Cancun is what you make it!
Well I will try to cut a long story short. (And will no doubt fail miserably). I spent a while in downtown Cancun living with four Mexican men. They all decided that one of them was my Mexican dad there and he had a brilliantly Mexican moustache which he even used a special comb for tee hee. They named him ´´Papa Bigote´´ which means ´´Moustache Dad´´ for the whole time I was there. The other was Hugo who was a lovely guy, we helped each other with our Spanish/English...
The third was Manuel (´´I learn it from a book!) who was a really sweet guy but sadly felt the need to conceal the fact that he was gay from everyone except for me. This meant that I spent a lot of time trying not to put my foot in it and let the secret out... but I succeeded phew... The last was a crazy marathon fitness obsessed guy called Dario.
I stayed for a while in their apartment, I felt quite at home there :) We had a lot of fun times teaching each other English/Spanish, going to the beach in the day and in the evenings to the local park: eating Churros and ice-cream YUM :)whilst watching free musical performances. Cancun is definitely what you make it as I managed to steer clear of all the touristy crap in the hotel zone of a night. It may as well be USA over there with all the same clubs, Starbucks, Macdonalds yuk.
My new friends waved me off as I took my bus to the airport to finally fly to Cuba!! I had my warnings from Papa Bigote not to go near the men because they´re all apparently sex mad - oh dear. I half promised that I would be good..
Havana great time, but the men...AGGGH!
When I arrived in Havana I soon realised that I would be attracted to almost every man I saw. Crap. It was going to be tough to resist the beautifulness of the men. On my first night I went to some bars with a Japonese guy who was staying in the same Casa as me. His girlfriend didn´t want to go out and the night ended with him trying to kiss me! Can you believe it?! His girlfriend was asleep in bed and he was trying it on with me on their first night away....he claimed that they weren´t a couple with some elaborate story but I knew for a fact that they were! Not marriage material. I asked him what his problem was and after about four attempts he gave up trying - the cheek of it all.
I moved casas the next day (didn´t want to be involved in that situation) and spent the whole day exploring Havana. It is an amazing city! I think I walked a million miles to see everything.. In the evening I went out to see a show in a local club with the guy who´s mum owned the new casa I was staying in (Alex) and a Spanish guy who was also staying there (Francisco). We had a really fun evening. The show had brilliant dancers performing local styles and then the men sang a Boyz II Men song in Spanish which was odd but great! I was even a participant in the show and had a knife run against my tongue AGHH!
When the performance finished we danced salsa, merengue, bolero, reggaeton all night :) When we got back to the casa however, Alex wouldn´t let me go to bed unless I kissed him. WTF?! I was so annoyed. He tried to kiss me about 8 times while he blocked my way to the bedroom! I had to shout at him a lot and was not impressed after he had been warning me about all the men there. He must have been referring to himself.
The next day I explored the city some more. Francisco and I went to the famous Bodeguita del Medio for one of their Mojitos made famous by Ernest Hemmingway. They had some live music there and he asked me to dance with him. It was midday and no-one really dances there so I was a bit embarrassed but once we started it was really fun and everyone applauded us at the end :)
In the evening we went to a local house party in Centro Havana. It seemed like we were in a bit of a Cuban ghetto lol...we arrived in a dodgy street in the dark with teenagers hanging out the front door smoking and looking us up and down...hmm was this a good choice?! When we entered the party however everyone greeted us with huge smiles and open arms. They seemed really excited to see Francisco and then me too as I was his friend. In the beginning I felt a little awkward, especially as the young guy who lived there got me to dance reggaeton with him with all the family sitting right next to us...this style of dancing is not exactly family-friendly and I´m sure my face resembled somewhat of a shiny red tomato. I couldn´t wait to sit down again!
Then the salsa came on and there was no stopping me! After the rum they had been topping me up with I danced with every man at the party from young hot guy to old drunken man! It was so much fun :) They told me I dance like a Cuban and I think it´s the best compliment I´ve ever had in my life! I ended up kissing the hottest guy there (woop) but then after 10 minutes he wanted me to go to his house with him. I told him I´m not that kind of girl and he ended up practically trying to drag me down the street...so once again I was slightly pissed off. I told him I´d rather dance in the party and that I didn´t want to come and ´´see his house´´ and so we went back to dance but AGGGHHH they are so persistent it´s annoying.
Love at First Dance
The next day we took the bus to Vinales. We found a place to stay and the lady there (Olga) told me that everything´s a lot more chilled here - including the men so I prayed that she was right. We went to the local club and watched a brilliant show. A local guy pulled me up to dance AGGHH we were the only ones on the dancefloor so all eyes were on us. Again I was a bit embarrassed but it was sooooo much fun! He was an instructor so we danced so well, then he sat on our table and shared his rum with us :) I spent a while dancing with Francisco then half way through the night a beautiful guy asked me to dance from across the dancefloor... As soon as we started dancing I knew I wouldn´t want to let him go. He had beautiful dark curly hair, deep brown eyes and a smile that made me melt. Damn it. We danced all night and then he walked me home, kissed me goodnight and left. I liked him even more. If it was a guy from Havana he would´ve been pushing me in the door but it seemed that Heribel actually respected me. I went to bed happy knowing that we´d see each other the next day.
The following day I went horse-riding for 4 hours through the tobacco fields. It´s such a stunning place and the ride was perfect. We stopped at a local farm and the farmer made a cigar out of tobacco leaves for me to smoke and also juice from sugar cane. The fields sprawled out around us in patterns of green and orange and it was like going back in time seeing the ox-drawn carts everywhere. The air was fresh and after the hustle and bustle of Havana I felt calm and wonderful here.
In the evening I went to the (only) club and got chatting to a really nice Swiss guy, soon our table was full of fun people...I was chatting away when I turned to see Heribel smiling at me. He joined us and we danced for most of the night.
The next day we took a walk surrounded by the lovely scenery there and met his Dad (AGGGGH) who gave us Pina Coladas so I took an instant liking to him ;) I had already met his sister and half his cousins in the club so it all felt a bit serious! We spent the next few days dancing every night...one night we went to the cueva (cave) where they have made a club inside (?) It was a really fun night and after the club he asked me to be his girlfriend. Even though it´s completely ridiculous I said yes and he re-introduced me to all his friends as his girlfriend...
The next day I was leaving to see another town but I said I´d be back in Vinales on the 24th just in time for Christmas.
Trinidad: no I don´t want a massage!
I spent a few days in Trinidad. I managed to find a cheap place to stay but the catch was that the owner´s nephew was a bit of a nightmare. He was a salsa instructor so we had three nights of fun dancing non-stop but even though I told him I was with someone else he wouldn´t stop trying it on AGGHHH!! He was full of so much bullshit. The first night he tried to convince me to let him give me a massage. I said the last thing I wanted was to be lying on a bed face down with someone I just met. He explained that it´s not like that bla bla bla he gives massages to his friends and family all the time bla bla. Yes anyway I still don´t want one thanks. After three days of his constant harrassment I was happy to be going back to Vinales.
Apart from him, Trinidad was an interesting city and I also went to the beach there which was lovely...mainly the night-time was best because they had great salsa and bachata songs and local dance shows...
Christmas?
I woke up ready to leave Trinidad, on my way to the bus station I was almost attacked by a dog (I could feel his breath on the back of my legs as I waddled across the cobblestone streets, praying he´d stop growling and leave me alone). This was not a good start. As I sat on the bus I wondered whether I was making the right decision by going back to see Heribel. Would he really want me back there? Would he have another girl and leave me mortified?! Would everyone think I was stupid for going back? I was anxious almost the entire journey and had convinced myself it was a mistake.
When I finally arrived Olga welcomed me back with a huge grin, "Chally chally!!" (She couldn´t quite get the hang of my name) and I felt better already. The first thing her daughter said was that Heribel was coming to meet me in a couple of hours to go dancing. Phew. I was so happy! She said they all waited at the bus stop for me earlier because they thought I was on the minibus instead of the local one and Heribel was waiting there too... I wish I´d taken the minibus!
We had more fun times for the next few days. On Christmas day I walked through the fields and spent the afternoon with Heribel chatting on the porch (in the typical Cuban rocking chairs) watching the world go by... In the evening we danced salsa like usual so it was a fun christmas for me even though it felt like Christmas wasn´t really acknowledged there - in a communist country where material things are of no importance and likewise religion isn´t a big deal christmas is a bit of a non-event! But I got to dance in a salsa lub on Christmas Day which will probably never happen again..
Boxing Day was my best day in Cuba. Heribel, his cousin Greter, Jose from Spain and I hired mopeds to go to the beach. Of course I didn´t realise until that morning that I´d have to ride the moped away from the centre as I was the only one with my licence. Crap! I had lied to the man but he clearly knew I´d never ridden one before and volunteered a free quick lesson..phew! I realised that it´s actually quite easy but not so easy with the HUGE potholes there and crazy drivers! Our ride to the beach was fun though and we had a wonderful day. The beach was stunning, we had a swim and ate lobster (living it up!) Then rode home before sunset...I was blissfully happy.
