Friday, February 26, 2016

A Milestone

Today I was looking at my blog's stats.  I've reached a milestone for me. Thank you to all of you who take the time to look at my images.  Collectively, you've opened my blog more than 20,000 times since I started it.

Thank you.


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Day 7 - A small group of willing subjects

Our last day in Cuba.  Late afternoon photographs of dancers proved to be the most difficult photographs I made throughout the week.

These young men and women enjoyed showing off their abilities.











Day 6 - Santiago de Cuba

You know your in Cuba when rock solid plans change in the blink of an eye.  We were to visit Santiago on Saturday.  Bus was hired, contract signed and full payment made.  A cruise ship came to port and absconded our bus.  So Monday was our day to visit Santiago.  Many of our group had made mental plans to take a boat tour of the harbour.  Others, a double decker bus tour of the city was their choice.  Trouble was that on Monday, Santiago does not run many tourist attractions.

It was a bright day that quickly heated up.  We walked through the streets and visited some locals homes.  A long lunch at the ritzy Casa Granda Hotel.  We dined on the rooftop with the city all around us.  A walk down to the harbour and another visit to another house.  This one we had a full tour of.  While I felt uncomfortable photographing it, I was amazed.  It was less than 3 metres wide but probably 30 metres deep and 3 floors tall.  It was home to Grandma, daughter, grand-daughter and grandson.  We saw laptops and desktops, probably broken.  Broken furniture and sparse kitchen items.  Grandma has lived there for over sixty years  (since before the revolution).

A hard learned lesson - you must suffer on the sunny side of the street in order to capture Cubans who walk or play in the shade.

Our last location was El Morro Castle.  A wonderful centuries old fort.  Sunset there brings with it a short ceremony culminating in the firing of a canon while the sun sets.  The last image is what I imagine countless prisoners saw every night as the moon floated overhead.























Day 5 - Part of Cuba's South Shore

A local, Norvis, hired his uncle to drive a group of us from Chivirico to some caves, a revolution museum and a few other sites.  We left the hotel at 9:00 am and returned about 9 hours later and had two meals.  This excursion cost us each a whopping $20 and I bet Norvis did pretty well at that.

Manuel, our driver, spoke very little English.  Our first stop was at his home in the country.  Such a lush area.  He had a water line running from a nearby river. Connected to this line was a series of power tools that were hydro powered and I do not mean hydro-electricity.  The little hog was photographed at his home.

The classic Buick that carried us around was a thrill.  Norvis was careful to ensure the doors were latched each time we were loaded into again.  Several times, while driving, I hung my arm out the window just to hold the door from swinging open.  Seat belts you ask? Not in a car that old.  The most unusual image is that of Jean.  A great traveler seated in the front and reflected in the side mirror. That mirror needed re-silvering and had spray paint on it.  I like the effect.

The caves were a let down.  After climbing up a hill to access the caves, Norvis warned us not to touch the rocks.  He didn't want us touching guano and getting sick.  As if to mock our caution, as we exited the hill, a small group of locals scurried up the pathways that led deeper into the cave than we could see.

We visited a couple of battle fields where Fidel and Che , et al, won battles.  The revolutionaries strategies were simple; travel and stay in the mountains.

Lunch #1, a sandwich from our hotel was eaten under an bridge by a freshwater pool, listening to the ocean smash onto the rocks and beach.

Lunch #2, after a tour of a banana, turkey, vegetable and hog farm, was at a private Cuban home.  Fried fish, lobster and tomatoes followed by freshly cut open coconut juice.

I'm sure that you'll notice the deep drop in road in a couple of images.  The bridge supports were undermined during a hurricane many years ago.  While the westbound lane was not passable the eastbound was.  It seems amazing that the bridge has stood like this for so long. I guess it's safe - well somewhat safe.  At many places along the coast, the road was merely a metre or so from the crashing waves of the ocean.