Havana, Cuba is an unusual place. Everyone works for the government, some people do not work at all. Everything runs and works like you are stuck in 1950s Florida - except with iphones and WIFI hotspots on the street. The people are calm, collected, and like to sit by the ocean with their families. There is a tunnel under the harbor that was built in the 50s why? because bridges are ugly.
Public spaces for people to sit are everywhere. Monuments and historical art is around every corner. Havana is like walking in a museum where people live and work. You not only can feel the oldness but you can touch it as well. It is hard to tell whats new and whats old. Some buildings are freshly painted, most are not but they are all occupied by multiple generations of families. It is pretty awesome.
Young girls as young as 14 are very fashionable wearing heals and multi-coloured tight cloths with fish net stockings that are in contrast to the more reserved western culture. Young men rock mohawks with creamed hair and tight pants. They sell pop-corn in bags in front of the movie theater. They seem to love popcorn, sandwiches and cigarettes - everybody smokes; women, old men, young men. Alcohol is almost as cheap as water.
For this trip I shot pictures in 16:9 widescreen super vivid. Widescreen is annoying because I lose so much of the top and bottom of the pictures. I get good pictures with super-vivid once there are no people in the shot. With people; everyone looks very red skinned - lesson learned. Unfortunately its not an effect I can undo. I should try to upgrade my point and shoot in the near future. I will post more pictures when I can.
Fishnet stockings are an essential part of the work dress code in Cuba
Stoplights and cross walks have count down clocks to red, to green and even to amber. Cool feature.
Very little graffiti or advertisements. Gives Havana a really clean look.
The thing I love about this Caye/island is the days seem to last forever. I am not sure if it is because of the almost total lack of cars or police or the constant sea breeze. I have never been to place with no cars. A life without cars is so far removed from everything I am accustomed to.
I was on my best behavior when I touched down in the country of Belize. Last thing I wanted to do was get deported with my Jamaican passport the first day I arrived. So I only took a few pictures when I was leaving.
A funny thing happened; our pilot discovered a technical difficulty with the plane navigation while we were on the tarmac waiting for 2 hours. They are to fly in 3 guys from Puerto Rico to fix it and we had to stay over night at a hotel and had all our connecting flights rescheduled/book. It was worst for people connecting to Canada. All paid for and organised by AA of course. The only good thing that came out of that day was that I got a first class trip back to Jamaica. All is well that ends well I guess.
Only a couple months left on my "Jamaica" passport
You would think that waking up early for a 20 minute bus ride to a river, then a 45 minute boat ride through a river/swamp system would be a boring way to get around but on the contrary I found it to be the idea way to travel. There is something about boats, Belize and water. More boats please!
Anyway we spent the day walking through a cool rain forest and climbing increasingly taller temples. Trees everywhere with constant humidity which goes hand in hand with rain forests. "Do not pick up anything off the ground!" said the tour guide as he talked constantly about everything related to the Mayan's and the temples and the alignment. Good fun. You can read more about the site on wikipedia
That last temple was so tall you can see the river in the distance above the rain forest canopy. It was truly breath taking. Blue skies all day.
On the highway
On the river
We've arrived
Many small temples
You can see the river off in the distance
Really tall and steep. I hesitated at first
These are horseballs
Temples built on top of temples. It has all been one before.
The rope is not just for show. It is pretty steep.
Mad Bull commented: So whats up with you and Belize? It seems you go there pretty often. I should probably check it out as well, I have Belizean friends who could show me around... Is it expensive? ... read 3 more
