As we prepare to leave Cuba, it is mostly the Cuban people with expressives eyes that we remember. They have had a hard life, yet seem content.

We ended our Cuba photo tour by returning to Havana for one last evening.  On the way there, our van got a flat tire with the retread flying off while on the freeway.  Our driver expertly kept control, then pulled over to the side, where he and the van owner quickly replaced the tire (upper row).  From the efficiency of their efforts, it was clear this was not their first experience with having a flat…

We watched the sunset from the terrace of our Casa Particular (middle and lower-left), then went out to a jazz nightclub for an hour that evening (lower-middle and right). The music scene and tastes have changed in Havana. In the past, only traditional Cuban music was played.

We extended our tour for an extra day, to give us a little time to walk around Old Havana. Above was one of the very few markets we found that actually had any food to sell. We also visited several art galleries and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, which was a mixed bag of art by Cubans and art from others who created art while they lived in Cuba. We were not allowed to photograph inside the museum.

When we were in Bukhara, Uzbekistan this past May, we photographed a blacksmith in his shop, and captured some nice images there. We passed this welding shop on a side street in Havana, and decided to try to capture similar images of flying sparks.

On another side street, we discovered a classroom in session.  The barred window was open to the main street, with all the commotion (and sometimes student’s friends sticking their hands through the bars) associated with that.  It appeared that there was no cooling in the room, and having the window open was the only way to avoid overheating.

Here are a few final random images from wandering around town that last day.  There were a few attempts at new construction (upper-right) or renovation (upper-left), but most of the buildings were left in their run-down condition. We noticed that there were a lot more tourists in Old Town, especially whenever a cruise ship came into town.

We’ll close with some images of those on our tour group.  The top-left three were our guides, while the rest were photographers joining us for the tour.

Our final thoughts are that Cuba appears to be a country that has been frozen back in time, especially when you see the many vintage American cars in town and horse-drawn carts in many parts of the country. We will also miss the drinks — well-made Piña Coladas and Mojitos cost only $3, while a soft drink costs $2.

However, the tourists are clearly coming, and you can see the differences in the touristy parts of Cuba — higher prices, hawkers, reconstruction activity, and more English spoken.

Girl From Ipanema is played at a Havana Jazz Club from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.

Maybe next time we will try our luck fishing off the Malecón at sunset too…

We visited some Cuban homes while in Trinidad. One of the first things that struck us was how small all these homes were.  The home above (upper-left) is little more than the size of our living room in Ecuador, yet houses three generations.  Also, the people are so desperately poor, yet are always smiling and apparently happy to see us.  The grandmother (upper-right) weaved straw (lower-left) to make baskets (middle-right) that she sold for $3 each.  As a group, we bought our her complete inventory, so that grouping of baskets was empty when we left. The father, center, worked as a cowboy.

The little girl was shy at first (middle-left) and wouldn’t talk.  One of our group gave her a ballpoint pen and she lit up, ran into the house for a piece of paper, and then drew pictures while talking excitedly for the rest of our visit (lower-right).

We also visited two women’s homes that knitted and sewed for a living.  The woman (in the left two) sitting in her doorway knitting a shawl with her tiny newborn puppy on her lap.  When asked, she allowed us to photograph her, then invited us into her home, where two of our group bought shawls from her.

Our guide arranged for pictures to be shot of the woman in the right two images in advance. Her home was so small (about the size of our guest bedroom at home) that only three of us could fit in at a time to take pictures.  She said that it took her between 7 to 14 days to make a single tablecloth, which she then sold for $15.  Again, several members of our group bought some of her exquisite table cloth sets, and her inventory was gone.

There is a steam train that runs through town.  Except it no longer uses steam (it is now diesel powered), and is now just a tourist ride.  We decided not to take the ride, but it did run near a road where we had stopped to photograph passing horse-drawn cart traffic.  The schedule said it would leave a nearby station at 9AM, so we all walked the short distance to the tracks to photograph its passing.

Around 9:30 a rider on a horse passed, and told us that it rarely comes before 10, and sometimes does not come at all.  We patiently waited, and a little after 10, we were collectively giving up and deciding to move on… just as the train could be seen coming in the distance.  Above is the train with the gaggle of camera toting tourists (unlike us, of course…!).  It came and went in under a minute.  Worth the hour’s wait to see it? It was at least a diversion.

One of our memories from our visit to Trinidad in 2005 was the colorful facades.  Sure enough, they were still there. Some newly painted in bright colors, with others showing the wear of time.  Together, they tell a part of the story of life here.

We were able to catch images of people at work along the streets and in small shops in town.  The shop in the center image mostly sold garlic, plus just one pineapple and one guava available.

Many of the doors and windows were open, which allowed a glimpse into the homes.  As we remembered from our last trip here, it was common for people to just stand in their doorway or sit on the windowsill and pass the day.

Here are more people, mostly sitting in the front of their homes.  The girl (top-center) was having a professional photography session done for her quinceañera, which is celebrated when a girl turns 15 in Latin America.

There were so many interesting faces in Trinidad that we will close with just a few more.

On our first trip to Cuba, we fondly recall Trinidad as our favorite city. After this visit, it remains our top choice. What has changed is the number of rooms now available on AirBnB, as well as the diversity of restaurants, the loss of the horse-drawn carts delivering bottled milk, and many more tourists.

In Trinidad, we stayed at a spacious and elegant Casa Particular. This was a beautiful colonial in the heart of town located within 2 blocks of the main square. The owners have a rock band (lower-left) called Duo Cofradia, and were away in Havana recording their new CD. The sister was taking care of the home and us, and made huge and delicious breakfasts each morning.  One decoration in the house that we loved were the two sets of photos shown on top, above.  Black and white narrow slices of the eyes of local Cubans.

As in most of the Cuban cities we visited other than Havana, bicycles are a primary means of transportation for most people. The man in the center image above, apparently just returned from the bay, where he had an impressive day of fishing.  I was not sure if he was taking them home, or to a market to sell.

Our tour guide again hired some Classic American cars to model for us, both at sunrise in Trinidad Old Town (top row) and later at sunset on the beach (center and bottom-left).

While waiting for sunset for the Classic Car shoot, we wandered around the beach.  The weather throughout Cuba has been hot (at least it seemed that way to us, though the Cubans were complaining that it was cold…), and the beach was a pleasant place to be with a gentle breeze. That night however, many swore at the no-seeums that bit them, and I can personally attest to five itchy bites on one hand.

We also had lunch at Casa Hacienda at the Manaca-Iznaga Estate (upper row), where some members climbed partway up the observation tower.

At lunch, this band named Manacanabo gave us a private session, and were quite good. (see video at the end for a short sampling of their performance)

We saw more men smoking cigars and other men leading their donkeys around in Trinidad than anywhere else in Cuba.  This was how these models earned their living, though. There were also several men walking around with strings of garlic around their necks (right-third down) selling garlic door-to-door.

Once again, horses were a very common form of everyday transportation here in Trinidad.  The center image above seemed comical with a bicyclist holding onto a horse-drawn taxi to hitch a ride.

We had many photo sessions for both sunrises and sunsets throughout our Cuba tour. We got up by 5:30 AM to capture the city before the people and traffic got in the way of our photos. In Trinidad, we found a rooftop that provided breathtaking views of the city (top-right, center, and entire left column) one evening, and we stayed to capture some “blue hour” images, after the sun has set.

Let’s end with a typical street scene in Trinidad.  Almost looks like a scene out of the “Old West” in the US. Cobblestone streets, brightly colored adobe homes built right next to each other. Some in better exterior color condition than others.  But right in the center… yep, a horse is drinking from a water trough in front of the house.

In many ways, Cuba seems like a look back into history.  Avoid the fancy high-rises of Havana, and the modern European and Asian cars that are now used by the upper-class wealthy Cubans, and you find the everyday back streets, where time seems to have stood still.

Mangcanabo Plays at Trinidad Restaurant from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.

While we were having lunch one day, this group came and performed traditional Cuban music for our table.  I enjoyed them enough that I bought a CD from them. (Note: The Vimeo link says this was in Havana. When I was collecting the videos for this blog, I goofed.  This group actually came to us in Trinidad…)

We spent one night in Cienfuegos, a city located on a bay on Cuba’s south coast of Cuba. This was mostly just meant as a stop-over between Viñales and Trinidad, and to give us the feel of a small Cuban town that few tourists see. One of our stops in town was at the La Reina Cemetery (above), where we were given a brief lecture on the history (bottom-left), while under the watchful eye of the “graveyard dog” (lower-middle).

This cemetery is the oldest in town, established in 1837, and is the resting place of the Spanish soldiers who died during the War of Independence.

Much of our time in Cienfuegos was spent wandering around town, taking in the sights of the people in their everyday life and seeing the colonial-era buildings. I found it interesting to observe the modes of transportation they used. Gasoline vehicles were rather scarce (tuk-tuk taxi middle-top and motorcycle lower-right).  Horses outnumbered gas powered vehicles (upper-right and middle-bottom), while foot pedal powered vehicles were the most common.

There were kids playing in the central square known as Parque José Marti, where half a dozen shared two pairs of in-line skates, taking turns racing around the plaza. On the side streets, there were kids playing card games (upper and lower-left), and we also found one group of four men playing dominoes (lower-middle and lower-right).

This was our second exposure to a central plaza absolutely jammed with young people, all staring at their smart phones.  Yep, this was the only internet wifi hotspot in town, and it seemed every young adult was here using it at once.  (See the Havana 2 post about details of allowable internet use in Cuba.)

There were several Spanish colonial-era buildings that were of historical interest. Wikipedia noted that in 2005, UNESCO inscribed the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos on the World Heritage List, citing Cienfuegos as the best  example of early 19th century Spanish Enlightenment implementation in urban planning. This is a fancy way of saying that the city is pedestrian friendly, showcasing a promenade with retail on both sides, Paseo del Prado, leading to the main square Plaza de Armas (aka Parque Martí). The statue is Benny Moré, a Cuban musical virtuoso. The weather helped by presenting an interesting background for photographing the elegant architecture as the day came to a close. We were also treated to a horse-drawn cart tour of the city at sunset, so our days have been packed.

Cienfuegos was about the daily life of people though.  Far more friendly and willing to have us take their photographs than the people in Havana had been.  Everywhere we turned was another person who captured our attention… and of course, our cameras. Our guide had told us in advance that people in the rural areas were more welcoming and authentic than those in large cities, and this was proving true.

I never did quite figure out what the old woman’s shirt in the center meant though. Can you?  “I’m having a bad bow day!” doesn’t quite make sense.  I think I’m missing something, but there was no missing her! ☺

It was fun watching people in their daily lives, interacting with the owner of the print shop (top-left), the boy sitting on the back of a horse-drawn cart (top-third), the musician sitting in the doorway (bottom-second),  and the ferry boat captain waiting for his boat to fill (bottom-right).

Within six blocks of the central park is an active port, both domestically and internationally. Cienfuegos was known as the Pearl of the South, and was once a very wealthy seaport connecting trade between Jamaica and South America. It is still a stop for cruise ships, who want to showcase how the real Cubans live.

After leaving Havana, we drove to Viñales, which is best known for their cigar farms, spectacular landscape scenery lined with steep-sided limestone hills (mogotes) and rural Cuban lifestyle. The major highway was mostly devoid of cars, with plenty of horse drawn carts taking workers to their fields for the day.  The countryside appeared very much as we remembered it from 12 years ago, when we last visited this area.

One of our stops enroute to Viñales was Fusterlandia in Jaimanitas, a sleepy little town that has recently become a tourist destination (with tour buses from cruise ships). One artist decorated many of the homes in this community with mosaic tile patterned in the style of Gaudi and Picasso works of art, as seen above.

As we did several times during the trip, we stopped at the side of a country road for awhile to photograph.  The location was chosen primarily because it provided a good backdrop to capture images of passing vehicles. There was also a small roadside cafe nearby, which our driver, Alberto, visited to chat with the owner (middle-right).

While there, we did see a few of the Classic American cars we were hoping for (left column).  At one point, a funeral procession also passed (upper-right).  Note that there are eight vehicles in that image, only one of which is Classic American.  As I noted in the Havana blog, that is about the normal ratio of those cars to more modern European and Asian makes.  The one small motorcycle is also fairly typical.

One afternoon in Viñales, we went horseback riding.  Other than one moment when one of our group got thrown from her horse, it was a standard tourist trail ride.  At the end, two of the trail guides modeled for our cameras, which allowed us to capture some wonderful portraits of cowboys. A bit later, we watched farmers plow their field using oxen, the same way it has been done for hundreds of years in this region.

As I have mentioned, one of the benefits of going on a photographic tour, rather than a traditional tour, is that we stopped whenever we saw something photographically interesting.  At one point, we stopped at a row of small farm houses, with people out front.  The grandmother (middle) caught my interest first, while Evelyn gravitated to the kids in front of the neighboring house (left-top and right-top).  After we had paparazzied the kids to death, Jonathan (our tour leader) brought out two sunglasses he had brought for gifts in exchange for photos.  Immediately the two kids (top-middle two) put them on and modeled them for us to take yet more photographs! ☺

Many horse carts traveled along this road, providing another source of interesting images.

On Thanksgiving Day (which, of course, is not celebrated in Cuba), we visited Finca El Arado, a Cuban Cigar plantation.  They gave us a tour of their farm, showed how they grow and process the tobacco plants, and told us the different types of leaves, and which are used for each purpose.  They then rolled cigars (center) and gave one to each of us to smoke.

Evelyn (upper left) and I puffed and puffed, but seemed to produce no smoke?  Clearly defective cigars, right? Our guides had no problem with their cigars though, with our Cuban photographer guide Joel even blowing rings (lower-left). Jonathan – our American guide/organizer – also enjoyed his cigar (lower-right).  Monica (middle-right) was the third guide  who traveled with us.  Vincent (upper-right), a member of our tour, was the most experienced with his cigar smoking.

After the cigars were lit, our hosts broke out a roast pig for our Thanksgiving lunch.  Delicious, but not quite up to Ecuadorian hornado standards.

One afternoon, we got a guided tour of the Santo Tomás Cave. This cave system extends for more than 46km, though we only had time to enter the first three chambers.  One of the large chambers can be seen lower-middle, while the lower-right image above shows most of our group lined up for the image of our cave guide (lower-left).

While others were setting up there, I moved to a different location, and captured the guide from another vantage point (top).

We had several spectacular sunrises and sunsets during this tour of the Viñales area.  A fog developed over the valley below us, then the sky lit up crimson as the sun dipped below the horizon.