Cuba & Jamaica: Bring on the Dancing Girls! Bring on the Macaw!
December 17-20, 2017
Havana’s Tropicana was as close to Vegas as I’ll ever get. While it’s a bit tawdry today, it is a nostalgic reminder of the pre-Revolution days when Cuba was a major tourist destination for Americans, who enjoyed the beaches, the entertainment and the Mob-run gambling. Me? I woulda gone for the colonial architecture.
Our ride to the Tropicana... our driver inherited the car from his grandfather, and it’s a beauty.
This, on the other hand... Do you suppose the motor is in the back, à la VWs? Or is this just a hangout, not transport?
The streets are very clean. I didn't realize how clean, until I arrived in Central America.
Yes, I have an old building fetish.
Havana Cathedral in Old Havana. This was the first of many cathedrals on the trip, though there were more temples than churches.
We were anchored off Cuba’s southern coast at Cienfuegos, over 3 hours from Havana. It’s a beautifully refurbished example of what Cuba used to look like — though conditions off the main square weren’t this good.
Chukka, mon! Dunn's River Falls is a major Jamaican tourist attraction that I did not risk my ankles on.
A reminder of Jamaica’s centuries-long dependence on slave labor for its sugar cane and banana plantations, beginning when the Spanish enslaved the indigenous Indians, who were killed off by European diseases. In 1655, the British took over and continued West African-slave labor until Parliament abolished slavery (per se) in 1838. This photo was post-abolition.
At the Coyaba Gardens in Ocho Rios. I always called them parrots. I was informed this is a macaw — who tried to eat my bead bracelet. #
Original posts:
https://wordwrite.wixsite.com/passepartout/single-post/2017/12/19/Bienvenido-a-Cuba
https://wordwrite.wixsite.com/passepartout/single-post/2017/12/20/Cienfuegos-or-One-Hundred-Fires
https://wordwrite.wixsite.com/passepartout/single-post/2017/12/20/Cantores-y-Lulus
https://wordwrite.wixsite.com/passepartout/single-post/2017/12/21/Yah-mon-chukka
