
	Cuba A-Z

Our guests write

Feedbacks from our guests are very important for us. Wir are happy to know that you have enjoyed your time with us. And we are glad to know from you what we could improve.

Cuba
Salsa in Cuba
Spanish in Cuba
Percussion in Cuba
Marriage in Cuba
Accomodation in Cuba
Ecuador
Argentina

Cuba

Lonneke v. M. from the Netherlands
I loved it! I had a wonderful time in Havana and I am missing it very much at the moment. The accomodation was good, I really felt good with the people and the room and private bathroom were pleasant. And the view of the apartment did live up to my dreams, that was gorgeous. Gladys, who picked me up from the airport, was very friendly and helpful. The Spanish teacher that I had was great. She was professional, but also very friendly and interesting. We had wonderful conversations, we discussed life in Cuba, in the Netherlands, in the world, we discussed our families, relationships and other interesting issues of love and life in general. All in Spanish of course! And the salsa classes, I wish they would have lasted three to four hours instead of two. I really enjoyed them very, very much. They were of a good level and Karuka and the guys dancing there were all very nice. For me, they could even have been a little more intensive ...

I also have a little film (made with my photo camera) of my partner and me dancing. Have a look at it.

Michelle H. from Switzerland
We were a bit sceptical about what it would be like, but it exceeded our expectations. We were pleasently surprised by the transfer service, the casa particular and also the salsa course! We were more than happy with the accommodation. It was the cleanest room in Cuba! and very centrally located. The owners were very friendly, curious and sociable. They had many interesting recommendations for us and they helped us to organize our individual subsequent journey by arranging other casas particulares for us.

Donal H. from United Kingdom
Just dropping you a note of thanks for all the arrangements you made on my behalf for the holiday. Everything went according to plan and I was very happy with the whole package. The accomodation was warm and friendly and very central, the Spanish classes have given me a boost to my confidence, and I thoroughly enjoyed the salsa lessons with Caruca and Alexis and my dance partner Isabel. I was very impressed that booking this kind of holiday by intenet would go so smoothly. Muchas gracias por todo, Donal

Achim T. from Reutlingen
First of all, I would like to laud the private accommodation. My hosts reveived me very friendly, they prepared an excellent breakfast and the rooms were kept very clean. I enjoyed the noise level at the Plaza de la Fraternidad, Cuban life simply vibrates there and it couldn't affect my deep sleep. It was a pleasure to study Spanish with my teacher in the Capitolio library. She had already been in Germany and she was interested in topics we are also dealing with, things that sometimes are still unknown in Cuba, so we talked about the annoying word VIP, about Mrs. Merkel, the growing commercial frenzy and many more topics - it was simply lots of fun.

I was extremely lucky with my dance partner, she always danced with pleasure and heart and she was very patient with me. I hope, that Cuba will always conserve this piece of identity, naturalness and straightforwardness and that hopefully Cuba will be untroubled by some developments we experience in Germany.

I organised my round trip during the third week on my own after our telephone conversation. I always found wonderful spots in Vignales, Cienfuegos and Trinidad. It worked perfectly to get a hired car and to travel with it.

I would like to thank you for your help and I hope that the Cuban culture, its dances, music and virtuous musicians will stay reserved for those people who really appreciate them, and that the culture does not succumb to mass consumption.

Sabine from Munich
Thank you so much for the great programme you organised for me in Havanna. Everything worked perfectly and surpassed my expectations in every respect.

Sandra from Darmstadt
I felt EXTREMELY comfortable at the privat accomodation. The dance partners and Caruca are just fabulous - I danced with David and Christiane with Alexis - both are very good dancers. Besides, we had lots of fun, which makes it even better.

Glory from St. Louis / USA
Matthias, i had a fantastic time in Cuba. the dance was most exciting for me. beautiful people, delicious food, and incredible music and dance. who wouldn't enjoy that?
best wishes, glory

Ann - Berit from Borås / Sweden
Had a crazy, fantastic time in Cuba and I am totally fascinated by the country, the atmosphere and especially by the people! I am so happy that I made the Spnaish course at the beginning. The language helped me to discover a completely new world. The journey was very fulfilling and I am very grateful that I found you people accidentally in the internet!!! I am already longing to go back to Cuba!!!!!!!!

Wayne from Colorado (USA)
Matthias, I cannot even begin to tell you what a wonderful experience we had in Cuba. It is possible that the whole dance gang will visit when they are on tour in the US in Feb. We've become friends with our co-students and will no doubt re-congregrate at other venues. The instructors were personalble, talented, bursting with infectious good energy. The hotel was clean and comfortable and safe. Janny and I enjoyed Old Havana so much that we did not even explore the rest of the island. I hope to return within 6 mos. Re my dance teacher here...well, she's a very volonte Costa Rican...she smiled deeply when she arrived at class and found me teaching others in the class the Cuban Mambo. I still am a wannabe in Salsa, but we're getting there poco a poco. Thank you again for a memorable dance experience. If you would like to use me as a reference for potential clients, I'd be pleased to give you a great review. Cheers, Wayne

Maura and Maria from Italy
We are back from our Cuba holidays (unfortunately...). We had the best time there. I am fascinated by Cuba and especially by the people there. We will go back to Cuba for sure. We would like to thank you because everything worked out perfectly. EVERYTHING WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. - The accommodation was super. They gave us also directions of casas particulares in Trinidad and Viñales, which were just as nice. - The Spanish classes were excellent - we learned heaps within one week - and this also helped us for our sightseing tours. Our Spanish knowledge then also helped us to talk to the people. - The Salsa course was a ball and we had great fun. I danced with Alexis who was very patient with me. What a brilliant feeling it was when I danced my first Salsa figures!!!!!!!!!! - We would also like to thank you for the advice to hire a car for our round trip. We did not have any problems at all. Although there are not many road signs in Cuba, we did not get lost.
The only negative comments: - The holidays were too short. - I cannot stop talking about Cuba and my vacations. My collegues will be fed up with me pretty soon.
De nuevo muchas gracias y hasta luego.

Jennifer from London
I had a fascinating time in Cuba - I loved Havana and would definately return (though I want to learn some spanish first!). My dancing is much improved, though I will never match the Cubans - they are fantastic dancers!!

Sylvain from Belgium
Just for let you know that i had a real good time in Cuba ! All ur organisation was perfect ! I have met many nice people ! My flat & my salsa classes was great ! I have a very good dancer partner and the teacher was very nice too ! Many Thanks for everything !

Gernot from Hamburg
The dance classes were lots of fun and Caruca is a really good teacher. The accomodation (at Gisella’s)- recommended by Matthias - is worth it. According to my experience, rental cars should be organised before arriving in Cuba. In any case, take quite a bit of Dollars with you, they melt away.

Salsa in Cuba

Bernd from Landsberg
It was great. Everything perfect. The dance school and my dance partner were really patient and they tried to show me everything that was possible for me to learn in the days I was there.

Gaye from Tokyo / Japan
I find myself wishing I could retake the course again. It was so much fun. Thank you for organising everything for me.

Alexander Küchler
I had the great pleasure to participate in the Salsa classes organised by you. The course is first class and just anybody will get a sense of rhythm. Even apparently incurably tactless candidates are fixed up by the patient dance teachers. I can recommend this course to anybody who brings along enough energy to cope with two hours of daily classes. To me personnaly the two hours were not enough, thus I took some more “classes” in Havanna nightlife. I can recommend the Casa de la Musica in Vedado for the dance practice at night.

Heidemarie W.
We had booked dance classes in Habana with Danza y Movimiento: five classes, 2 hours daily as a couple, in order to learn the basic steps of salsa, mambo and merengue “the right way” and because we wanted to learn more steps. The classes took place in a training hall, in a typical (not renovated) Habana Vieja building. This was very attractive to us, because in this way we had direct contact with the lovely Habañeros. Alex, our dance teacher, is one of them; an excellently trained dance professional, young, very friendly and very exigent regarding the steps and movements. Systematically (with warm-up exercises) he taught us the figures, he corrected us and he repeated everything. His classes are uncomparable (I am thinking about the usual courses for tourists). We got a “dance address” in Santiago from Danza y Movimiento for next year. We are already curious about this next trip. We have become Cuba fans because of the attractive aspects of the island and the musicality of the people there and their enthusiasm for dancing: “Que linda es Cuba!”

Christina Park, journalist, Irish Independent after some classes of “Movimiento”
It’s also fun to try it yourself. Danza y Movimiento offer classes on how to move like a Cuban: none of your arms-straight high kicking damsha here. The shock of seeing what I actually looked like strutting my stuff in front of a wall-high mirror beside a trained dancer nearly stopped me in my tracks, but after a stilted start I began to loosen up and move parts I didn’t even know I had ...

Spanish in Cuba

Karin M. from Salzburg
The Spanish classes with Mariam were absolutely genial, fantastic regarding the content and the human aspect.

Burutay from Istanbul (Turkey)
I had finished my spanish study in Havana and returned back home. I went there thinking that I was going to be a student in a class, but it turned out to be an individual course. My teacher really showed great concern and those two weeks were very helpful for practicing my spanish. Thank you for your help!

Åsa from Schweden
I had a great time in Cuba, and I'm very satisfied with my teacher Mayra, and the Spanish lessons we had.
Best wishes, Åsa

Bernd from Fürth
I am back from Cuba and I would like to thank you for your organisation. The language course was excellent and I would take another course any time and recommend it.
adios, bernd

Percussion in Cuba

Silvia P.
The classes were very intensive. I learned a lot from Ruy. A wonderful experience - to be continued during my next stay in Cuba!

Georg and Marianne from Österreich
Ruy Lopez ist a fantastic musician. We are happy that we could take classes with him. Beginners as well as advanced players and professionals receive learning aids and an amplification of the rhythmical horizon concerning Afro-Caribbean percussion and culture.

Karin M. from Salzburg
I got along really well with Ruy. He is a very competent, versatile, pedagocically skilled and very friendly musician, teacher and person. I can completely recommend him, especially for drummers who want to learn how to transfer traditional Cuban rhythms, which are normally played with percussion instruments, to a drumset. He is a specialist in that, and there are only few of them, as far as I know.

Heidemarie W.
With mixed feelings, because we are quite a bit older than 20 and quite unsuspecting, we approach the house “de nuestro profesor” Ruy Lopez. And we don’t know yet that we will get private lessons by one of the star percussionists of the “Buena Vista Social Clubs”. The friendly atmosphere is a nice surprise as well as the kind, patient, methodically sensitive way of teaching of our gifted teacher with the little plaits. 2 hours daily, five days a week is quite exhausting (for the concentration and the hands), but in the end we are so enthusiastic about the proficient, thourough and many-sided classes that we also organise some “jam sessions” the three of us. My husband immediately buys a portable tumbadora (conga) in Havana.
P.S. No previous knowledge requiered, pero un poquito español y mucho entusiasmo.

Marriage in Cuba

Martina B. from Stuttgart
First of all, I would like to thank you for your commitment in general. I believe that the organization for our wedding in Cuba was not easy, and I would like to tell you that everything worked out just perfectly.
The absolute "vacation-wedding-highlight" was the honeymoon hotel on Cayo Santa Maria. The “best room” was booked for us and the three days were really magnificent. We can only recommend it.
The notary was extremely friendly and very reliable, she kept every appointment. She was very committed during the ceremony and she could not stop taking pictures ;-)).
This was the first German-German wedding ceremony she carried out. Nevertheless, the paper work wasn’t too bad.
After the honeymoon, we spent three days in Havana organizing the necessary seals for authentication and confirmation. This was more difficult than we expected and sometimes a bit nerve-racking.
Thank you very much again for everything, I have already recommended you...

Accomodation in Cuba

Karin M. from Salzburg
The room was fantastic as well, very friendly people in my casa particular!

Anja from Frankfurt
I am back from my trip to Cuba and I would like to thank you for this great experience. The accomodation you had chosen for me was exelent and people were very friendly. Everything was organized perfectly - I did not expect that in a country like Cuba. When I will ever travel again to Cuba I will do that with you!

German writes after traveling with his Salsaband "Son Picante":
It was great. All recomendations you gave me before were like a goldmine. The acomodations were exelent and everything organiszed very well. The musicians were happy and are more Cuba addicts than they were before.

Salsa and Spanish classes in Ecuador

Alice K. from the USA
The journey was far beyond my expectations. The accommodation was very good, I was cordially received by the family and they took care to make my stay as comfortable as possible. The language school was only a few minutes away, so I could easily get there walking. The school's director helped me to coordinate the language classes and the dance classes, and he was very flexible. I also liked the dance school very much (Ritmo Tropical), and the dance instruction was excellent. Thus, all in all everything was perfect.

Argentina

Jürgen H. from Offenburg
We just came back from Buenos Aires and we would like to thank you for the excellent organisation and support in Argentina. We can strongly recommend all the different parts of the programme: The hotel, the tango classes, the excursions and all the rest. We will go back. Keep up the good work!

E.K. from Munich
Hotel Sarmiento Suites is simple, but in ideal environment, very professional service - a service paradise. Program was okay, transport perfect, sightseeing and deltaexcursion good. All together a really nice journey for me, I was very impressed by the city. Four times Colon and several restaurant checks, I was already able to give local tips to others.

Susanne S. from Frankfurt
Thank you very much for your personal input by arranging and organizing my Buenos Aires journey. Just because the organization was so perfect, I was able to live and see the life of the city. The days were filled with several new contacts and experiences. It was hard for me to say goodbye. BUT: I would like to plan and organize another journey to Argentina together with you next year!