#more to follow...

Finally we reached our hotel, Melia Habana, part of a Spanish hotel chain.  We were asked to change into “elegant casual” for our dinner and show at the Tropicana nightclub.  We had brought sparkly jackets and jewelry to wear so felt prepared!  Our room was quite lovely and very large.  The floors and entire bathroom were marble.  We had a seating area with a sofa and chair, a large desk along one entire wall, and a small table and chairs. Two double beds sat between these areas with lots of open space besides. Our balcony extended the length of the room and overlooked the pool complex and the ocean.  All in all, no complaints about the room!  

We joined our group in the lobby for the ride to the restaurant, an adventure in itself because we were being driven there in classic American convertibles.  A fleet of them approached the hotel and swept up the long entry drive, with revving engines and gleefully honking horns of all tones and even melodies.  All were beautifully restored, although sometimes you could tell they had made do with a substitute part or fabric, and pristinely clean, which really stood out in the midst of the appalling trash littering the entire country.  Passengers chose their cars and left to a horn serenade, and the next vehicles roared into place.  Polly and I chose a gleaming pink convertible.  (I confess I did not recognize the make and model so will have to wait until someone can identify it from the picture.)  I enjoyed the long ride to the restaurant for seeing the city from the different perspective of an open vehicle and darkness, but did not enjoy arriving overheated and wind-blown.  Each car pulled right up to the entrance, where we were escorted to our group area.  The restaurant was huge; long tables in a semi-outdoors setting seated literally hundreds.  The sides were completely open but we were protected by a high thatched roof.  A “typical” Cuban meal of rice, black beans, and roasted chicken was served after a Mojito and appetizers of tiny chalupas, little fried potato balls, a mini-tostada of mashed beans and HOT salsa, and a fried chicken wing.  I dismantled my chicken wing and fed it to a little black and white cat under our table...in honor of Ruby.  Folk music was provided by a group of young musicians, with a young woman on flute playing the lead in most songs.  She was exceptional!  

Afterwards, our bus drove us to the Tropicana Nightclub which has existed since the 1930s.  It was one of a number of hotels, casinos, and clubs established by Meyer Lansky and the American Mafia during that era and was the only one not closed by Castro.  Enedis didn’t know why it was spared; I would love to know...  The venue is huge and impressive.  We walked down long mirrored hallways with elaborate Christmas floral displays on pedestals into a gigantic outdoor theater, except that you hardly know you are outside because, high above,  trees almost cover the entire space.  I saw only a couple of places where the stars shone through the branches.  The hundreds in the audience are seated at Vegas-style long tables.  We were lucky enough to be the first two sent to a new table so we were at the railing of our level with no one to block our view.  We were served Cuba Libres as part of our package, but they were so strong none of us drank more than a swallow or two. My sister and a new friend ordered Mojitos and said they were good but large enough for a party of 6.  (Cubans seem very proud of their rum and find many reasons to serve rum drinks to tourists.  We received one on arrival at the hotel, another at dinner, and now this one at the show, with a whole bottle still to follow!)  The huge stage extended into the audience with wings on both sides topped by 3 stories of platforms.  On our right and slightly above us and a large area of tables was a platform that obviously would be used by performers and behind that, a long bar.  Above that was the platform that would hold the orchestra.  To our left, across what seemed like acres of audience, rose a wall of cascading water fronted by three levels of platforms.  

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