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.