“Estonian Musicians”, a Cave Club, and Internet at Home? Forbidden!

During the day we take the guitar we had borrowed two days earlier and head to the park and the main square to play a few songs. Fortunately, we don’t attract too much attention.

Unlike on our first day, when someone immediately suggested that we perform in a restaurant that very evening — without even hearing us play first. In almost every restaurant where a band performs, the musicians go around collecting tips from the audience and offering their CDs for sale. It’s quite possible that the restaurants themselves don’t pay them anything at all.

We never got far enough to negotiate any kind of fee.

For dinner we eat at our casa particular, which offers home-cooked meals if ordered in advance. For 6 CUC (about 5 euros) per person, we are served soup, a large main dish, fruit, and ice cream for dessert.

We had also eaten there two nights earlier, though that dinner took place during a several-hour power outage, illuminated only by a battery-powered LED lamp.

In the evening we meet Sanne and Eline again on the steps of the main square. It’s their last night in Trinidad.

When the music and dancing on the square end around 12:30 a.m., we continue the night with them and a few locals. They take us up the hillside to a cave nightclub.

Yes — a nightclub inside an actual cave.

When we arrive, locals are performing a show in the large underground chamber packed with people. One man eats glass shards, and another balances on machetes whose blades are resting against another man’s stomach. After the performance, the party begins in earnest — loud club beats, flashing lights, and dancing deep underground.

About half the crowd are locals and half tourists.

What’s striking is the contrast: in a country where having internet at home is forbidden and access is limited to a few state-run internet points — costing about 5 euros per hour if there isn’t a queue — there are still surprisingly modern nightclubs.

As for the internet situation, there’s another small detail we notice every night while walking back to our accommodation. Near one hotel there is always a group of young locals sitting on the curb, all staring at their smartphones.

What are they doing there at night?

Simple — they’ve somehow obtained the hotel Wi-Fi password. And since the security guard doesn’t bother them during the night, they quietly sit there using the internet for free.

In Cuba, even the smallest window to the online world becomes a gathering place.