Plaza in Cienfuegoes

Another picture of Cienfuegoes. The plaza is full of school kids most afternoons. This man is on his way to work as a musician. All of the buildings surrounding the plaza are fairly well kept and painted mainly soft pastel, tropical colors. It was a bit difficult to find much in the way of good food in Cienfuegoes. There are a few places frequented by the tour buses, but the smaller restaurants and cafes left a lot to be desired.

Local Transportation

These horse and wagon outfits are very common in many of the towns of Cuba. Here in Ceinfuegoes one finds this arrangement all over the place. People hop on and off, socialize, and all seem perfectly content with the horse drawn wagon as their means of getting about. Needless to say, the gas production exceeds the gas consumption. These vehicles pretty much run on straw and grain. I realize that this is archaic to most of us worldy moderns, but it works and meets the needs of the system. When people don't have big or important jobs, rushing about is much less "important."

CDR in Cienfuegoes

Cienfuegoes is such a beautiful place it requires color film. Even if like me, you are a total amateur in color, you know you have to do it. The pastels of the buildings are gorgeous. The quaintness of the horse drawn carriages which provide the main form of public transportation add to the charm. They each have a kerosene lantern hanging beneath them so that they can be seen at night. Very much a tourist destination the main drawback are the beggars and scammers. It seems everyone in Cienfuegoes has an angle or a deal for you. I have had business deals proposed by university professors, standard propositions for food, lodging, girls, boys, and cigars. At least when you say "No" most of them leave you alone after that, but it does make it less pleasant. This is hardly a Cuban thing, it occurs throughout out the world, especially the third world and the emerging nations. I have experienced it in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Morocco, and surprisingly in Budapdest. No doubt were I more widely traveled, I would have experienced it elsewhere. None the less, Cienfuegoes is a beautiful city.

Pot Calls Kettle Black!

A school in Miami has taken a book about Cuba from its library at the request of several parents. Apparently the book paints a to favorable picture of a child's life in Cuba and this is against the perception of what Castro has visited upon those people and their island home. No matter how one spins this it is censorship, and it is political censorship, and it is a really dumb thing to do. If one is trying to describe how thought and freedom are suppressed, you hardly help your cause by suppressing a book that doesn't fit your preconvceived notions. One of the first small steps toward fascism is trying to control the flow of information and ideas to the people. It is important to let people, including children, find the truth by themselves. Certainly parents and teachers must help, but practicing censorship is just an object lesson in totalitarianism, The photo above is not a good photo, but it does show the book stalls in Plaza Armas. The book sellers are there several days a week. Most of the books are communist era political treatises and /or history books that recount previous communist glories. Occasionally one finds a book by Marti, a book of poems by N. Guillen, an old Hemingway novel or something like that. These books show the vestiges of control that existed and to some extent still exists in Cuba. Unfortunately, the same thing is sprouting like Kudzu in the United States.

Playing in the Band

In this bar on Obispo Street, Lluvia del Oro, or something like that, I encountered this local band. They were all serious music students at the University, several were music teachers on the side, and they really enjoyed playing together. As almost all of these sorts of places open up to the street, the music spills out into the streets at all hours of the day and night, and lends a festive atmsophere. It is always interesting to take a walk in a city in the afternoon and hear someone practicing their music. It seems that the music, unstructured as it might be, wafts freely into the street as a benefit of just being there. More than once , especially in Havana, I have stopped and sat on a wall, the curb, on in an open air café just to listen to someone play and practice their horn or clarinet. The mystery of not knowing exactly who it is and from where it comes, makes it even more fun to do this.

Proud Father

This man was really proud of his daughter. They had a small business doing a little bit of photography for the neighborhood folks. Both were interested in my camera and wanted to show me some of their work. They seemed to enjoy talking photography, even to a stranger. I must confess that I am rarely treated as a "stranger" while in Havana. Most people have questions about the US, about life there, and it seems they all have a cousin or sibling who lives there. On the Father's Day that I was there a festive atmosphere prevailed as I walked about that afternoon. Lots of music, food being prepared, another important day to celebrate--being happy was the order of the day.

Happy Father's Day

I was in Havana three years ago for Father's Day. The family where I was staying had a party for me and their father. Each of us got a bottle of good rum, a poem, and a song sung by the children. It was a terrific event. I encountered this lady with her sign on the street several blocks away. Holidays and events like we had are a big part of Cuban life. A poem, a special dessert, children singing a song--these are the things that add real soul to life, the Cubans have that in abundance.

Che lives!

This is not a Cuba photo. I took it in Paris several years ago at a parade on the St. Germain de Pres in protest of the bombing of Baghdad. Since then I have photographed people wearing Che tee shirts in all sorts of places from the southeastern US to downtown Budapest. I put it up today to mark the cutting of the power to the US Special Interests Section in Havana. They have recently been broadcasting propaganda and flashing lighted signs with messages that are critical of the government, so the governement simply cut the flow of electricity. The US Special Interests Section is now running on generator power. I think this is symbolic of the embargo. It is a generally bad idea that is losing power as time progresses and it is simply a matter of time. Waiting on Fidel to die will hardly be considered a victory no matter how much spin is applied.

Bosque de Habana

This forested area along the bank of the Almendares river is a gorgeous park. There are large tropical trees, beautiful plants and ferns, and the sound of the river flowing to the sea. As one walks through the park the remnants of Santeria ceremonies and animal sacrifices are encountered. I don't think I would want to be in the park after dark, but in the daytime it is beautiful. Unfortunately it suffers the fate of many nice things in Cuba-no maintenance. It is littered, unclean, and has virtually no facilities for the people. I have missed my annual trip to Cuba this year. First time in 6 years I haven't been there for at least a couple of weeks. When I reflect on how much I miss it, I can't imagine the effect having left Cuba and friends behind would have on oneself. It must be a profoundly deep and painful thing to experience.

Service Station-La Rampa y Malecon

This service station is at the corner where La Rampa or 23rd Street ends at the Malecon. This area is jammed most nights with young people looking for something to do, somewhere to go, and filled with the ennui of a hot summer night and not much to look forward to. I grew up at the beach and I used to hang out at night around the dance pads and juke boxes adjacent to the sand dunes of South Carolina's coast. Like the Cuban youth we danced, drank beer, and flirted with the girls. Most of us were looking forward to finishing college and having promising careers or jobs. It was a hopeful time, there is little of that in the crowd at the corner of La Rampa and the Malecon most nights.

Camello

These are big hump backed buses pulled by large truck-tractors. The entire rig resembles a camel's back hence the name, camello. They are always jammed full of passengers. Fortunately most of the people are used to lines and crowded conditions, so everyone gets along. According to a friend of mine, if you ride it far enough, you will steal your own stuff back. It only costs a couple of pesos to ride. In the country side, one doesn't encounter buses, you are more apt to see carts pulled by horses, trucks, or wagons towed by old farm tractors. Transportation is one of the larger problems in the country it seems. There is not enough fuel, and there are not enough functional vehicles.

Scooter

Throughout the world the desire of kids to play is overwhelming. They are resourceful, creative, andf will work very hard to make a toy or something to play with. I have helped Cuban boys wrap tape into a ball so that they can then play stickball in the street. These guys are even more inventive and mechanically talented. They are building their own "blade". It is made from scraps of lumber they have found and old roller skate parts. The typical child in Cuba is certainly not spoiled by excess nor do they grow up as part of a consumer society. They do like to play, they play outside in the sun and heat, and they are resourceful in creating their playthings. I was fascinated by the number of games and the hours spent by the boys in the neighborhood where I stayed in Havana when I brought them a simple rubber ball to play with-it was amazing how thrilled they were.

Tropicana, 2000

This was a beautiful night-warm, slight breeze, not too humid. We went to the Tropicana and this picture of the dancers in the smoke was probably more luck than anything else. The Tropicana is probably the one single constant that has existed in Havana from back in the 1940s until the present. While the cost of admission is well beyond the reach of most Cubans, there are always plenty of visitors and upper class Cubans who are present to cheer on the dancers and musicians.

Jinetera with tattoo

This young woman with several of here friends sat down at my table at Casa Marina in H. Vieja one hot afternoon. I don't think they saw me as a prospect for anythng more than a cool drink. I obligingly sprang for a Fanta orange for all three of them. They enjoyed playing with my camera. I told them they must pose for pictures in return for the orange soda. This gal was very pround of the sunburst tattooed around her belly button. All of them were clean, nice, and reasonably well educated. Having fun is as much of these girls agenda as is being a working prostitute. For many the sex scene in Havana is more like the singles bar scene in the states than the street hooker scene that occurs in US cities.

Smoke on the Stairs

Many of the buildings of Havana Vieja have dark, somewhat foreboding stairs wells just inside their doors. Often they are dark near the street, but rise up toward light coming in from open windows or courtyards on the second level. Many people spend much of their social life in these dark, cool stair wells. It is a chance to remain cool, visit neighbors, and let children play together on the ground level. Here, Yunieski has stopped to relax with a smoke before heading back out to the hot, sunshine of the street.

Woman on Stairs

I made a series of these sort of pictures in 2004 while in Cuba. I obtained the use of several very old, decrepit buildings in Habana Vieja, hired several models, and had an excellent assistant. I like the beauty suggested by this woman in the midst of the old surroundings. It sort of represents an existential view that life is pretty much what you make of it and no one really deserves more than a chance to try to make something out of it.

Ancon Beach

This cabana is the bar on the beach at the Ancon Hotel near Trinidad. The ocean is warm, the beach is nice, and the hotel is fairly nice by Cuban standards. Both the Ancon and the Costa Sur Hotels were constructed during the Soviet days and subsequently renovated. Beach vacations were used to reward workers. They certainly are not as luxurious as the hotels at Varadero, but do provide a nice and economical beach trip. Since many of the tourists in Cuba are sort of the budget minded European or South American tourists, these beaches are popular during the main season.

Shave and a Hair Cut, 2 Pesos

There are many old traditional barber shops in Havana. They are meeting places, parlors for conversation, and dominos just like they are in the USA. A lot of sports and a little bit of politics get discussed as well. Many of those discussions get too animated and loud for a barber shop. Discussing things like that in close proximity to straight razors is not a particularly good idea. Most are very clean. The barbers wear clean starched smocks, and it is a genuinely professional atmosphere. One of the more humane and meaningful things about the neighborhood societies that exist throughout the city.

This gentleman lives across the street from where we usually stay in Havana. He sells old currency, post cards, and a few old magazines. He is sort of the neighborhood watch guy I suppose. He is always in his doorway, behind a little table upon which he spreads his merchandise, and is quite friendly. Many people have little streetside businesses like this. Some refill lighters with insecticides using the flammable properties of the propellant. Others sell coffee or juice, some sell cookies, some repair clothes or shoes. Really just about anything to eke out a little more money to put toward survival.

Caneys and Rafael

I met these two guys in Santiago. They told me that they were both "clowns". They had retired from a circus and now worked only at birthday parties and affairs like that, held mainly for children. I had never encountered a circus in Cuba and since I still haven't, so I don't know if they were joshing me or not. Both were extremely affable and more than willing to have me make some photos of them. Circus or not, it was fun to meet and photograph them and made for a good day.