Tropical gardens in what was once the Villa Mina provide a lush natural setting for the still popular ‘Tropicana’ outdoor cabaret in the suburbs of Havana.
Popular in mobster times as a club/casino, it still hasn’t lost any of its drawing power. It’s full with tourists every night and most paying nearly $100 for the privilege. Showgirls dance on the huge main stage in a swirl of flashing lights, as well as concealed platforms suspended above the stage and in flood-lit tiered gardens on the side. Some of the girls in their dusted-chocolate coloured net stockings and very little else are so pretty, Edmundo quips, “it’s nearly enough to make a man stray’. The highlight of the evening was when the prettiest of the showgirls came down from the stage and chose me to dance with her.