In 2003, I had some time to travel, and I realised “every” salsa dancer’s dream and went to Cuba whilst Fidel Castro was still in power, isolating his island for the best (preserved heritage and authenticity in some ways) and the worst (you can imagine…). Unfortunately the email newsletters I wrote from there seem to be lost for ever.
After 4 weeks learning Spanish in Habana with semi-private classes each morning (it’s quite efficient, I can confirm!), I travelled for 2 weeks in Viñales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Santiago and Baracoa. Once I was back in Habana, I assisted to the Labour Day celebrations with more than a million Cubans listening to Fidel, and another day went to see the renowned National Ballet. On my own in that old house, I started chatting with my neighbour who was… A Swiss guy that had flown in from Buenos Aires! He found it really difficult to adapt, and was really regretting Argentina.
This finished waking up my curiosity and long hidden temptations and 3 months later, off I went to Argentina for the first time. I literally fell in love with the country and all what gravitated around.
In this pre-wordpress era, I used another blogging system set up by my sister, and at some its content ended up being inaccessible on the web. I am glad to announce you that after a few hours of “copy” and “paste”, everything is back.
Here are my August and September 2003 posts, listed from the last one to the first one. After 4 weeks enjoying Buenos Aires with just the reasonable amount of private Spanish lessons, I travelled to Salta, Puerto Madryn and Iguazú.
Argentina: Last Day 
Cataratas
WhaleWatchers
10 Days in Salta
Salta la Linda
Buenos Aires by Night
Ex
Let’s Party at the Cemetery!
Geography
Streetwise in England
Boca – Chacarita
Urban Soul
Bizarre Thoughts
Politics: Todos La Misma Basura
Letter Box
Argentine Distances
My Programme in Argentina
The Tango Lesson
Follow-up 2: Equations
Follow-up 1: Devaluation
Buenos Aires never sleeps
Argentinos, Argentinas
Tango en San Telmo
Argentine Mathematics: 5 + 25 = …?
18 + 6 = 24
Writer’s Block => Blog
Argentine Banks…
Avenida 9 de Julio
Bloggified! – First Post!
Welcome
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