The Most Beautiful Girl In Havana by Rainbow

How I met the most beautiful girl in Havana
The morning after the famous Canadian Dinner, my Cuban friends insisted I go with them to the Casa de Musica but not for the night performance. They claimed that the night was filled with mainly hookers and tourists but the afternoon show was almost all young Cubans. Yensela also hinted that there was going to be a surprise for me. I could not believe that she was so lively the next morning after all the rum and fettuccini she ate and drank the night before.

At 4 p.m. right on the nose, an old 58 Buick came to a screeching halt outside of my building. The screech was not due to speed but steel on steel in the almost non -existent brakes. In a cloud of dirty blue exhaust we roared off down the road. (Did I forget to mention that the muffler was almost non-existent too?). Yensela kept grinning at me with those wicked deep brown eyes and I knew that she had something up her sleeve. Her husband Alexi kept giving her the "Keep quite" look but she was just busting about something. With 8 of us jammed into that car I was really thankful it was an old American monster instead of one of those dinky Ladas.

When we got to the disco, the Cubans were just starting to arrive with about 50 standing in line outside of the doors. Even before we came to a stop, I spotted this stunningly beautiful black woman standing off to one side. She was tall, slender, with high cheekbones and as we say in farm country….corn fed (WINK). She was also very nervous, pacing back and forth on the sidewalk.

As soon as we all bailed out of the car, Yensela ran over to her and gave her a big hug. Now I got it. My friends had arranged a blind date so I would have a dance partner and not feel awkward. Her name was Merialys spoke almost no English and she was only 21. While we waited for the music to start she asked me a million questions about Canada as she was being sent here for three months on a youth exchange program.

It did not take me long to realize what an innocent thing she was. Her town is on Isla de la Juventud, and she had been in Havana only a couple of weeks. Havana to her was amazing with its size and people. I wish I could be there to see the look on her face when she got into Halifax. She was very scared about the trip and especially about the plane. I spent about half an hour reassuring her that there was no snow in Halifax yet and that Indians had not scalped anyone in years HaHaHa!!!! NO SHIT!!!!! She saw it on an old cowboy and Indian film. This was important as her final destination was going to be Miramachi. I'm glad we got that straightened out as I was picturing her spotting an Indian and having to scrape a hysterical Cuban Chica off the airport ceiling.

The lights went down and the music started. All the girls jumped up and started that caboose-shaking thing they do. My poor old heart was having trouble keeping up with other parts of my anatomy. We danced, laughed and drank beer for about 45 minutes when suddenly the lights went out. BLACKOUT!!! Damn it. Suddenly out of the darkness someone grabbed on and planted the biggest kiss you could ever imagine on me. The whole time I kept thinking "Please God….Don't let this be Alexi!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Everyone was laughing and talking sooooo loud but I was breathless. Just as suddenly the person let go of me and disappeared into the darkness. After about ten minutes the lights went back on and I looked at everyone around me but nobody gave any sign that they were the "Kissing Bandit". We left about 6:30 as Merialys had to see other relatives before she left. I gave her my card with my email so if she needed anything while she was here in Canada, I could get it to her. Thanks to the generosity of some green screeners with translations, I now know where she is and can get her help if she needs it.

In a way I'm glad she is 20 hours away on the East Coast of Canada. One look at her and Mrs. Rainbow would never believe that I didn't……wouldn't…attempt …… well you know!!!!! I also hope you noticed that I did not deny "Thinking About It" .

God Cuba can be hard on a man.