A poster of Che Guevara. These pro government posters were quite frequent, gloryfying the past and containing slogans about the future.
The first thing obvious about Cuba was the equality amongst its people. It was obvious in the way in which people talk and interact with each other, in a respectful way when respect is due and sometimes in a very typical Cuban flamboyant manner. There was a feeling of calmness in its people, and a carefully measured sense of humour. By that i mean, living in a dictatorship, there is no outside influence much, and making humour involves laughing at yourslef and about others. It felt like the networks of friendships were huge.
Streetscape in Trinidad. Trinidad is a UNESCO World Heriatage listed town, so things look pretty much the same as they did 50 years ago. It was like stepping back in time, or a glimpse of the future if you think one day we might have to preserve what we have.
And people enjoyed to be Cuban. Enjoying at every opportunity music and dance, we witnessed some beautiful salsa dancing to Afro-Cuban music at night coupled with the smell of rum, mint, lemon and honey. During the day, the streets filled with people of all ages talking, working and playing dominoes or chess, with the smell of cigar smoke and leaded fuel exhaust spewing out of the 50´s cars.
Old car and typical mode of transport, bike taxi and bike.
We enjoyed the 2 weeks travelling in Cuba very much, despite the annoying over control of the tourism industry by the government. It was also difficult being a traveller in a country where it is incredibly difficult for its people to travel. Despite this, we enjoyed our meetings with Cuban people, and the scenery was stunning. From old colonial towns which havent been altered much or at all since the 1950´s to houses with well kept things, and some beautiful nature, like a blue Caribean sea.
The ocean near Trinidad, the most salty water ive tasted ever and warm like a bath tub.
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