Pinar del Río and the Western Hills, Cuba

2023 Introduction

Dear Readers, I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023. For new readers, welcome and please come back regularly. 

Over the next few months, I want to review some of the photographs in my archives. Later in the year you will see Houston, Wales, Greece, more Mississippi, Romania, and various other places. I have so many negatives in boxes, I will never finish scanning them. And I get enthusiastic when I see new interesting decay and take new pictures (mostly using film now). Then I get even further behind on looking over old negatives.

I started this blog in 2010, with no particular plan or ending date.

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Cuba

Let us return to the archives with Cuba, as good a place as any to start. My wife and I toured western Cuba in early 2017. Type "Cuba" in the search box to see older articles. 

Pinar del Río is a charming provincial capitol of Pinar del Río Province, the westernmost province in Cuba. The architecture jumps out at you with the brilliant colors and ornate neoclassical architectural details. I'd love to spend a month in these smaller towns exploring and photographing. 

Room with a view

After looking around Pinar del Río, we headed into the hills to the west for an all-to-short overnight at a spectacular biosphere reserve. 

Room with a view, Las Terrazas, Vinales

Las Terrazas

Las Terrazas is situated in the limestone hills of Vinales. It's a charming setting. We saw Belted Kingfishers on trees around the lake. Part of the region is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Las Terrazas es una pequeña comunidad turística rural de desarrollo sostenible que te ofrece un entorno único en el conectar con la naturaleza. Situada a 75 kilómetros al oeste de La Habana, este lugar forma parte de la Sierra del Rosario, catalogada por la UNESCO como Reserva de la Biosfera en 1985.

These photographs are from a January 2017 trip to Cuba. We all had a wonderful time and everyone we met was friendly and welcoming. The Covid shut-down must have been devastating to Cuba's tourist industry, coupled with churlish restrictions on American visits that the Trump administration imposed. Regardless, as travel opens up, go visit Cuba! Go before the developers ruin it. It is a photographic paradise.

Type "Cuba"or "Havana" in the search box to see other articles on Cuba.

Noses of the Greats: Detroit Iron in Havana

Almost no one can fail to be impressed with the monstrous 1950s American cars trundling around Havana. We forget what exuberant styling, chrome, and just plain mass was built in these examples of the American post-war economic boom. (Of course, many of the bulbous contemporary SUVs that clog American cities and gated McMansion communities have almost as much mass, but they totally lack creative styling and paint schemes; black, gray, and white seem to do it for the contemporary suburban poseur.)

Oops, a Morris. A rare example of old English iron instead.

The majority of older cars we saw in Cuba were Chevrolets and Fords. There were a scattering of Buicks, Edsels, and Chryslers. I was surprised to see almost no Volkswagen Beetles and maybe one Mercedes. Also, I only saw 2 or 3 Peugeots in three weeks. Russian (or Polish?) Ladas were just about the only "modern" cars we saw. By far the worst polluters were old Soviet trucks. Recently, the Cuban government has imported Chinese minibuses for tourist transport, and some of the recent taxis are from Korea.

Her are some of the Fords. Considering Havana is a seaside city, the preservation of the chrome is impressive.

Aha, an Edsel. What a styled machine with its odd vertical radiator grill clashing with the horizontal bezels for the twin headlights. A friend in Massachusetts owned one, and I recall the push-button transmission buttons in the middle of the steering wheel, where most drivers are used to seeing a horn button. Ford had to install a safety interlock system.

A Chrysler 300. I hope it retained its original engine. The blue headlights are a bit odd.

Some of these cars have their original engines. That has become a tourist draw. But because of the 60-year embargo of trade from the USA, Cuban drivers have been innovative about parts and mechanical components. One of those "innovations" was installing 4-cylinder Lada engines in place of the original Detroit engines. From what I could see (and smell), the Lada power plants spewed more emissions than the US engines.

The Buick Eight. These were big bruisers. They would have been perfect for cruising Ike Eisenhower's new Interstate system.

Here are the handsome and roomy 1950s Chevrolets. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, they offered a lot of transportation to young families. That was the brilliance of the General Motors marketing machine: sell them a nice but basic car when they are young, then offer increasingly upscale cars such as Oldsmobile and Buck when they get more prosperous. And ultimately, move them into a Cadillac so that they can demonstrate that they "have made it." The model still works: the grotesque luxury SUV is the contemporary "made it" demonstration device for the pretentious poseur set.

Dear Readers, we have finished our tour of western Cuba and Havana. If any of you are interested in visiting, do it soon, before the commercial interests start building vacation condominiums, erecting nasty fast food restaurants, and pillaging the environment. Maybe the Cuban government can balance development with retention of the best aspects of their nature and culture - I truly hope so. And what if the embargo ends? As Joe Klein wrote in Time Magazine, Dec. 1, 2016:

"The Castros needed the American Satan and its embargo as an excuse for their socialism-induced poverty and martial law. They would never be able to withstand the tide of freedom--and commerce--that would wash over the island." 

Well, that tide may be about to overwhelm.

As of 2017, the Cuban people are gracious and welcoming, travel is easy, food is OK, accommodations variable, and toilets terrible. Don't let any of that scare you, just go and have fun.

These are digital images from my Fuji X-E1 digital camera.

Trinidad, Cuba - an explosion of color

Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad (Church of the Holy Trinity), Plaza Mayor, Trinidad.

I wrote about Trinidad in my previous post. Although the setting worked well with black and white film (like much of Cuba), the tropical colors and brilliant Caribbean light really do justice to color photography. The following vignettes around town are from a Fuji X-E1 digital camera.

Calle Cristo, near the Plaza Mayor.

Hanging around in the evening, Eliope Paz.

Hanging around, and on the phone.

Hanging around, also on the phone

On the way downtown.

More water heading downtown on Santo Domingo.

Avoiding the water on Santo Domingo.

How to avoid the water: drive in a Lada.

We were surprised how wet the streets were in the evening. It was more than puddles but rather gushing streams. Was it from leaking mains? People washing their porches and balconies? We never learned, but it made for wonderful reflections.

The Dulcinea Cafe and Internet shop.

We found an old-fashioned Internet Cafe. This was the type of place with older PCs along a table, and you paid the nice lady at the desk a modest fee for an hour of service. The connection was slow, so I assume it was some sort of dial-up via phone lines. We had no restrictions on email or web pages. I have no idea if this policy applied to tourists only. You could also buy ice cream and pastries.

Quiet in Rosario.

The domino champions. They avoided the running water.

View from the top - the Palacio Cantero

Selfie from the Top.

The tower at the Palacio Cantero was popular with school groups. As I noted before, the school kids wear neat uniforms, they are well-behaved, and are alert and intelligent. Education has certainly been emphasized by the government. If we could do as well in USA....

Trinidad, Cuba - the Perfect Spanish Colonial Town

View from Plaza Santa Ana

Trinidad is one of those impossibly interesting towns if you like old architecture, cobblestone streets, and a sleepy ambience. Lonely Planet said it better than I could:

Trinidad is one-of-a-kind, a perfectly preserved Spanish colonial settlement where the clocks stopped in 1850 and – apart from a zombie invasion of tourists – have yet to restart. Huge sugar fortunes amassed in nearby Valle de los Ingenios during the early 19th century created the illustrious colonial-style mansions bedecked with Italian frescoes, Wedgwood china and French chandeliers.

Calle Santa Ana

We spent a few nights in a Casa Particulare - a private home that takes in visitors. It was Hostel Casa Gil on Eliope Paz (Virgia), near the Plaza Santa Ana. Addresses are a bit confusing because many streets in Trinidad have two names. Is one the one is historic and common name while the other is newer and official? I bet the postman has fun.

As we found in other towns, in late afternoon, people sit out and enjoy each other's company. Social interaction happens out in the streets.

At the Plaza Major.

As Lonely Planet noted, the tourist Zombie invasion was in full force. We did not see many Americans, but saw plenty of Europeans and Canadians. The chubby ladies in the photograph above were Germans.

Calle Santa Ana

Trinidad is a visual treat, and it appears to be resisting the inexorable influence of the developers more successfully than Havana. Still, if you are interested, visit soon.

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my Leica M2 rangefinder camera (with 35mm and 50mm Summicron lenses). The film was developed in HC-110 developer and scanned with a Plustek 7600i scanner.

Cienfuegos - French Vibe in Cuba (B&W film)

Hanging out in Marti Park, January 2017.

Cienfuegos is an unusual city in Cuba. It is the capital of Cienfuegos Province, on the southern coast of Cuba. It was settled by French immigrants from Bordeaux and Louisiana, and therefore has a much stronger French appearance than other cities in Cuba, which are almost completely Spanish.

My fellow travelers and I only had a few hours in town, and it immediately reminded me of  New Orleans. But the big difference is the historic architecture in New Orleans is largely wood, while in Cienfuegos it is stone. Nevertheless, the arches and shaded sidewalks looked familiar.

Decorative elements have a Beaux Arts exuberance.

Hanging out in Marti Park.

The cultural and tourist center of town is the Parque José Martí, a handsome rectangle with grass, trees, park benches, and a fountain. The prominent buildings face the park, including the imposing Teatro Tomás Terry, built between 1887 and 1889.

The Teatro Terry, between 1880 and 1901, glass negative from the Detroit Publishing Company, from the Library of  Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994000424/PP/

Teatro Tomás Terry, January 2017.

Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte, with an impressive spiral stair leading into the dome.

Chevrolet, Cienfuegos, Cuba

Cienfuegos does not have as exuberant collections of old American cars as you see in Havana, but they are present in various states of preservation or decay.

Photographs taken with a Leica M2 rangefinder camera on Kodak Tri-X 400 film, developed in Kodak HC-110 developer.

Santo Thomãs - the end of the Road in the Zapata, Cuba

If you take the lonely road west through forest and scrubland in the Parque Nacional Ciénaga de Zapata, eventually you reach the hamlet of Santo Thomãs. A rough road may continue further, but it's surprising you can drive this far. But as you can see from the sign, there is bus service.

Zapata sparrow, photograph © Carl Mease 2017

We were with a birding group and took boats along a canal to find the Zapata Sparrow. We saw the little guy, one of the endemic birds of Cuba. The canals lead to the Gulf of Batabano and were dug by the timber industry in the early 1900s. This one has been maintained to let villages reach the sea and go fishing.

Santo Thomãs is quiet now. A local gent said once there were 500 residents, but only a few dozen live here now.

The town had a small community center, a place where the gents (and ladies?) could sit with a beer and play chess or other games. We saw similar community centers in many rural towns.

This modest house is the community clinic. The visiting nurse lives on the second floor, while the clinic is on the ground floor.

The examining rooms were basic but clean. However, there was no air conditioning, and I am not sure how they keep out mosquitoes in the wet season. The nurse comes for 5 or 6 days and is replaced on a regular rotation. The gent above was a college graduate.

A sheet of paper had listed several medical procedures and the value of this service in Pesos. Even though medical care is free, I suppose the card's purpose was a form of advertising for the government. The prices were in the Pesos used by local Cuban citizens. As of early 2017, 24 local Pesos = 1 CUC Peso or U.S. $1. So, a consultation with a cardiologist is worth 79.64 Pesos or $3.31. Attention for a grave patient is 770.50 Pesos or $32. The nurse told us that for serious illnesses, an ambulance would take the patient to the city or a helicopter might even be used. I am impressed that such a small town has a full-time clinic. We need more walk-in clinics in the USA, where people can get inexpensive or free preventative care before their illnesses blossom into major medical emergencies, requiring ultra-expensive hospital emergency room treatment or long-term hospitalization.

Photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera.