Last Weekend in Cuba

For the last weekend in Cuba, we decided to take one more trip. After getting some recommendations, we decided to go to "Cayo Santa Maria" or in other words, the Cuban Keys.

Friday night, we slept on the beach. There were 11 of us, plus or minus about a million mosquitos. I can barely walk today because of the bites on my ankles.

Anyways, we spent Saturday in a small town called "El Remedios". It was a beautiful old colonial town in central Cuba, and easily one of my favorite towns that I have seen:



Shot from the 60km long causeway you need to drive on to get to the keys:


On the way home, one of my friends had to stop to interview some hitchhikers. This guy was selling blocks of cheese for about 4 U.S. dollars a block.
Nice rainbow on the way back to Habana.

Besides barely being able to walk, all is well. I can already tell this week is going to fly by, and I am filled with an incredible mix of emotions. The best thing to do, however, is to just keep shooting.

See you all in a week!

Ben

More Shooting

Internet seems to be cooperating again. Here's a little sample of the past week or two of shooting:

Two Wednesday's ago, I went with another student and walked about 12-15 miles all night, from midnight-8am or so, all throughout Habana. It was a great experience, complete with a fellow cuban student be stopped by the cops 4 times throughout the night, 3 times on the same street. This is a very common practice in Cuba, as people aren't really allowed out of their provinces/towns at night. For example, if you are from Pinar Del Rio and are caught in Habana along the Malecon, there's a good chance you'll be spending the night in jail.


Went to visit Michael's family for a final interview. From right to left: his mother, aunt, cousin, and uncle.

Also began to wrap up my Malecon project.

A little crowded, no?

Cops standing watch over the jinatera/homosexual section.
Finally, probably one of the more funny/quirky photos I have ever taken. This is from the same morning as the shot in my previous post, when the waves towering over everything one morning. This guy thought it would be smart to try to smoke a cig/take a photo with waves coming at him (I mean, he could have just looked at me, I was soaked). Thankfully he dropped his cig and not his camera when a big wave came.

In exactly two weeks, ill be back on a plane to Miami. I cannot believe how fast time has gone here!

The Internet

It took me 35 minutes to upload two 200KB photos this morning. Thankfully, I only have two more weeks of this internet stuff?

I only have 5 minutes left on internet, so here we go:

Shot from the top of a building in Old Habana. I was working on the set of this music video for one of Cuba's most famous rap group, Doble Filo. The shoot was amazing (so was the wrap party) and ill have a cut when I get home for everyone to see.


I wish I had more time to explain this shot, but basically I woke up one morning last week, an there were 40-60 foot waves coming off the Malecon. This is me standing in about 2 feet of water at 7am.

Ill be posting on a more reliable connection tonight or tomorrow, so expect some more photos soon.

Only 2 1/2 more weeks, so much to do, see, shoot!

From the weekend

Nothing too exciting this week in terms of news. I have been shooting my ass off, and will continue to do so for the next four weeks.

And without anything else to ramble about....

More night shooting for my Malecon project. Group of Spanish tourists enjoying la guitarra around midnight.
...The music, as always, prompted an impromptu dance-off. Not my favorite shot, but its a good idea of what happens EVERY NIGHT near my hotel.
Friday morning I awoke to the thundering crash of waves outside my room. I ran out and grabbed this Hallmark moment before the wind died down.
Friday, I also decided to just hop on a random cuban bus for a couple hours, to see where it took me. It took me about 1.5-2 hours outside the city. The buses are PACKED and hot and smelly and sweaty, but I got some nice shots.
Took this one today in central Habana. I figured some of you may be wondering where the "crumbling old buildings with charm" photos are, and I have decided to give in a little. Above, people waiting for their meat rations.
More Malecon stuff. I was surprised at how early in the day the jinateras, or cuban hookers, got to work on a Sunday, especially Easter!

Thats about it, more shooting and shooting and shooting to come this week. Tomorrow I am going to visit the family of Michael, formally my documentary subject until he landed himself in jail.

El Malecon, take 1

If you have been reading this somewhat-consistently, then you know that I planned to do my final documentary project on a Cuban hustler named Michael. Unfortunately, I returned from spring break to find out that Michael has been put in jail for three years, for reasons yet to be determined. While sad, I cannot say that I am surprised.

That being said, I have decided to finish that project, and start on a new one: The Malecon of Habana.

I only have 5 minutes left of internet, so I cannot describe too much:





This is just a preview of what's to come. I can promise a few things though: lovers at all times of the day, gay/transvestite socializing, cops cracking down on said socializing, fishing, tourists, swimming at 3am, the works.

Stay tuned.

Spring Break

What a week!

Last week, the entire (all 25 of us) NYU program packed up our bags and went on vacation for a week. We went to two cities on the exact opposite side of the island of Habana (Habana is on the western side), Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa. To make my life easier, I'll start with Santiago de Cuba:

Santiago de Cuba is Cuba's second biggest city (pop. 400,000 to Habana's 2 million). It looks exactly like a Cuban twist on San Fransisco, with rolling hills, trolly cars (that don't run anymore, of course), and narrow streets. It is absolutely my favorite city thus far in Cuba. Every block is beautiful, especially in the hot afternoons, when the children are playing baseball and the old men are playing dominos (more on that in a second).

Santiago is also known as the art and cultural capital of Cuba. And, since the program I am in is through the art school at NYU, we saw a lot of great performances. Above is a shot from a Rumba/Afro-Cuban dance performance we saw the first day in Santiago.


The dance troop was known as one of the best in Cuba. Above, one of the dancers getting the audience involved.

We also visited the most famous church in Cuba, whose name is escaping me now. Cubans from all over make a pilgrimage to visit the church every year.
Baracoa is about a 4-hour bus ride from Santiago. It is a small beach town, with not much to do besides fish, lay out on the beach, and fish some more. Not a bad way to spend four days though. Above is a shot from the highest point in the region, on top of a mountain called "El Yunque" or The Anvil, named after its similar shape. The hike was, in total, about a 8-10 mile endeavor, but it was an amazing climb. I wish I could post more photos from it, but the internet seems to be getting slower and slower.
The second to last day of spring break, a few compadres and me went to a cockfight. Cockfighting is a pretty typical affair in the more rural sections of Cuba.
There were about 200-300 people there for the fighting. The cocks are weighed, prepared, and then sent to the ring for the match. There is heavy betting and heavy drinking at the event.

One of my favorite shots of the trip so far.
Back in Santiago, we ran into a lot of dominos games. Dominos is played a lot more in towns other than Habana.
Finally, a perfect example of the people of Cuba. I have been waiting for a shot like this. This scene is so typical in Cuba, its startling it took me this long to get a good shot. A lot of Cubans spend most of their day just "waiting." Sometimes for something, sometimes just to hang out, it is a very typical Cuban activity.

That's it for now. Sorry about the delay between postings, the internet is starting to hiccup a lot more.

In terms of my other projects, I only have about 5 1/2 weeks left in Habana, so I really need to get cracking. I'll still post every few days or so.

Thanks for reading,

Ben

El Necropolis Colon

Pretty eventful week:

Tuesday was the beginning of the 7th Annual Young Filmmaker's Festival in Habana. All of us got passes, so we can go to whatever screening we want, plus the after parties--held at a club called "Fresa y Chocolate", the same name as the great movie by Pedro Almovodar (I think, internet here is too slow to look it up).

Wednesday, as a part of my Arts + Culture in Cuba class, I got to see a rehearsal of the best contemporary dance group in Cuba. They were practicing for their European tour, which begins next month. It was really incredible to see how they utilize Cuban music in their performances.

Thursday night, one of my roommates and I went out with a few European friends for dinner, and after we went to a Flamenco show. It was Spanish flamenco, but with a Cuban twist. Amazing, amazing show.

Thursday during the day, I went to the big cometary in Habana, the "Necropolis Colon":

Almost every grave was completely marble, and truly amazing sculptures littered the entire cemetery.

Interesting fact: In Cuba, everyone is given a proper burial and such, but depending on how much money you wish to give, that determines how grandiose your grave site is. That being said, after two years, they DIG you body up and put them in these small, 1'x2'x2' cement blocks of sorts. Only the very wealthy and famous get to have a permanent grave site.
We had a couple very windy days here this week. The above shot is of the Malecon around 6pm on Wednesday I believe. I was literally sprinting across the highway to get some photos, and this shot is from me running away from a massive wave that crashed almost right over me.

Thats about it for this week. Tomorrow I leave for Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa for spring break. I'll be sure to post some hate/jealousy-email inducing photos next weekend. Adios!