26/03/12
On Monday, we had booked a day trip out of Havana to see some of the countryside along the coast between Havana and Varadero. Accompanied by our driver for the day, we saw many things such as the highest bridge in Cuba, an old coffee plantation, had a boat trip on a river, went to the beach and swam in the Carribean and also visited the decayingly beautiful city of Matanzas. One of the highlights was a stop at at the home of a couple of local farmers, Maria and her husband Yanqui (pronounced yankee). Their home was a clapboard shack thatched with palm leaves. This is a shot of Yanqui through the chicken wire windows. Lovely people who I could write an essay on.
27/03/12
This is a local hood/spide called Lazaro who I met at 7am in the morning. He insisted that I take pictures of his tattoos before joining him and his mate William for rum in a local bar. I was then taken on a tour of the local slums of Centro Habana in search of cheap cigars and ended up in the flat of a gentleman called Raul. Cigars were purchased. In hindsight, none of this was clever.
28/03/12
Walking the streets of Havana Vieja is one of the most interesting things I've ever done. There are photographs to be taken everywhere. This gentleman offered to give me a trim until I lifted my hat and displayed the rather short buzz cut I had before leaving Belfast.
For more of the same, check these out on Flickr:
29/03/12
As well as street shots, there are so many old and eccentric cars in Havana that you could fill your memory cards just with these. Old american cars, some pristine like this one, some held together with polyfilla and paint. Again, there's a lot more here:
30/03/12
This was the old theatre across the street from our hotel. It appeared to be advertising films which I have bever heard off (even in Spanish) although Willem Defoe also gets a mention. Old car, old theatre, old style processing.
31/03/12
Back to freezing cold Belfast. Bollocks, but at least I have returned armed with cigars, duty free rum and fags and 1200 photos of Cuba. Had a quick gander at the Lockdown festival at T13 this afternoon and was impressed. No more so that with this chap Verse Chorus Verse, formerly with the NI band ASIWYFA. Solo acoustic set that sounded like Springsteen at his best (Nebraska, Tom Joad) and Billy Bragg. Mind you, I'm a sucker for acoustic guitar and mouth organ.
1/04/12
My three big uns came round for a BBQ Sunday lunch and to get their Che-related presents from Cuba. The berets seemed to have gone down well, although Conor's insistence that he was doing a Charlie's Angels shot was a bit misplaced. He then bettered this by asking if "philanthropy" was "that thing in hospital where they stick a tube up your bum." How we laughed.
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