Vacation Chairs?	Beach across the street	Bahamas bar

Old Habana in Downtown Santiago

If you have been desperately searching Santiago for a place where you can rumba your bumba and cha-cha your whatcha... fear no more. We have found the mana come down from heaven. It is called La Habana Vieja and it brings all the best of the Caribbean right to the heart of Santiago.

La Habana Vieja recalls the wonders of Cuba and other Caribbean islands in its ambiance, food, drink, music, dance, decoration and everything else you can think of. All that is missing are two real palm trees with a hammock (your name embroidered on it) hanging in between. And maybe a total babe/dude fanning you with a giant palm leaf.

La Habana Vieja was originally established by a Chilean-Cuban couple on Avenida Matta, but after a year the space couldn't contain the customers. After searching for another year for the correct relocation, the owners took over the old "Teatro Bolivar" on Tarapaca Street and converted the theater into a bright, cheery and colorful restaurant, bar, live music/dancing center and "naif painting" art gallery.

The philosophy of La Habana Vieja's owners is to have a multiple-use restaurant with an informal ambiance. Here, people may enjoy eating out with their families and listening to music from a band specializing in the Cuban "charanga" performance format. This type of band has eight members and starts out with Cha-Cha-Cha, then moves through a series of Dansones, Rumbas, Salsas and several other styles. While the band performs, you can still hold a comfortably audible conversation. But it is also just loud enough to inspire even the most "two-left-footed" among us to boogie-oogie-woogie the night away. There are also naif art exhibitions planned for July and a series of live poetry-readings scheduled for August. Truly, what more could you want out of life?

La Habana Vieja offers great, moderately priced Cuban fare. If you are unfamiliar with Cuban/Caribbean cuisine, you could start out with drinking a $2.50 "Cuba Libre" or a $2.70 "La Habana Vieja." Each of these beverages is based on rum and Coke and slices of lemon or lime, respectively. When served, you receive a glass that is between half and three-quarters filled with rum, lemon or lime, and a full bottle of Coke. Another typical Cuban drink worth trying is the $2.50 "Mojito," which is based on rum, mint, lemon and sugar. La Habana Vieja also serves Daiquiris ($2.70), wines ($3.20-5.30 a bottle), soft drinks ($1.00) and Cuban beer ($1.50).

For the purposes of munching in between dancing and/or watching the dancing, a $1.50 serving of "tostones" (deep fried and salted slices of green plantain) is an excellent idea. If you are carnivorous, the "croquetas" (deep fried meat balls) are priced at $1.50. Then you might move onto the typical Cuban main dish of "Ropa Vieja" ("Old Clothing") which consists of threaded meat in a spicy tomato and onion sauce accompanied by "maduro frito" (deep fried ripe plantain) and either white rice or the typical Cuban "papa al mojo" (boiled potato covered in a garlic and onion sauce). You could also have the threaded chicken variation of this dish, called "Pollo Habana Vieja."

These two dishes are excellent choices for a first visit, although there are other meat and pork-based main dishes included on the menu. All of the these have a standard price of $3.50.

La Habana Vieja offers three desserts. One is "Panetela Borracha," a huge slice of sponge cake covered in chocolate and bathed in amaretto. Yummy, yummy, yummy. The other desserts are caramel and coconut flans. Ditto, ditto, ditto. All three are priced at $1.9 0. Among the coffees offered are Cuban coffee and amaretto coffee. These are priced at $1.00 and $1.50, respectively.

There is a weekend-only minimum consumption of $6.50 per person. For the non-Spanish speakers among us, one of the owners, Keryma Briceno, speaks English. La Habana Vieja is open Monday through Friday for lunch from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30/4:00 p.m. For dinner, the schedule is Monday through Saturday from 8:00 p.m. to about 3:00 a.m. The live band plays two sets on Friday and Saturday nights. The first set begins at about 11:00 p.m. and the second begins at about 1:00 a.m. La Habana Vieja is at Tarapaca 755 and the phone/fax number, for reservations and arranging for special events, is 638-5284.