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.

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.

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.

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...

Tropical...paradise?

Image taken on the famed Paseo del Prado in La Habana...

This guy doesn't even own a matching pair of shoes! A sandal and a shoe...the socks don't match...He's not homeless...this is what he has.

Wise words...

"Put your brain into function before putting your tongue in movement" a literal translation...

Oh how I wish I heeded these words so many times in life...

A building once stood in this location...quickly small shacks started being built. There is a tremendous lack of housing in La Habana. Most homes have several family members living together.

Superman in La Habana

No he's not "that" Superman that we have heard about...

Walking along Avenida Montserrate in La Habana...I chanced upon this gentleman who repaired glasses...notice the collection of used frames. To his left on the wall was a page torn out from a magazine showing him in a Carnaval in the 50's dressed as Superman.

As I have noted in prior posts, everything in Cuba gets recycled and nothing is wasted...except the potential of the Cuban people.

A Cuban Portrait...San Lazaro

On a trip to the Church of San Lazaro on the outskirts of La Habana, el Rincon...a yearly pilgrimage takes place every December to this revered place...thousands journey to this place to pay a promise made to the San Lazaro, the patron Saint of the sick.

This gentleman sat next to the entry where many crippled and physically challenged Cubans can be found begging for any change, food or offering that a visitor may give.

A Cuban Portrait...Plaza Vieja

At first I was attracted to the gesturing...slapping down of "las fichas"...the commentary..."me pegue"(the joyful, cocky voice of the player who puts his final domino piece on the table at the end of the game) but as I observed the "theater" that I love in life. I noticed this "actress" playing her role...I love the way she fixed her hair carefully bringing the curls out (reminiscent of a cupie doll) out from under her bandana...her bright eyes alert as they danced from each participants gestures...it was late in the day...

The "13 De Marzo" Incident

When I photographed this little one from the docks of "la lancha de Regla" all I could think of was those innocent children...

"... until the suspicious deaths of the innocent are clarified, there will be no light in our country, or in our justice... There is no excuse for silence, silence cannot be forgiven. Nothing justifies crime, even [if it is carried out] in the name of the Revolution. That reminds us of when people have been killed in the name of God... We are waiting for justice to act."

This is quoted from a letter sent to the Cuban Minister of Justice and the Attorney General from several Cuban attorneys. More can be read in the official Amnesty International report on this sad incident.

The Sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994

Sometimes Colour...

doesn't mask the reality of Cuba...

Home Depot in La Habana

Most Habaneros live with the reality that when a pipe is beyond repair...that the electric wires short out...a glass breaks...that it won't be easily replaced. Stores just don't carry the items necessary for home maintenance...

But when a building collapses...and after every major tropical rainstorm and hurricane there are quite a few that go down...there's a run on the "home depot"... the resourceful Cuban knows that the ruins are recyclable.

Looking for Havana

On my last trip to La Habana in January, I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman who was the camerman for the well known movies, Fresa y Chocolate and La Vida Es Silbar. He was sharing with us stories of a new documentary titled Buscandote Havana. This documentary comments on the life and struggles of "palestinos", undocumented Cubans living in Havana. These are Cubans that come from the country looking for a better life. They make a life in Havana without the documents that allow them to legally live there. On You Tube after seeing the first part there are two additional parts of this documentary to the right.


Often they set up a home in areas close to the city, constructing with whatever they can get there hands on, i.e. wood, cardboard, sheet metal. These shantytowns, called fanguitos are similiar to the favellas in Brazil. Quite often they lack running water and electricity, without proper papers they are not entitled to medical care, education, la libreta and if caught they are sent back to their province.


This image was taken at a fanguito in San Miguel De Padron, a suburb on the outskirts of Havana. What amazed me about what I saw was the cleanliness and ingenuity of the occupants...just look at this hammock...two sticks, a sheet and some rope.

Habana...Libertad

Usually I see fishing boats named after women...maybe a mother or wife...a daughter or a lover. But this one named his "Liberty"...does the fisherman feel some sense of freedom when on his little island?

My grandfather was a fisherman...he was a courageous, strong man and had an quiet endurance in life. When we would go fishing...he knew where to go based on landmarks and looking into the water...we would always embark at dawn and by noon had a cooler full of fish...all caught with a hand line attached to a "cuban yo-yo" a round implement that is used to hold the line. I would feel the line with my finger and could feel the fish biting...once it grabbed that bait I would jerk the line...set the hook and pull the fish in. It's a good memory...

Vista De La Habana

This view is fom the Casablanca area...

I try to include an individual in all my images. Often I will find my view and then wait till the moment is right.

The Ruins of Havana

It is impossible to ignore the dangerously undermaintained shape of a serious number of La Habana's buildings ― many of which collapse or become uninhabitable and unusable each year.

Theodore Dalrymple’s essay Why Havana Had to Die addresses this more depressing view rather eloquently. Dalrymple writes of ‘the Ruins of Havana’ and bluntly reminds us that, “Forty-three years of totalitarian dictatorship have left the city of Havana ― one of the most beautiful in the world ― suspended in a peculiar state halfway between preservation and destruction.” This is a great read!

"Is it still worth $1,000.00?

I walked through a door that led to a large patio with the doors to many apartments...toward the far corner I noticed a woman preparing what appeared to be pineapple juice...I asked if she was selling the juice and she invited me to have a seat in her living room. I asked where the other rooms to her home were, just seeing a room and she looked up and told me that their was an upstairs...a barbacoa...a loft crudely built above where I was sitting. I asked if I could see and I was told to take a look. I climbed a very narrow staircase and was now in her and her daughter's bedroom...two beds separated by a very old amoire. "I have something to show you but you must promise not to say mention this to anyone" I agreed..she asked that I turn around and I heard her rummaging..."you can turn now" what she had in front of me was an United States Thousand dollar bill, President Grover Cleveland...minted in 1934..."is it still worth $1000.00" I looked at it and stated that if it was a real bill that it was and to a collector maybe worth even more. She offered it to me for $800.00 explaining that she wanted her daughter to have a "quince". I politely stated that I could not be sure that it was real and why not take it to the "bank". I asked to photograph the bill...I went back a month later interested in purchasing the bill...



She sold it to the government and received $750.00...their take was 25%. It was real after all...

La Iglesia De La Merced

Across Cuba this is what you will see in many churches this morning.


"Iglesia De La Merced" La Habana

Until the middle of the 20th century, this was one of the most ornate churches in the whole city. Its origins date back to 1637, the year in which the so-called, “Monks of Mercy” began to build their convent, a task that would carry on for the next hundred years. It was then left to the Pauline Fathers to put the final touches to the interior decoration, completed in 1867. Esteban Chartrand painted the walls and backdrop of the Lourdes Chapel, and other painting work was carried out by Pidier Petit, Juan Crossa, Manuel Lorenzo and Aurelio Melero. On September 24th, known as the "Day of Mercies", both Catholics and followers of the Afro-Cuban cult, “Santeros” gather in the church, many dressed in white, and pay tribute to the deity Obbatalá.

Chiclet...chiclet!

I have been travelling to Cuba since 1996...those early years I always would take lots of chewing gum. I was always asked by children for Chiclet...


I was in the area of La Habana near the Cuatro Caminos market...these boys had been playing but once they saw me coming they immediately asked for some and I stated that if they allowed me to take a photo of them that they would get their gum...


I could not have posed these kids this well if I had tried...and I didn't...this is exactly what they gave me ...naturally...each child is an image unto itself!

After about 1998, the kids stopped asking for chiclet...they asked for 'moneda'.