Tonight, dinner is at the hotel again. About half our group decide they don’t want to chance it again and go out. We stay in, mostly because, well, it’s paid for already, and it wasn’t all that bad…the fish was a little over cooked, but the rest was fine. Plus, every Friday, Ivette Cepedo, a local singer, plays in the bar tonight and we can pay 5 CUCs each as a cover that gets us a free drink too! Since we didn’t go to the Buena Vista Social club the other night with part of the group, we figure this will be our musical evening.
The show reservation system gets a little odd. We keep going down to talk to the guy at the podium in front of the bar, and he keeps saying to come back later. He takes us to the front desk a couple times, but still no go. Drinks before dinner aren’t possible since the bar is shut down for the show, so we figure we’ll just our drinks at dinner. When we go downstairs for dinner, we finally find the person we need to make show reservations. She gives us our receipt and tells us we are in line behind the girl sitting on the sofa in the white shirt. OK – but we are going to dinner. That’s fine – just remember you are behind the girl with the white shirt. Ok – got it – come back 20 minutes before the show. Okie dokie! Interesting!
Dinner is fine. Maggi’s fish is much better (we figure it’s because the restaurant is way less busy, we get to order when we sit down – not pre-order - and the food didn’t sit under the heat lamp forever), the carnivores got beef with mushroom sauce which was good. Salad, ice cream, you know the norm!
We keep checking on the bar/show though. Don’t want the doors to open without us. Finally, there’s movement, so we go stand in line. I find the girl with the white shirt and dutifully line up there. There’s a bit of a tussle with a couple behind us who doesn’t understand we had an “understanding” with the hostess – but the hostess straightens it all out and life is good! Slowly, they let every group in, one at a time, so we can all pick our seats. The free drinks are all lined up….
We enjoy our Cuba Libres and Mojitos and wait for the performance. The place is packed, every table is taken, and when Ivette finally comes to the stage, the place goes crazy. There are a lot of “groupies” here, people she knows (we think her mother was right in front of us), guys from a recording studio maybe?, and fans who all know her music. We’re trying to decipher everything in Spanish, and we get a few little things, but mostly, we just sit back and enjoy the show. She sings beautifully, and the band with her is equally great.
We stay until the bitter end…and beyond…enjoying our 2nd to last night in Cuba.
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