroes”, Cubans convicted in the US for espionage.
Leaving the world of politics behind, it’s time to head to the fabulous land of bling. The evening show at the Tropicana cabaret leaves Las Vegas dancing girls looking like country cousins.
Fifteen divas sweep across the stage in chandelier hats, moving their lithe limbs to the beat of the rumba. They are followed by a succession of colourful troupes, each one more spectacular than its predecessor. It’s an extravaganza of glitter, accompanied by a haphazard three-course meal.
Next morning, from the 22nd floor of our hotel, the Havana skyline stretches towards Miami. Down on the ground the view is less expansive, and a good deal more insular. Along the Malecón, a seaside boulevard that stretches the length of the city, secondary students are rehearsing for a huge parade to mark the anniversary of the revolution. The streets are full of unusually attractive and relatively well-educated people, but I can’t help feeling that they’re all dressed up with nowhere to go. Pretty girls sit along the boulevard, some hoping to meet foreign men.
I head west of the city, driving to Miramar, home of Chucho Valdés. The legendary musician is patron of Una Corda, aka the Ireland-Cuba Piano Project, a project founded and funded by Irish musicians, who work to train and equip young Cuban piano tuners and technicians.
Many of the spectacular houses here were built by sugar barons. Most are now embassies or the homes of expat businessmen. The 68-year-old jazz pianist lives in a more modest home, where two-year-old Julian, his youngest son, is demonstrating his talent on the drums.
In a dusty avenue to the north of town the Irish tricolour flies alongside the Cuban flag. Funds raised in Ireland are helping to reconstruct a run-down building, to make it Cuba’s National Workshop of Instrument Repair.
En route back to Europe I spend an hour at customs in Havana’s José Martí International Airport. Instructed to show samples of my writing and photographs from my visit, I trawl through files on my laptop. Everything is noted, including the range of my camera lens and the places I’ve stayed. There’s no doubt that, behind the salsa and rum, the Castro regime is alive and well, with two ageing brothers standing firmly at the helm.
Gillian Ivory was a guest of the Cuban Tourist Board. See travel2cuba.co.uk and unacorda.org
Cubana Airlines (cubana.cu) flies to Havana from London Gatwick and Madrid. Air France (airfrance.ie) flies via Paris. Virgin Atlantic (virgin- atlantic.com) flies from Gatwick. Shandon Travel (0818-333331, travel247.ie) offers packages from Ireland.
Havana Make yourself at home
As almost every tourist who visits Cuba arrives on a package holiday, it can be hard to find a place to stay if you travel independently. This is where casas familiares, or family homes, come in.
Somewhere between BBs and private homestays – and occasionally a little hit and miss – casas familiares(also known as casas particulares) offer a wealth of added extras. Guests often end up with home-cooked meals, maps, recommendations, pick-ups and drop-offs, personalised tours and, should you stay more than a night or two, a real adoptive family.
In a quiet Havana suburb you can breakfast on organic fruit on the balcony of a 13th- floor apartment overlooking the sea. In historical Santa Clara, you can shelter from the heat in a cool colonial home, complete with antique furniture and photographs of sons lost in the revolution. And in the quiet rural town of Viñales you can lie on the roof after home-mixed mojitos and stare at the stars until your “host mother” starts to worry about you.
The government keeps a close eye on these casas, so they are generally spotless, and prices vary little. Expect to pay 25-35 pesos (about €20-28) per room per night – most fit two – with a small charge for breakfast and other meals.
The casas familiaressystem works like a network: tell your hosts where you're heading next and they'll give you a list of contacts for that town or call ahead and book you a bed. Or arrive in any town and wait: hosts gather at the bus station. Try Casa Lilly (Avenida de los Presidentes 301, Vedado, Havana, 00-537- 8324021, casalilly.com), Casa Rogelio (Simon Bolivar 312, Trinidad, 00-530-4194107), Casa Jean Pierre (Salvador Cisnero 137, Viñales, 00-535- 3311658) and Casa la Pergola (Luis Estévez 61, Santa Clara, 00-531-42208686).
Where to stay
Meliá Cohiba. Vedado, Havana, 00-537-8333636, solmeliacuba.com. Modern five-star retreat from the colourful Havana streets.
Hotel Sevilla. Trocadero 55, Havana, 00-537-8608560, hotelsevilla-cuba.com. Colonial grandeur near Parque Central.
Conde de Villanueva, Mercaderes 202, Havana, 00-537-8629293, habaguanexhotels.com. Four-star boutique-style hotel with nine rooms around an inner courtyard.
Where to eat
La Guarida. Concordia 418, Havana, 00-537-8637351, laguarida.com. A renowned private restaurant. The atmosphere is the big draw, with low lighting and dripping candles, but the food is also among the best to be found.
Templete. Avenida del Puerto 12, 00-537-8668807. For shellfish by the bay.
Centro Andaluz. Paseo del Prado 104, 00-537-8636745. A cultural centre for descendents of Andalusians; great for flamenco.
Where to go
Buy local art in the market in Habana Vieja. Sift through the cigar-smoking images for best buys. Make sure to arrange an official stamp for customs.
For late-night jazz, try El Gato Tuerto (Calle O 14, entrance 17 to 19, 00-537- 1662224), Jazz Cafe, in Vedado (Galerías Paseo mall, 00-537-8383556), or Delirio Habanero (Plaza de La Revolución, 00-537-8735713).
A tour of the Partagas cigar factory (Industria 524) shows the intricacy of the production process.