Day 4: Kate and Cameron's view of the arts

Hello Mamas y Papas- it's Cam S. and Kate here.

What a wonderful, memorable, long, and exhausting day!

We started this morning by catching our bus at exactly 9:30- because the chaperones are training everyone to be on time. 😃 Then, we went to the gorgeous Centro Asturianos with a performance by Irene Rodríguez and her flamenco company. A-mazing! They performed five dances: two pas de deux dances, one "dance battle" of Spanish and Cuban dancing (pre-choreographed), one spirited duet between the two ladies, and a group finale piece. The musicians, comprised of a guitarist, flutist, and percussionist who played the caja box (a caja-ist, if you will) even had their own spotlight show. Cameron never wanted to leave. Next we walked around Parque Central, where some very different street dancers did an impromptu salsa. We also took a long, sweaty walk in the blazing sun over to Paseo de Marti, a shady tree promenade. It was almost 90 degrees of muggy Fahrenheit today- yikes!!

Next we went to Sloppy's Joes for lunch. It took 8000 hours to get sandwiches (yay!)- but we have learned that being on Cuban time is not quite like the US...

Then we headed to the highlight of our day: dancing lessons!!! Here, we went to Casa del Son, split into two groups, boys and girls, and learned salsa from the professionals!  We learned to salsa with an enthusiastic group of men who also liked to sing and shout and drop it low (drop it like it's hot at spontaneous times). In the girls' room, we turned up the heat: The men instructed and led us well, and we had a blast! The room turned up the heat and spice with variants to the basic salsa move, and elements such as "Dame!" Or "marry me" or "No!" Ms. Leroy and Ms. Bush danced with the rest of us, and we weren't sure if they ever wanted to leave. While our group couldn't see how the boys were doing, we do know we all ended up equally sweaty.

After that, Gretel, our guide, took us to get ice cream. It was delicious! And THEN: we went to  a super cool and intimate jazz concert/ lecture where we listened to Afro/euro/Cuban music dating back to 500 years. The musicians added to the list of people who blew our minds today-- we were hoping Kate would be able to jump into the gig, but instead she'll have to learn off of the CD Mateo bought.

Then we had din din at Bistro Waoooooooo(!)- the restaurant across the street from the hotel. Delish!

Okay- off to spend some final time with friends before going to sleep!

Sincerely,
Kate and Cam