The road to my Cuba adventure begins in March 2020 when a suddenly out of work jazz pianist living in Harlem named Emmet Cohen decided to have a rent party with a few local friends. Fans could tune in online and leave tips for the musicians with PayPal. Every Monday at 7:30pm Eastern, Live from Emmet's Place would stream on Facebook and YouTube. This was a lifeline for a live jazz junkie like me.
In the summer of 2024 Emmet sent an email to his fans asking if anyone was interested in joining him on a trip to Cuba. I pondered it for a few hours before responding to the email that I was interested. I got a reply that the trip was already full. :-(
A few days later I got another email that they were adding a second tour. Emmet Cohen would do two back-to-back tours in Cuba. I was in!
On March 13th, 2025 I landed in Cuba with a tour group of 36 people for 5 days in Havana.
Day 1 - Thursday
We left Miami in the morning. Americans can fly to Cuba. They just need permission from the US State Department. You can file for permission yourself, but our paperwork was handled by Cuba Rhythm and Views, a tour operator that organizes trips to Cuba. Thank you to Neil and Ry who handled all the logistics and created a great experience for us!
We arrived in time for lunch and since we couldn't check in to our hotel yet, we went straight to a restaurant, called La Guarida. The first new Spanish word I learned was el paladar, which means private restaurant. A ristorante in Cuba is a restaurant run by the government, where you get the official government exchange rate of 150 pesos per US dollar. But at the paladars you get the market rate, which was about 320 pesos per dollar! The only government restaurant I ate at was the in the hotel and the food at the paladars was much better and more varied. The next word I learned was la guarida, which means lair. Yes, as in the villain's lair. And it was quite the lair.
The restaurant was on the 2nd floor. This greeted us on the first floor.
And of course, we had to walk by a Fidel Castro quote on the wall next to the stairs. Are they in every building?
Finally we arrive at the restaurant, correction, paladar. They have a fancy wine room. I think we're in for a treat.
We had a great lunch. Check out this unusual lemon pie. It is not what I expected when I ordered pie de limón con almendras.
La Guarida also had a roof deck that we explored a bit after lunch. It has some nice views of the city. This guy is blocking the view in all my pictures from the roof. Oh, well. You can still see the view.
We thought this would be our only chance to see this place. We didn't know that fate would lead us back here the following day.
After lunch we went to the hotel. But it was too early to check in to our rooms. Not to worry! The tour company arranged a lecture by a local university professor on the history of US-Cuba Relations. I thought it might be a good time to take a nap after that rich dessert, but the lecture was really interesting. I had always wondered how the US wound up with a military base in Cuba. Turns out we signed a 99-year lease on the place back in the 1920s. And that lease is coming due soon. I don't remember exactly when. Maybe I was napping a little bit.
I was aware, of course, that the US doesn't trade with Cuba. What I didn't know was that the US uses its influence with other countries to keep them from trading with Cuba also. I can't think about this without also thinking that both Americas and Cubans would be better off if we ended this trade embargo. But I digress. One country that doesn't bend to US pressure in this regard is Spain. And they are one of Cuba's largest trading partners. The hotel that we are about to check into is owned by a Spanish company.
Speaking of hotels, the US State Department maintains a list of hotels where Americans are not allowed to stay. The Iberostar Parque Central is on the list. But the hotel expanded a few years ago and built a second tower. They decided to give the new tower its own name and address, so it wouldn't be on the list and could serve Americas. That's where we checked in after the lecture, the Iberostar Marqués del La Torre.
I wonder what would happen if an American ate dinner in the lobby of the Parque Central hotel. Hmmm.
There was a local band in the lobby on Thursday night that I listened to while having dinner at the bar.
They sounded okay. Fun, but nothing to blog about. But I did meet some cool people in the tour group that I would wind up palling around with for the next 5 days.
After dinner we all went to see the evening canon firing. Yeah, it's about as exciting and deafening as you would guess.
After getting back to the hotel I was ready to check out some live music in Havana, so I asked around about where I could hear some local music. This tour was with the Emmet Cohen Trio. The drummer in the trio was the great Joe Farnsworth, who has been a fixture on the New York City jazz scene for decades. Emmet suggested I ask Joe about the local scene. They had been in Cuba for a week already and Joe was getting to know a few places. Joe recommended a place with a pop band in the old plaza. That's actually what they call it--Plaza Vieja--it sounds much cooler in Spanish. He didn't know the name of the bar, but he said it was on the corner of the square and I couldn't miss it. I didn't. It was called La Vitrola. And they did have a fun band. They looked great too. At least from the back.
I got a seat at an outdoor table in the plaza looking in at the back of the band. Okay, I went inside to get a pic from the front too.
Day 2 - Friday
Although I was hoping to spend every day following Emmet Cohen around listening to concert after concert, the tour was a little more varied than that. On Friday morning we visited a private daycare. Yes, daycare is provided by the government in Cuba, but they don't have enough capacity for everyone, so if you aren't in a high priority role (military, construction, tourism) then you may be on your own for daycare. We visited Padre Usera Daycare (Guarderia Padre Eusera) which was started by Sister Rocío de Jesús. Private daycare is legal in Cuba now, but this place was started back when it was illegal. Sister Rocío was a brave soul! I didn't want to take pictures of the children, but I thought this was cute the way all their backpacks were lined up on this bench.
Next we went to a private performance of the Liszt Alfonso Ballet. I didn't take any pictures, except of this of poster in the lobby that caught my eye.
After a fancy lunch at San Cristóbal, we visited a music school called Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán where we heard a high school jazz band. After the concert Emmet Cohen and his bandmates gave a master class. Rounding out the Emmet Cohen Trio on bass was Reuben Rogers, who is actually from the Caribbean--the Virgin Islands. Emmet wasn't feeling well that day, so Reuben led the master class. The band had played a Duke Ellington arrangement, I think it was Take the "A" Train. Reuben asked them to play it again and think about the dynamics, when they should play softer or louder. After just a little coaching they played the chart again--or least part of it--and it sounded much better. I was amazed what a difference it made.
We were supposed to have dinner on our own again, followed by a performance of the Cuban National Ballet, but The Fates had something else in store for us. (Do you know Bob and Betty Fate? I think they are from Omaha). The ballet had to be rescheduled and we were on our own for the evening. Emmet happened to know a Cuban pianist, Jorge Luis Pacheco, who had a gig that night at La Guarida. Almost everyone from the tour group decided to go. Our tour guides were amazing. They had arranged a bus during the day to shuttle us around. So many of us wanted to go to La Guarida, that they were able to use the bus to take us to dinner. And they arranged a reservation for 25 people too! We were up on the roof this time, enjoying good food and good music! Jorge Luis Pacheco is a singer as well as a pianist and Emmet sat in on piano for a tune with Jorge singing.
In the middle of the show, large parts of Havana suddenly went dark. We learned that Cuba sometimes has scheduled blackouts when they don't have enough fuel to generate electricity. But this blackout didn't seem to be planned. I didn't notice the blackout right away. Because the scheduled blackouts are somewhat common, a lot of places have their own generator. Like the fancy hotels and paladars. So we didn't lose power at La Guarida, but a lot of the city did. Fortunately our hotel also had a generator, or we might have been sleeping in the lobby. Well, I probably could have handled 5 flights of stairs. Maybe.
Back at the hotel after the music, I was revved up. One of the first people I met in the tour group was Ross, back in Miami. We were lining up to check in for the flight when I saw someone with a sax case. I had to introduce myself. There was a piano in the lobby of the hotel and late Friday night, Ross and I had a chance to make a little music!
Day 3 - Saturday
Saturday morning we boarded the bus for an art gallery. This one was in the lobby of the Hotel Melia Cohiba. There were multiple hallways off the lobby with lots of art. This one really grabbed my eye, almost literally. I felt like this deer was looking right at me. He's the Mona Lisa of deer.
And this one was so realistic, I wanted to reach out and touch it.
The next stop on the tour was an artist's gallery. This was actually the artist's apartment. They had art all over the walls and jewelry on display. All for sale, of course. It was cool to see what an apartment in Havana looked like. One tiny bedroom, small kitchen, extra small stove. Reasonable living room and a decent outdoor space out back. I didn't take any pictures inside their apartment, though they probably wouldn't have minded. The tour company had told us in advance to bring cash if we wanted to buy art. This was our first opportunity to do that and a lot of people did. I think this artist does pretty well.
Next another fancy lunch, this time on the beach at a place called Vista Mar. It had a strange sequence of raised black boards at the far end of the pool. I didn't figure out what it was supposed to be until Emmet emailed out this pic a few months later.
Does it look like a piano keyboard to you?
After lunch we visited an artist neighborhood called Fusterland. This neighborhood gets its unique character from Jose Fuster. He covered his house in his ceramic art and the ceramic art vibe spread to surrounding houses.
Here's one of the pieces up close.
In the evening the Emmet Cohen Trio was supposed to be performing at the Museo de Bellas Artes, but they were in the dark. Literally, no electricity. The blackout was still ongoing. The tour operator scrambled and convinced the hotel to host the concert in their lobby. So we ended up with a more intimate private performance right in our hotel.
There were local guests, a great trumpet player sat in. And Jorge Luis Pacheco (the pianist we heard Friday night) also sat in. And a number of the students that we heard at the school also sat in. The band coaxed the students up on stage and had them take over their instruments in the middle of a song. I looked up and suddenly it was a trio of talented Cuban high school students. Wow! Great concert.
After that we were on our own for dinner. And I knew a place! So I dragged a few of my new friends to La Vitrola. We sat outside and had a lovely late-night dinner.
Day 4 - Sunday
Sunday morning I decided to skip the planned art museum. I went for a run on the malécon, which is a large stone seawall, like a boardwalk, but without the boards. Turns out our hotel wasn't very far from the water. When I got back to the hotel, I decided I need some water, so took a dip in the rooftop pool.
Then I met up with the tour group at Mishifu for another delicious lunch.
Sunday there was supposed to be a concert with the Emmet Cohen Trio and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba at the National Theatre, but--you guessed it--no power. Once again, the tour guides made lemonade. The Sunday concert was going to be recorded. So the concert was moved to a recording studio and we got to watch and listen as they recorded some tracks!
It was a great show. Another intimate performance. Well, as intimate as you can get with an orchestra.
After that, we still had some daylight and I wanted to see the Hemingway House. (Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for many years.) But the Hemingway House wasn't open on Sundays. Hemingway also lived at the Hotel Ambos Mundos (Both Worlds Hotel). And the hotel was open. But we couldn't visit room 511 because... there was still no electricity.
Day 5 - Monday
Monday morning we did a walking tour of Old Havana, which was near the hotel. There was a short street that was paved with wooden bricks! They use a hard wood, but the bricks still don't last forever. There was a guy replacing worn out bricks when we were there. Yes, they really are made of wood.
We had a few minutes on our own and I found coffee shop that had a decent cortado!
As we continued to walk I started to recognize some of the streets. I know this neighborhood. That's the Old Plaza! When we took a break for lunch, I went to a restaurant on the plaza with my new gang of friends. Here's what one end of the plaza looks like.
I feel like I am repeating myself here. After lunch we were supposed to see the Spanish Ballet Company of Cuba, but there was still no electricity at the theatre. But the ballet company invited us to come to their rehearsal space (that did have power) to see them. They set up folding chairs along one wall of the room and performed right in front of us!
After I fell in love with Flamenco Dancing, we had one more touristy thing to do. You may have heard about the old cars in Cuba. There are no US made cars that were manufactured after 1959 in Cuba. I had expected to see old cars everywhere. But no, there a lots of recent model cars from Japan, China and Europe. The old US cars are a hobby for some people, but mostly a tourist attraction. This wasn't an official part of the tour, but our tour guides made it happen because so many of us wanted to do it.
Our driver was a former nurse. He said he made more money on one ride then he made in a whole month as a nurse. So he drives tourists around in old cars so he can make enough money to take care of his family.That night we had our farewell dinner at L'Atelier, another fabulous paladar. Good food and drink and a live band. And one of the folks on the tour celebrated their 90th birthday that night! I hope I'll still be touring new places when I'm 90!
