“Havana” good time

Cuba October 2017 (7 photos)

This is part 1 of my Cuba 2017 photo series.

Hola! Como estas? I know it’s been a while but I’m back now from my trip to Cuba.

I’ve been travelling for over a month with Cuba as my main destination. Those of you who follow me on Instagram may even have seen my semi-regular short video updates from my trip. Maybe you even saw the one which I posted then removed after 1 hour which showed my face. I like that feature which allows videos to be automatically removed after 24 hours, or at will.

Cuba means different things to different people. My trip was planned when I realised that American-Cuban relations were thawing under the Obama Administration. I wanted to go before it was “too late” to experience Cuba as it is, seemingly stuck in the 1950’s. In reality, I travelled to Cuba as American-Cuban relations were re-freezing under the Trump Administration and amid the accusations of “sonic attacks”. I think Cuba will remain in its time warp for a while yet.

I most definitely was “Havana” good time on this trip. There wasn’t a single day in Cuba when I wasn’t smiling and happy to be there. Maybe it was all that Caribbean sunshine. Perhaps the daily doses of Mojitos and Special Reserve Havana Rum had something to do with it. Maybe everyone smiling at me and greeting me was rubbing off on me. I’d learnt enough Spanish to be able to talk with many locals and they appreciated my efforts with several of them inviting me into their homes. As a whole, Cubans are some of the friendliest people I have met anywhere.

Over a series of posts, please allow me to share with you some photos and anecdotes from my temporary sojourn in a subtropical delirium. I visited Cuba a few weeks after Hurricane Irma struck. Irma was a powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde-type hurricane, the strongest observed in the Atlantic since Wilma in 2005 in terms of maximum sustained winds. There were 10 reported deaths in Cuba from Hurricane Irma. A part of my travel plans had to be changed as a result of the damage caused by Irma. I visited the cities/towns of Havana, Santa Clara, Remedios, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Australia (yes, you read that correctly).

My time in Cuba was temporary and so are the scenes I’ve captured but the memories will last forever.

Time to get up close and personal with Cuba and its people.

…

This is part 1 of my Cuba 2017 photo series.

This is part 1 of my photo series of my 2017 trip to the USA, Mexico, Cuba, and Canada.