Cuba — I T L F M

The guy speaking to Soren is Ross, our casa owner for the first three nights in Havana.   This is him at the end of our trip, negotiating a ride to the airport for us.

Sitting at the edge of an apartment, watching street life.

Thousands of strays in Havana, but many people keep dogs as pets.

Cuba is the right climate for succulents.

There is very little glass anywhere in Havana.  Mostly by design (you don't need it due to climate) but also because once broken, it never gets replaced.

From the interior of the Paladar La Guarida.

La Guarida is housed in a crumbling mansion where a number of families also live.

The cuban government puts a 200% tax on all new car purchases.

Hanging vines inside the Hotel Inglaterra

Sculpture on the facade of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana

The National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana

Courtyard of the the National Museum of Fine Arts

Free Cuba Libres (for some reason, so we stayed) inside the courtyard of the National Museum

Maximo Gomez, Cuban military leader during the War of Independence.

Mother and child sitting in the Plaza de Armes

Took this photo because the tree was cool looking.  Later learned it's ceiba tree -- this one in particular being sacred to practitioners of Santeria.

Camilo Cienfuegos, another face commonly used as iconography along with Fidel and Che.

View from Ross's self-designed and constructed roof.

To keep a car running for a 50 years+ is an incredible thing, and most car-owners are justly proud of this accomplishment.

Exactly when and by whom garbage is collected in Havana remains mysterious to me.

Cuban beer.  You also see a lot of Presidente (which is Dominican.)

I never caught his name, but this guy is a trained computer engineer.  He gives tours of Havana to foreigners because the money is exponentially better.

Later that night we saw Will Smith in this same rooftop restaurant.  He had an entourage of about 12.  True story.

On their way back from a May Day celebration -- (5/1) is International Workers Day.

There was, apparently, an active china town in Havana, before the communist state was established.  We are told there are still a few chinese left in Cuba (but only "mixed Cuban-Chinese.")

Cars are in a constantly cycling state of breakdown and repair.

José Martí, Cuban national hero, symbol of fight for independence from Spain.

Meat is buchered and displayed on trays in storefronts that could better be described as open-air stalls.  No refridgeration.

Terrazzo paving along the Paseo di Marti, on axis with the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta (fort).

Pink convertables lined up outside Havana's Central square.   On average they charge 20 CUCs, per person, per hour.

Street dog.  Followed us all the way into town.  Definitely running some sort of scam.  We call him Cuban Ginger.

After it rains in Trinidad, the humidity is like a fog.

Model of Trinidad in the town's make-shift historical society.

Mojitos are: one (or two) scoop of sugar, muddled with mint, one shot of rum and soda water, served on ice.  (Limes if they have them.)

Trinidad recently celebrated a 500 year anniversary, and the town center got a paint job.

Streets of Trinidad.  Trinidad was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site as its considered the most intact of all Spanish Colonial settlements in Latin America.

Street dogs seem to live pretty well in Cuba.

If you find a true sidewalk, it's probably no more than 2 feet wide.

People gather in a square outside of the Casa de Musica in Trinidad to hear the music for no fee.

Car ownership in Cuba is currently about 10 percent.

As close as we got to the Escambray mountains

We were told by our casa owner in Trinidad that we came just a few weeks shy of avocado season.

This is the first and, likely, the last time anyone will ever see him in such a hat.

Every night there is a cannon ceremony at Castillo de San Carlos which is an old fort.  It seems that it's now almost entirely a show of military force for tourists' benefit.

Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras, near our apartment in el Centro.

Domestic water in Cuba is all gravity-fed.  Water pressure is not really a thing there.

Sometimes the fabric interiors of the cars have worn away, and all that's left is the rusted frame.

This rooster stood outside the door of an apartment until it was eventually let in.  It's not uncommon to hear roosters at all times of day in Havana.

Waving to me on the roof bar at the Hotel Inglaterra

Rare meat is not a thing in Cuban cuisine.

We walked past it several times but never came up with a sufficient explaination.

Performance at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano -- an old factory in Vedado converted to a club/art space.

At nights (particular Friday and Saturday), people of all ages in the city along the Malecon and drink and talk (but mostly just talk).

In residential neighborhoods in Havana, the electricy is shut off for a few hours during the middle of each day.

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