I and my wife went to Cuba in a small group (11 + 2) with Small Footprint Travels, 08 – 20 November 2017. Places visited were Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Habana and Vinales, with Habana getting the most time. We stayed in casa particulares – private homes of various sorts. People were all terrific. The food ranged widely in terms of diversity and quality, but was always plentiful; but we were tourists. My personal best meals were in one of the casa particulares and two small resturants, and were relatively simple fair but well prepared. It was hard not to get a meal after breakfast that did not include black beans and rice. Cuba grows plenty of black beans; I never saw rice being grown in Cuba, but there is some there. My reads indicate the majority of their rice comes from Viet Nam. We had the same government cheese and a compressed ham most places, usually with breakfast, but also had plenty of fresh quava, pineapple and papaya. There was said to be an alleged egg shortage while we were there because Hurricane Maria allegedly knocked out a number of poultry houses, but we always had plenty of eggs for breakfast. Again, we were tourists. Cuban beer was always cold but otherwise nothing special. I personally only saw Heineken as the only other beer available. The rum was excellent and plentiful and we were gratetful for that!

The storied old cars were everywhere we went; the showiest as taxis in Habana. Most are now running with Toyota or Chinese engines. These vehicles often have been extensively modified. For instance, there was one car with ‘3 on the dash’ (see Vinales pictures) .The people we met were happy, hoping for changes, liked the people of the U.S. We were thanked for coming to Cuba. Cubans were not all that fond of our government; often not theirs either. Reverence for Fidel and Che was visible everywhere. Camilo Cienfuegos, who died early, also gets some adoration, but Fidel and Che always take center stage – then and now. However, a joke we heard in Cuba – Q: What does North America have that Cuba does not? A: Music. And everything else.

We did not encounter any situation where we could not do something except not being allowed to take pictures in a cigar factory (nearly killed me not to!) and once when one of us tried to take a picture of an army office, and then it was like ‘hey, don’t’ do that’, with the person not bothering to come to us. There was also a government building in Cienfuegos that was not to be photographed. But we got some. Nothing exceptional – you certainly meet the same kinds restrictions in the U.S. For me the real issues with taking pictures were that I ended up taking so many from within a moving vehicle – so light, movement, glass curvature, glass anti-glare treatments, proximity, somebody else’s head, and photo ops taking you by surprise, were often a factor. Oh well, it wasn’t a photo workshop! And then outside of the vehicle I was often running behind the group – yes, I was The One – because I was still trying to get a better picture. Luckily my companions were a forgiving group (or so I wish to believe), even though many of the others did not take a large number of photos (what’s with THAT?!)

In most respects you encounter the routine inconveniences you often get with international travel but quickly learn to live with. The money thing was a little bit of a hassle as change for CUCs was often hard to come by. As always, you need to plan ahead. I thought about how much easier it is to travel and take photos now versus ‘the old days’ with not having to find places to buy film, which was sometimes old and usually expensive.

Photos with Nikon D500, Sigma 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM lens (distortions and all), circular polarizing filter left on day and night or iPhone 6s. Never used a flash.