This time I was staying with Esther and Giovani who have a lovely old colonial house just one block up from the Casa de la Trova on Heredia - it couldn't be more central!
The house is arranged around a traditional patio which Giovani has filled with lots of plants and hanging ferns and it was here that all my meals were served. My bedroom was upstairs and unusually it has windows on 3 sides - lovely and bright and airy. It's the first time that I have ever stayed in a room where I only needed to put the light on after it had turned dark outside. It was very private because it was the only upstairs room in the house - in effect a penthouse on the original flat roof. To get to it you went through a door off the patio, with the bathroom immediately to the right at the bottom of the stairs which led up to my room and which had its own second, lockable door at a turn in the stairs. I was initially a little put off by needing to go up and down the stairs during any night time visits to the loo but in the end it wan't a problem and well worth it for getting such a light and airy room in exchange. I was pleased that I wasn't put in the downstairs letting room which did have an ensuite shower room but no natural light because it is against the party wall with the neighbours house.
The food as usual was traditional Criolla cooking and as usual homely and tasty but plentiful as always. It took a good 3 days to get the rice portions reduced to what I could manage and also get over the message that I only needed rice OR potatoes or other carbohydrate at each meal. But I could resist the fried plantain crisps but I did have to make sure I left a few on the plate each time because if I finished them off then the following night there was an even bigger portion served! The mango season was over so it was mainly papaya (or fruita de bombe as you should refer to it in polite company in Cuba!) and oranges served at breakfast along with the standard eggs, bread, jam and/or honey plus delicious coffee. I was served guava as well grapefruit juice but never as fruit on its own.
The big disappointment was that I had gone at this particular time in order to be there for the Matamoros Festivale del Son but it was postponed til next month at very short notice! I am used to festivales being a few days late in getting started but a whole month was a new one
There was no way I could change my plans at such short notice - the flights were non-transferable, non-refundable so it was pointless not to go and lose the money spent on them. However, it became clear that lot of people had done just that or else had kept their flights but gone off and stayed elsewhere on the island, including some very big cultural tour groups. There were a lot of very unhappy locals who had lost a lot of business as a result of the postponement. In particular the cancellation by the Japanese Buena Vista Social Club band was being very keenly felt because they have a very large Japanese fan base who travel the world following them and who also cancelled as a result. The Japanese are big spenders and their absence was keenly felt. Many locals were also concerned about the longer term fallout and were worried that this would mean that foreign tourists would be less likely to book for the Son festivale in future years for fear of the same thing happening in 2016 (it only happens every other year anyway). This row will run for a good while yet and it is unlikely that when it does take place in a couple of weeks time that there will be many overseas visitors.The overall result was that while I still took my dance classes and they were as good as usual but there was a very flat feeling to the city as a whole. We were a much smaller group than usual - one of the other fall out effects of the postponement of the festivale. We also still had some great nights out but there was less choice of music than usual, even outside of festivale time. The Casa de Musica is being transferred to a new location and whilst it is good that the Teatro Oriente building is finally being renovated to become the new Casa de Musica, it isn't ready yet but the old venue has already been closed! Also, Artex is now dead as a daytime music venue because the new private manicure salon complained about the noise. You used be able to rely on having live music in here in the bar at all hours during the day but no more. The patio at the rear is still used for the late matinee and evening performances but it's drifted off the radar a bit and so even the evening eprformances Re now poorly attended and the bands a bit lacklustre. Cuban bands need a lively audience to spark off and they don't get that at Artex anymore. Plus La Claquette which is usually a great outdoor patio venue was closed for nearly the entire fortnight because in the first week they were away running a temporary venue at the San Luis Carnevale and took a week off afterwards! So in effect three of the regular music venues were dark on this trip.
On the positive side the Casa de La Trova was quieter but still had good bands playing each evening and we had some great nights out at the Patios de Dos Los Abuelos in Plaza Marte and the Casa do Los Tradiciones up in the Tivoli district. The latter two venues are slightly off the beaten tourist track and I do wonder whether many visitors realise they exist and hence would have been disappointed at what they found open in the colonial heart of the city. The Salon del Son was also open but quieter than usual too and on the night we went there it had a younger crowd than usual as well but without the two groups celebrating an 18th and a 21st birthdays it would have been very quiet. The striking thing was that there were fewer Cubans and not just visitors at all the venues and this more than anything else contributed to the flat feel. There were two first time visitors in our group and they were bowled over by the whole experience but my friend and I have been numerous times and were both agreed that while we had a good time the limited choice of music on offer was a bit of a disappointment.
So what other changes have taken place since my last visit in March 2014? Well the restoration work following Hurricane Sandy is still taking place but the Cathedral is now in use again though the work is not complete yet. Also Parque Cespedes is looking great but will never look the same until the replacement trees achieve maturity.
Also, one of the other reasons why Heredia no longer feels like the beating heart of the city is because all the craft stalls that used to line it all day and well into the night have been moved away to the other side of Enremada Calle. There are lots more of them on the pedestrianised street they are now on and the quality of the goods on offer is on the while better but Heredia doesn't feel the same without them.
For the first time I visited the Jardin de Helachos - a tropical fern garden started in the grounds of the family home by an enthusiastic amateur and which is now a highly regarded collection of international importance. It was really lovely but the staff work hard - to keep the plants in the right humid conditions they water three times a day and much of it by hand.
Am I planning to go back for an 8th visit after this year? Almost certainly - I am committed to something else next March but will probably go back for the Trova festivale in March 2016. After all, they start their dancers young in Cuba and I need to keep up!
So any questions do feel free to ask - especially when it comes to visiting the Santiago area.
SM
PS having problems copying photos into this so will post without them and try editing them in later.
a great disappointment to find out you were going to miss the Festivale though, what a let down. But still it appears you had a good time albeit a little quieter than expected. 
