Bob Michaels
nobody special
Here is some of my summer which is spent part time in Florida and part time in Cuba where I live in Cueto a small community in Holguin province with my sort of Cuban wife. "Marriage" is a loosely defined term in Cuba. I have gotten lazy photographically, so this is a collection of summer "happy snaps".
Dance school recital on the Prado in La Habana. The Prado is a large pedestrian walkway / linear park connecting the sea with the Capitol. One could photograph there for a few hours every day. I actually live about 800 Km east of Havana but my wife was in Havana speaking to a cultural conference.
Havana harbor from the east side overlooking the Capitol area. Fishermen go far out to sea in these boats. Think Hemingway's "Old man and the sea" which was set a few miles east of here.
Cuba does live performances rather than TV shows for kids. This weekly gathering is in the Casablanca section of La Habana.
Draft beer truck at a local carnival in Contramaestre in Santiago de Cuba province (east Cuba). The carnival celebrates a minor Revolutionary battle but Cubans will seize any occasion for a festival. We went to visit with my sort of wife's sister for a few days.
Pork sandwich vendor at the Contramaestre carnival. Life in Cuba makes you realize just how overly conservative our ideas of food refrigeration really are.
Regular monthly concert of the Cueto municipal orchestra. Musicians, ranging from 18 to 80 bring their own instruments, music stands, and sheet music. Cueto has about 12,000 residents but some cultural event every week.
Garlic wholesaler in Cueto. This is right in front of our house. Private agriculture became legal a few years ago but farmers are required to sell a portion of their production to the state at the state mandated price. They can then sell the remainder in the open market. Some farmers bypass the state and their low price so they can sell their entire output in the private market by supplying the appropriate government officials with their product.
Friday parade beginning the weekend cultural event celebrating Yoruba or Haitian culture in Cueto. This dance group came from Santiago de Cuba, about 5 hours away so they could participate.
Undoubtedly the craziest bus ride I have ever been on. In the midst of the Yoruba / Haitian cultural weekend, my wife who is a director in the Ministry of Culture got called to a special meeting about the dengue/cholera epidemic. So I set off being the only foreigner with bus loads of the performers and people from the Ministry of Culture to do an out of town performance and swim in the river. Every bus had a least two drummers and everyone sang, danced, and partied all day.
Yordanka, my wife, and her mother in the kitchen at her grandmothers house preparing food for a family party. We roasted a pig, drank many cases of beer and bottles of rum, and ate well. 24 family members ate off of 12 plates by sharing. Being special, I got my own fork.
Dance school recital on the Prado in La Habana. The Prado is a large pedestrian walkway / linear park connecting the sea with the Capitol. One could photograph there for a few hours every day. I actually live about 800 Km east of Havana but my wife was in Havana speaking to a cultural conference.
Havana harbor from the east side overlooking the Capitol area. Fishermen go far out to sea in these boats. Think Hemingway's "Old man and the sea" which was set a few miles east of here.
Cuba does live performances rather than TV shows for kids. This weekly gathering is in the Casablanca section of La Habana.
Draft beer truck at a local carnival in Contramaestre in Santiago de Cuba province (east Cuba). The carnival celebrates a minor Revolutionary battle but Cubans will seize any occasion for a festival. We went to visit with my sort of wife's sister for a few days.
Pork sandwich vendor at the Contramaestre carnival. Life in Cuba makes you realize just how overly conservative our ideas of food refrigeration really are.
Regular monthly concert of the Cueto municipal orchestra. Musicians, ranging from 18 to 80 bring their own instruments, music stands, and sheet music. Cueto has about 12,000 residents but some cultural event every week.
Garlic wholesaler in Cueto. This is right in front of our house. Private agriculture became legal a few years ago but farmers are required to sell a portion of their production to the state at the state mandated price. They can then sell the remainder in the open market. Some farmers bypass the state and their low price so they can sell their entire output in the private market by supplying the appropriate government officials with their product.
Friday parade beginning the weekend cultural event celebrating Yoruba or Haitian culture in Cueto. This dance group came from Santiago de Cuba, about 5 hours away so they could participate.
Undoubtedly the craziest bus ride I have ever been on. In the midst of the Yoruba / Haitian cultural weekend, my wife who is a director in the Ministry of Culture got called to a special meeting about the dengue/cholera epidemic. So I set off being the only foreigner with bus loads of the performers and people from the Ministry of Culture to do an out of town performance and swim in the river. Every bus had a least two drummers and everyone sang, danced, and partied all day.
Yordanka, my wife, and her mother in the kitchen at her grandmothers house preparing food for a family party. We roasted a pig, drank many cases of beer and bottles of rum, and ate well. 24 family members ate off of 12 plates by sharing. Being special, I got my own fork.
