La Habana Portrait

Capitolio and Solitude in La Habana, Cuba

It is so rare for me to pass by the Capitolio in La Habana and see just one individual. It was early morning and so quiet.

A close shave in Cuba...?

When you have no razor or the money to buy a razor...you try a pair of scissors...

Like a Volcano...Cuba will explode!

It's only a matter of time...as the older revolutionaries weaken and eventually pass on...the younger ones, having witness the waste of lives lived by their elders and know ing this too will be their fate someday...unless they...

Guajiro en Oriente...

More accurately in the country just North of Banes.

One day I took a jeep and just wandered off down a dirt road...and just kept going. I have always had a curiousity about whats around the next bend...over the next hill...what's up those stairs. This character has served me well in Cuba and becoming intimate with the country.

On this trip I took my wife with me...she kept encouraging me to turn around and go home...but we came upon a village...and their we bought a piglet. This was April of 2001 and knowing that we would most likely be home at New Years. We got the main course early

The most peaceful times in Cuba have been on the farms. I definitely am a Guajiro at heart. Someday I'll have a farm there and raise pigs...no cuesta nada a sonar. (Costs nothing to dream)

Waiting for...

Finish this comment for me..."Waiting for ______ ______..........

Happy New Year...

and we all wonder...what will this year bring to us...how will Cuba change...who will be born...

Who will die? Will it be a better place...there is always hope that Cubans will see a better day.

Feliz ano nuevo!

Next year in Cuba..

Taken in a cemetary in Guanabacoa...

Feliz Navidad!

Wishing all of you viewing and those that cannot view a wonderful Nochebuena y prospero ano nuevo!

I repost this image....in the upper right hand corner on the right bell tower of La Catedral De La Habana you may be able to see where it says " Gloria A Dios En El Cielo y En La Tierra PAZ Feliz Navidad". This image was taken just before the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba in January of 1998.

Juntos Con Fidel...

"Together with Fidel in the new millenium...happiness to you"


This image was taken towards the end of 1999...

M-26-7

M-26-7

Always around July 26th throughout Cuba you'll find cuban flags...everywhere! As the months pass you'll continue to see traces of the small paper flags that adorn everything.

This is a very typical street scene in La Habana...so much life...someone on the street yelling up 6 stories...music from many different radios...the piropos...it's a very addictive energy. You could walk the same street every day at the same hour and it's miraculously always different...and the best part is you don't know what to expect around the next corner.

I spy...

an "angel" and the "devil". This dance troupe was rehearsing for a show and I was fortunate enough to be seeing with my ears this day. Music is prevalent all over Cuba...it seems that no matter where you go, no matter what time...someone is listening to and moving to music.

Just one photo...then

she was gone...I heard crying and next thing you know there's "mami" with child. Parents in Cuba are so protective of their children at a young age...

Getting ready for Nochebuena...

It's this time of year that you'll begin to see hidden in balconies, bathrooms and any spare space the fat pig...all year families will feed whatever scraps they have to fatten him up. Quite often several families will "co-op" to share in the meat once he is butchered.

Nochebuena is a wonderful spanish tradition. Some traditions even communism can't eliminate.

Everything gets...repaired

No matter what it is most items don't get thrown out they get repaired...in an economical model such as is Cuba's...everything has value. Cubans are meticulous about taking care of the few items that they possess.

Che oversees the Ruins of La Habana

Anywhere you go in Cuba you'll see this image of Che Guevara in most homes, artwork, key chains. Capitalism runs amok in Cuba...and Che rolling wherever he might be. As I walked through this building...many parts of it have already collapsed...buildings that in many parts of the world would be condemned and destroyed...for lack of housing many Cubans have little choice but to live in ruins.

Street Portrait 1

Taken at the corner of Neptuno and Galiano...

Pinar Del Rio-Train Station

I find place that people meet fascinating and train stations are just that...

Waiting in Cuba is a national epidemic...you'll see lines everywhere. Cubans are very patient and waiting is a way of life.

They are waiting for a lot of "cambio".

Cubana in La Habana

In La Habana it's commonplace to see or better yet hear a man whisper a "piropo" as a woman walks by him.

"If beauty were a sin, you’d never be forgiven."


"I’m now sure there is a heaven because I’ve seen an angel."


"Oh! If you could cook like you walk, I want to eat scraps!"


"So many curves, and me without brakes."


Pi-ro-po \pi-‘ro-po\n. pl-pos [Sp. Piropear]1. An amorous compliment 2: A flirtatious remark.

They say there are ghost in La Habana...

Taken with a long exposure and as luck would have it, someone started walking through while the exposure was being taken...

"We Must Be Soldiers Of The Economy"

All over Cuba, you'll see signs exorting Cubans to greater ideals, better times ahead...that all is well...I think the only ones that read these are the foreigners that visit Cuba.

Un hombre y un Pala

Taken in the Plaza Vieja during it's renovation...

I am not sure what...

looks worse for wear the bench or the human being?

Dance Recital on the Prado de La Habana

So much hope, joy and possibilties...

Train Station in Guines

Patiently waiting for a train...the silence...observations...gossip amongst others...I am most intrigued by the young woman sitting with child in her arms.

He used to play...

baseball in the streets...jumped from the Malecon into the ocean...chased girls with reckless abandon...

Now he has a family to support and the "burden of adulthood" to live. So many young Cubans grow up with hope and promise...thinking their parents lives will not be repeated in their own...

This is a bicitaxi...transportation is so lacking in the cities that these inventions started showing up in the early "90's. Some are so elaborate they have radios/cd players...cushioned seats...lights...they are legal and licensed (taxed) but as the "paladares" have been so taxed that they are hard to find, so to will these someday meet the same fate.

With Fidel Revolution

If with Fidel there is "revolution" ...one can only hope that without him...



The vertical letters references the "Commitee for the Defense of the Revolution" CDR


The CDR officials have the duty to monitor the activities of each person in their respective blocks. There is an individual file kept on each block resident, some of which reveal the internal dynamics of households. Most Cubans will tell you:, "We must be careful of our actions and of what we say, as we are being constantly monitored".



Other responsibilities include arranging festivals, administrating "voluntary" community projects and organizing mass rallies. The CDRs are organized on a geographical basis and act as a center for many who do not work in farms or factories, hence the committees have a large proportion of female membership. The committees have been cited by certain Human Rights groups as being involved in activity described in Cuba as "acts of repudiation". These acts are believed to include abuse, intimidation and sometimes physical assault against those deemed "counter-revolutionary".

Sometimes you gotta look up!

When walking the streets of Cuba, it's more like a stroll. Looking forward isn't enough...there are many points of view...sometimes I walk backwards...look up...down...and I can't even begin to count the number of doorways entered and stairwells climbed.

This image was a nice surprise. I can only surmise that the window was created for an improvised bedroom in a room with a tall ceiling, this idea is called a "barbacoa" like a loft in concept. No space is wasted.

Cuba......Si

This was taken in Santiago de Cuba...I loved the grafitti...the light was right and I just waited for the "ghosts" to pass by.

He told me that...

he hasn't heard from his daughter in three years, that she lives in California.



Many of us may have family in Cuba...let's not drink from "la coca cola de olvidar"



If you have family in Cuba, reach out, don't let them feel as if they are forgotten.

Cuban Spirit

I often refer to the Cubans patience, love for life and making cafe cubano from coffee and chicharos. (In the libreta, each family is entitled to Coffee...but the coffee often has "chicharos" added "chicharos are split peas grounded up to give the impression of more coffee)

So when life gives you cafe con chicharos...you make Cafe Cubano.