Hey everybody,

This week is part two of the people of Trinidad, Cuba. As I mentioned last week, the people and town were so picturesque and photogenic that I had to divide it up into smaller chunks. Let’s get right to it.

While wandering around, we saw this man and his horse and could help but think that this man really loves his horse (and likely relies on the horse for his livelihood) and the horse really loves the man. From his appearance and weathered face, I’m guessing this man works hard in the sun doing some kind of physical labor maybe with only the company of his horse, we saw a lot of folks like him.

This fella was sitting on the steps of the Iglesia Parroquial de la Santisima Trinidad (Church of the Holy Trinity) on Trinidad’s main plaza, Plaza Mayor. I gestured to him if I could take his photo and he nodded yes. And as I approached to offer him some money, a few CUC’s (he didn’t ask, I offered), I noticed he was very thin and frail and I think had difficulty walking. None the less, he was happily chewing on his cigar!

This was a grab shot as we were walking the streets. The red thin man and blue portly guy discussing the affairs of the day.

Here’s a guy work on sealing the window on an old car. It looks like he’s reusing a piece of rubber from something else for the repair. Not much is wasted in Cuba and they are very innovative in repurposing stuff that would end up in the landfill in the US.

One of the stops on our photo tour was at a ceramics studio. While waiting for a demo in the front of the studio, I wandered to the back and saw this guy working away at his pottery wheel. After watching him for a bit and taking photographs he reached up to the rafters and gave me a small clay sombrero (pictured below) without the expectation to be paid! Nice gesture and a souvenir to remember our visit to Cuba.

The game of dominos is played everywhere in Cuba. In Trinidad, a domino table and chairs  would be brought out late in the afternoon and set up on to the street. The men would quickly gather to play and watch the games. I don’t know much about dominos but these games moved very fast, losers got replaced by the next guy up. There was a lot of smart comments by the spectators and some trash talking by the players so it was fun to watch. The photo below this one was taken in Domino Park in Miami the day before we left for Cuba. The same competitiveness and same razing each other, could have been anywhere in Cuba.

This fellow and his team of oxen were stationed near the six story tower, Manaca Iznaga (more photos in a later post). It was very obvious that his gig was to pose for tourist photos. An interesting character.

These two dudes were standing on a street corner in Trinidad one evening. Don’t know their story but there were a lot of men and kids riding horses in Trinidad. A couple of times we were solicited by tour guides to take the trail ride to a waterfall in the Valley of the Sugar Mills but didn’t have enough time to make it there and back for our activities. These guys might have been some the wranglers on the ride! Note the matching shirts.

Well that’s it for this week, watch for next week’s post Cuba – The Cars. Hope you’ve enjoyed meeting and seeing the Cuban people for the last three weeks. More Cuba to come.

Til next week,

Tom