Cuba - Guantanamo

On the second day of our exchange visit, we travelled from Santiago de Cuba to the nearby town of Guantanamo. We learned much about the musical and cultural heritage of Eastern Cuba. This posting starts with a picture of our tour manager, our guide and bus driver. It continues with views of musicians, dancers, local people, the town square, and a three generation family.


Our tour manager Lana, our guide Ismar, and our driver Angel were excellent leaders and they had a great deal of fun with the participants and with each other. They established an upbeat mood.

Two scenes drew my attention on our way into Guantanamo. We saw resourceful methods of transporting things throughout Cuba, like this one. The second photo reveals a huge monument on the edge of town. I was constantly impressed by the celebration of important events through monuments, statues, posters, and banners. 

I took the next group of photos at a dance performance at the Tumba Francesca Pompadour, a Franco-Haitian dance group. Their culture has been strong in Eastern Cuba for more than 200 years.

You can see their joy at performing for us.

On the street, I saw that this family did the laundry by washing the clothes on the ground floor and passing them up by rope to the rooftop.

Chengui is an original Cuban musical style which originated in the Guantanamo area. Here are photos of four musicians from Casa del Chengui.

These street scenes give a taste of life in Guantanamo. 

The main square of Guantanamo, Plaza Marti, has been a centre of commerce. It has an interesting performance stage, a small cathedral, and a statue of a previous mayor.

I like the lines in this photo of buildings across from the square.

This girl was playing in Plaza Marti when she saw my camera and decided she wanted to pose for a photo.

We visited a Guantanamo elementary school where the pupils produced a music and dance program. We were charmed by their enthusiasm, the quality of their performance, the colours of their costumes, and the joy and confidence  in their faces.

At the end of our Guantanamo day, we visited the home of the Vincente family. We had a great visit including a long question and answer session about life in Cuba.

Cuba - Santiago de Cuba

In March 2014, we spent two weeks on a Road Scholar cultural exchange in Cuba. I took many photos and I will post the ones I like best. They are organized by location in Cuba as our group  travelled about 1200 kilometers from the eastern end of the island to the west. The photos focus on the experiences of our Road Scholar group and are intended to be shared by those of us who were there (although others are welcome to view them). There will not be a lot of commentary in these postings.

The first post includes one photo of our whole group, and then my favourite photos from the first city we visited, Santiago de Cuba. Many of them feature the people of Santiago.

Greeting us at the Airport - A Monument to Jose Marti

The El Morro fortress was built in the 17th century to protect the Spanish harbour.

The water vase is more than 400 years old.

We ate lunch within view of the El Morro fortress.

These scenes greeted us at lunch.

This is my favourite photo in this group.

The Mencada Barracks (now a high school) was the site of Castro's attack on the Batista regime on July 26, 1953..

We were fascinated by the buses used by people throughout the cities in Cuba.

These photos were taken on the summit of San Juan Hill, site of the battle in the Cuban-Spanish-American War where Teddy Roosevelt and his Roughriders seized the hill from the Spanish forces.

These photos were taken at the cemetery in Santiago de Cuba where many Cubans heroes are buried and celebrated.

The central square and the Diego Velasquez House/Museum gave glimpses on modern and Spanish colonial life.