Category Archives: Travel

OK, this isn’t very PC, but who cares! Michelle spotted me at the top of the old tower in Cienfuegos and got me to wave. I think this matches the hat. 🙂

I am, of course, making a list of people who will be first against the wall when the glorious day comes. You have been warned!

This is the Palacio de Valle, a great piece of architecture inside and out with strong Moorish influences. It’s also home to a restaurant, one of Cienfugos’ finest, where we ate after our long drive from Vinales.

That has to be one of the worst experiences of the trip so far. The food was disgusting, so much so that one member of the party had to send his back, and the entertainment wasn’t much better. The beautiful grand piano was probably last tuned before the revolution, and I suspect the elderly Shirley Bassey look-alike playing it was probably last in tune about the same time!

OK, I was warned about the food before I came, and I haven’t visited anywhere in danger of getting a Michelin star. But elsewhere the music has been superb, with every bar and street corner hosting a band pumping out great latin rhythms, and wonderful complex harmonies. I may yet grow to hate “Juan Palamera” (or what ever it’s called), and the one I only know as the “Golden Wonder, they’re jungle fresh” song (showing my age :)), but so far I’m bearing up well. The old biddy at the Palacio was an exception.

It’s odd what economic anomalies are thrown up by a struggling economy. Before I came to Cuba I was told that I should bring soap as a gift/tip, so I’ve spent months systematically stealing hotel soap. However, the only people interested in soap appear to be older women, and I’m not photographing many of them, so I’ve now started supplying soap to other members of the party. I wonder what the going rate is…?

The kids of Cienfuegos appear to be well-fed, healthy and a pretty cheerful bunch. Yesterday I saw them engaged in a fun run (I didn’t get the picture of the chap on roller skates passing the motorbike cop, damn :(), playing chess, rowing, and just generally charging around as kids do on a nice Saturday. And if they do come up to you what do they ask for? Not money, not soap (these are young boys!), but pens and pencils. Yes, these kids want to write and draw, and they don’t have the materials. That’s genuinely sad. If only I’d known, I would have packed a box of Bics. I’m going to try and donate my one biro to a good home today or tomorrow.

After Vinales internet connectivity became more and more of a challenge. The Hotel Jagua in Cienfuegos was elegant and well-equipped, but very poorly stocked and staffed. One of the things they were out of were the tickets for computer use. Then this morning they had no milk at breakfast, and the honey had been watered down, so things weren’t getting any better. 🙁

Trinidad has one internet cafe, and about a 1 bit per second connection speed, so although I had several posts queued up, I didn’t get to post them until I was back in Havana, with a proper WiFi connection.

After a long and slightly boring drive through Western Cuba, we’ve moved to Vinales, a wonderful valley between two ranges of low, rounded mountains known as “Los Organos”, because Spanish sailors thought the eroded limestone looked like church organs.

Vinales itself is a busy little town which pulls off the dual role of agricultural town and local tourist hub remarkably well. There are lots of people going about their business, some by tractor or horse and cart, and the centre of the town is mainly about tending to their needs, but with a few galleries, bars and tour offices to support the tourists. The people milling around the centre appear to be there either because they have business, or as a natural stop at the end of a busy day, not because they have nothing better to do, and it’s much more pleasant because of that.

Regarding the title: OK, I have bought a Che Guevara cap (naturally !), but this is more about photographic than sartorial style. One of our party, Ian, is consistently demonstrating a remarkable ability to get anyone to pose for him. Last night, I learned that he works with the homeless, so this is his professional skill showing through. My courage is still rather lacking by comparison, and even when I succeed I’m not sure the close-ups do justice to some people. Therefore I’ve reverted to my trick of trying to get candid portrait shots at a distance with a long lens. In an environment where people don’t mind being photographed and aren’t too self-conscious about the tourist cameras, it’s a way of getting some great shots with much more natural poses. Also who needs an f/1.4 lens to control depth of field, if you’re working with a telephoto at 20m!

The Hotel Los Jazzmines has a great location looking out over the Organos and the valley floor. The sunrise shoot today looks like being the simplest on record: open the window onto the balcony, click, go back to bed!

(Update, 7:07: while I battle with the slowest, most locked down PC on record, Vinales Valley is full of thick fog, visibility about 20m. No sunrise today!)

Lots of pictures of cars, so it’s difficult to choose a favourite at the moment. Here’s one which worked, showing the Capitolio (a copy of America’s Capitol) reflected in the bonnet of a nearby taxi of ancient vintage.

The foyer of the Hotel Sevilla has a number of black and white photographs of famous visitors in its 1930s heyday. There are the usual sports stars and film stars, but pride of place is given to three regulars who get an extended bio: Meier Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone. It’s good to see I’m in such exalted company. 🙂

Today we’re off to Vinales, a much more rural setting with promises of nice landscapes and charming villages. However, I don’t know how well telecommunications will work, so if this is my last post for a while please bear with me and I’ll catch up shortly.