Vamos a bailar... Cuban Nighlife
As mentioned, Cubans tend to hang out. Sit along the Malecon in Havana any night of the week (especially weekends) and there are thousands of people sitting along the coast, chilling out with some rum. Similarly, Cienfuegos (the pearl of the south) attracts a big crowd of people to the wall that runs along the bay. The popular clubs in Havana manage the local/tourist thing in an interesting manner. From around 4-9pm they have one club session, which is payable in local currency and is affordable for locals. Then 9.30-late is tourist time. Now it's not officially tourists only, but the cover of a couple of CUCs makes it that way. So if you meet a local in there, they're most likely Cuban, female, and a prostitute. One place we went to had this awesome band playing - great live music. But then, the chicks come up and grab your arm - 'oye papi'. Amazingly overt. I guess working girls are the only people who could afford to get in, though I'm sure they have some arrangement... Actually the first day we were there we met some random girls in the st (non-whores) whom we asked about some hip-hop festival (which didn't exist) took place. They said try 4pm Friday at a certain nightspot. We didn't believe them. 4pm?! Really? Was it some kids event or something? But towards the end of the trip it made sense. The 'locals' party is early...
Salsa band at a club
You couldn't describe Havana as a city that never sleeps. OK some places are open late, but there is no real entertainment/nightlife strip similar to you get in other capitals in the world; though not that you'd necessarily expect one. Well there are areas with more places than others, but really, things are spread out. This is in contrast to smaller towns such as Trinidad or Vinales which appear to have better (or easier to find) nightlife because basically there's nowhere else for people to go. Though I get the feeling that 'clubs' are more for tourists; locals just seem to hang outside their house/on the streets. Having said that - music is everywhere. You literally hear live musica (Cubana) all the time, the more touristy the area, the more likely; though around the Malecon people are singing along with guitars, etc. The musicians in Cuba are absolutely amazing, everyone with an instrument sounds great. I guess music is one of the main past-times!
The newest craze at the moment is Raggaeton. Think Gasolina... I thought this music was from Cuba, but someone was telling me it was from Venezuela, another told me it's from Puerto Rico. Not sure, but the Cubans SURE can move to it. In Cienfuegos we somehow ended up at this outdoor club sorta thing. Though judging from the age of people (mid-late teens) we guessed it was some underage party. Anyway, they had this Raggateon section of the set which got the youngens out there dancing to it. Oh my god. I have NEVER seen such movements. They were gyrating their pelvises (pelvii?!) so quickly. Like a jackhammer. Like they had no spine, or one made of jelly/rubber or something. Think the most booty-shaking R&B video you can think of and speed up the intensity by a factor of 10. They were shaking like machines. It was incredible. And it wasn't just one girl, there were tons of them around the place gyrating like there's no tomorrow.
Ohh let's not forget Varadero - one ugly place. Think Cancun, but for Canadians (with a handful of Italians, Germans and Spanish thrown in). Basically it's a tourist area, where locals aren't allowed (they're not officially disallowed, but just hassled if they enter - according to Lonely Planet). Mega resort all inclusive hotels right on the beach. People go there and just chill out. You wouldn't learn anything about Cuba by staying there. Hell you wouldn't even leave your hotel, except maybe for the beach. Went to clubs there, and they were open bar for 10CUC. Just a bunch of rich filthy youth out partying the night away... Not too impressed.
Party in a cave
One interesting club we went to was in Trinidad inside a cave. We went to the entrance, and couldn't hear any music or anything. We saw some people going in and asked whether it was worth it. They assured us it was. Rok asked the doorman if anyone was inside - he was assured us it was full. We couldn't believe it, but anyway we descended several levels into this 'rave in a cave'. Well it wasn't a rave, just typical Hispanic music, but it was a pretty crowded club in there. Tons of foreigners. And locals - who seemed to have no problem with pimping out their girlfriends. Seriously. We saw it happen. Amazing...
I'm not sure what I expected from the nightlife in Cuba -I guess I thought it would be a bit more partytown. But I guess it's hard for people to go out and get down if it's so damn expensive. Trick is to find the happening local places. Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to discover them?
Salsa band at a club
You couldn't describe Havana as a city that never sleeps. OK some places are open late, but there is no real entertainment/nightlife strip similar to you get in other capitals in the world; though not that you'd necessarily expect one. Well there are areas with more places than others, but really, things are spread out. This is in contrast to smaller towns such as Trinidad or Vinales which appear to have better (or easier to find) nightlife because basically there's nowhere else for people to go. Though I get the feeling that 'clubs' are more for tourists; locals just seem to hang outside their house/on the streets. Having said that - music is everywhere. You literally hear live musica (Cubana) all the time, the more touristy the area, the more likely; though around the Malecon people are singing along with guitars, etc. The musicians in Cuba are absolutely amazing, everyone with an instrument sounds great. I guess music is one of the main past-times!
The newest craze at the moment is Raggaeton. Think Gasolina... I thought this music was from Cuba, but someone was telling me it was from Venezuela, another told me it's from Puerto Rico. Not sure, but the Cubans SURE can move to it. In Cienfuegos we somehow ended up at this outdoor club sorta thing. Though judging from the age of people (mid-late teens) we guessed it was some underage party. Anyway, they had this Raggateon section of the set which got the youngens out there dancing to it. Oh my god. I have NEVER seen such movements. They were gyrating their pelvises (pelvii?!) so quickly. Like a jackhammer. Like they had no spine, or one made of jelly/rubber or something. Think the most booty-shaking R&B video you can think of and speed up the intensity by a factor of 10. They were shaking like machines. It was incredible. And it wasn't just one girl, there were tons of them around the place gyrating like there's no tomorrow.
Ohh let's not forget Varadero - one ugly place. Think Cancun, but for Canadians (with a handful of Italians, Germans and Spanish thrown in). Basically it's a tourist area, where locals aren't allowed (they're not officially disallowed, but just hassled if they enter - according to Lonely Planet). Mega resort all inclusive hotels right on the beach. People go there and just chill out. You wouldn't learn anything about Cuba by staying there. Hell you wouldn't even leave your hotel, except maybe for the beach. Went to clubs there, and they were open bar for 10CUC. Just a bunch of rich filthy youth out partying the night away... Not too impressed.
Party in a caveOne interesting club we went to was in Trinidad inside a cave. We went to the entrance, and couldn't hear any music or anything. We saw some people going in and asked whether it was worth it. They assured us it was. Rok asked the doorman if anyone was inside - he was assured us it was full. We couldn't believe it, but anyway we descended several levels into this 'rave in a cave'. Well it wasn't a rave, just typical Hispanic music, but it was a pretty crowded club in there. Tons of foreigners. And locals - who seemed to have no problem with pimping out their girlfriends. Seriously. We saw it happen. Amazing...
I'm not sure what I expected from the nightlife in Cuba -I guess I thought it would be a bit more partytown. But I guess it's hard for people to go out and get down if it's so damn expensive. Trick is to find the happening local places. Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to discover them?
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