The Spanish content creator Melanie Vidal, known on social media as @meloviajo, posted a video on TikTok this Wednesday where she casually and humorously shares how she met her now-Cuban fiancé during her first trip to the island as a tourist.
"Storytime about how I met my guy in Cuba, although I must warn you that it wasn't very romantic," Melanie begins in the 41-second video, recorded in response to a follower.
The meeting took place in Viñales, in Pinar del Río, during a salsa class that was held at the very accommodation where the group of tourists was staying.
According to the Spanish speaker, the professor began to invite the girls who had the best rhythm to dance, so she decided to approach him and ask to participate: "Look, I don't know how to dance, but I want to give it a try."
The instructor's response was brief: "No, I'll take you out later."
When it was her turn, the outcome was unexpected: the teacher made her sit in a chair to perform "some forbidden steps, which was basically like a striptease but with clothes on, while everyone else formed a circle clapping and cheering."
That salsa teacher turned out to be Yainer, the Havana musician with whom Melanie has been documenting a long-distance relationship since 2023, which has garnered over 150,000 followers on TikTok and 120,000 on Instagram.
What started as a comedic act in front of a group of tourists turned into a story that has sparked significant conversation on social media.
In April 2026, the reunion of the couple at the Havana airport—after three months apart and a 17-hour journey from Spain—surpassed 110,600 views in less than 24 hours.
In May of that same year, Melanie had to publicly address those who questioned the authenticity of her relationship with Yainer, amid the historical stigma associated with couples formed by foreign women and Cubans, a phenomenon linked to sexual tourism that emerged on the island since the 1990s.
Her response was straightforward: "What I experience with him is a dream" and "no one can take away the joy I've had."
The latest chapter of this story arrived on June 19, when Yainer proposed to Melanie at dawn in Los Acuáticos, a small village in the heights of Viñales, after waking up at 5:30 in the morning to go trekking, just three months after they had met.
Melanie described that moment as "the biggest surprise" of her second trip to Cuba.
The video of the first meeting, which has already garnered 92 likes and 11 comments, concludes with an open question to its audience: will there be a second part that completes the story of how a salsa class in Viñales ended in a marriage proposal?
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