Travelling not soliciting: Cuba Photos

Vinales in the west of Cuba. The curious bump formations are called "mogotes" and are limestone pillars covered in vegetation and containing caves where the limestone has eroded away. Such "karst" formations are also found in western Puerto Rico

Tobacco farmer inside his tobacco barn--note hat, moustache, and cigars in top right pocket.

Typical rural house made of clapboard and with a front porch with rocking chairs ---many today are made of concrete but the style is similar.

Inside the caves in a mogote,which often have underground rivers like this one.

Tobacco field and barn, in Pinar Del Rio province in the west of Cuba

An example of the fine restored interiors of the 17th and 18th century mansions in the towns such as Trinidad

The town square in Trinidad

Beautiful valley where the 18th and 19th century sugar cane plantations and factories were, near Trinidad

Steam train which runs through the valley, originally used for moving the processed sugar cane but now a tourist attraction

"I'll have half a pound please." Street side butcher

School children in their uniforms on a school outing, Trinidad

View over Trinidad towards the Escambrai Mountains where Che Guevera holed up and where the counter-revolutionaries (allegedly funded by the CIA) carried out guerilla attacks in the 1960s

Lynn on the roof of the tower of the most elaborate of the 18th century mansions in Trinidad overlooking the red tiles roofs of the town and the surrounding Sierra Escambrai

Another fine interior of one of the 18th century mansions

The family pig

A fairly typical rural house

Typical of the excellent agricultural skills throughout the country

Houses in a typical small village/town street

Ploughing is done by hand with a team of oxen

Typical rural and small town transportation

View of the sort of traffice you find on the autopista

These carts with small metal roller-skate wheels are used to move goods in the more hilly areas. This one is in Santiago

Typical way to move goods in the country and the town

Wonderful old 1950s motorcycles with side-cars are very common

These are the commuter trucks which carry people around in the cities. see blog for details

Another commuter truck. Some have tarpaulin covers other are open. You see wave after wave of these in the mornings and evenings in the cities.

A roving fumigator--see blog for details

Towel origami by chambermaids. See blog for details

Che and me in Santa Clara

A "wedding cake" of a mansion, typical in 19th century Cienfuegos

The magnificent 19th century Teatro Tomas Terry in Cienfuegos. The fixed seating was the very latest thing. Enrico Caruso performed here.

Another 19th centure "wedding cake" of a mansion in Cienfuegos

School children on a history outing trip in Cienfuegos

The dark industrial side of Cienfuegos

Many parts of central Cuba suffer from drought and rain water is stored in these huge terracota jars

A "CUC" store (see blog) containing desirable (?) consumer goods--this one a clothing store in Cienfuegos

A street of 19th and early 20th century houses in Cienfuegos

A beauty salon and barbershop in Cienfuegos

Another "CUC" store proudly displaying desirable consumer goods only available with convertible pesos (see blog)

Sol y Son, Trindad, the best paladare I found in Cuba (see blog)

Lynn and coffee in the Escambrai

Baracoa, on the far east coast which was inaccessible by road for 450 years has its own style of housing.

Another colourful Baracoa house

A Baracoa fisherman walks his catch.

El Yunque, the anvil shaped mountain that dominates the Baracoa skyline---when it stops raining, that is!

View to the sea over the mountain passes through which runs La Farola, the switchback road leading to Baracoa---see blog

Lynn on the waterfront promenade in Baracoa

A typical local fruit and vegetable market

View over Parque Cespedes, the main square of Santiago de Cuba, overlooking the fine bay of Santiago and the Sierra Maestra beyond, where Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries hid out and waged their guerilla war in the 1950s. On the far side of teh square is the oldest house in Cuba (and probably in the Caribbean), the house of the conquistador Diego Velasquez, the first governor of Cuba, built in 1520. The blue balcony to the right of the square is the Santiagode Cuba city hall where Fidel made his victory address on 1 January 1959.