CubaDupa (A Local's Guide to Wellington)

Over the course of one weekend in March, a wondrous event called CubaDupa took place. While this name is okay, I prefer one of my own making: Cubazaar! 

Saturday

The first day was a bit rainy, but that didn't stop anyone. 

We donned our hoods and prepared ourselves for some damn good food. 

Spotting a genius moneymaking venture that would have done well at the Newtown fair, Kapai was making freshly squeezed juices! Unfortunately when it came to our turn, the machine decided to stop working and was resisting the usual means of being repaired. However, we were ushered inside to receive our juice there. 

Scopa was offering two five dollar options: a slice of pizza or a bowl of pasta. We tried both, opting for a slice of pepperoni and the bolognase which was tomatoey and meaty and parmesaney and delicious. 

Wanting a warming bevvie on a cold day, I got a chai tea. Mister Chai make the chai that is made from real spices, unlike the sickly sweet syrup-based drinks you find in cafes. 

After that, we walked to the end of Cuba Street and saw the Fidelmobile. From Fidels we got some tacos and I also tried a slice of pizza from Heaven, which I had never tried before. I was very disappointed, as the base sauce was not very nice and overall it wasn't the best pizza (I may be unfairly comparing it to Scopa's pizza, but regardless I will not be visiting Heaven pizza). 

Ekim burger was overrun by people, but that is its usual state of business. I really should try it soon.

Sunday 

It proved to be a much clearer day on Sunday.

Near the entrance to Left Bank Arcade, a collection of people had stopped to listen to an orchestra. Looking up, we saw that the conductor was before us but the musicians were sat up on different balconies all around (if you look closely you can see some on JJ Murphy's, the building with the charcoal front). Now that was something I'd never seen before. 

Wellington's annual queer fair, Out in the Park, had to be postponed from February due to high winds. They teamed up with CubaDupa and held it on the Sunday where there were apparently live performers such as circus folk and drag queens and kings, though we didn't get to see that - perhaps we had arrived too late. 

We found more juice! This one also took ages to prepare, and we saw a stream of people who had ordered after us going past with their coffees, but eventually we acquired our orange, apple and pear juice and it was delectably thirst quenching.

From a relatively new restaurant called Cin Cin, we tried bruschetta and arancini. Having never eaten arancini before, they were delicious and cheesy and not as dense as I imagined they would be. With such a good first impression, I'll be sure to look into eating at Cin Cin in the near future. 

Making our way home once again, we stopped to watch the Electric Groove Rider do its thing, but we soon got tired of watching children spin. We took our leave and dropped by the Wellington Chocolate Factory on Eva Street. It was all very expensive, but we did get two small chocolates for sampling. Honestly, I didn't think it was so considerably better than other companies to deserve the price, even though Butlers Chocolate and Lindt is not locally produced. 

Upon exiting, we found that there was an aerial opera performing The Urban Rhapsodies. What ho - tiny chocolate treat and a show!