Travel to Cuba is illegal for American citizens with a few certain exceptions. Up until January 1, 2004 one of these exceptions was a travel license from the U.S. Treasury department for the purpose of cultural or people-to-people exchange. Knowing that it would soon be difficult for average Americans to travel to our nearby neighbor, many of us flocked to Havana in the last few months of 2003.

Cuba is a country which invariably raises more questions than it answers. It is a beautiful land, populated by friendly people who seem to have music running in their veins. But it is also a very poor country, struggling under the rule of a single party and a single man, deprived of goods and tourist dollars by what many consider to be an unfair and inhumane embargo by the U.S. As a U.S citizen most everything I have heard about Cuba is negative. Conversely, as a tourist there, I was primarily exposed only to the many good aspects of Cuban society – the free health care, free education, emphasis on the arts, etc. Somewhere between the propaganda of both sides, lies the truth. What exactly that is, I don’t feel qualified to guess after only two weeks of sightseeing.

This gallery of images was definitely the most difficult I have created. Although it is a highly photogenic country, with the most camera-friendly people I have yet had the pleasure to meet, I spent an inordinate amount of time on busses or having lengthy meals, and not much time out on the streets shooting. The countryside was beautiful, but I was unable to grab more than a few perfunctory shots as we sped along to the next major tourist attraction. So the pictures you see here present an unbalanced view of the land that is Cuba. Still I hope it is enough to at least give you an idea of the beauties as well as the poverty of the island and to instill you in some degree of the fascination it holds for me.

[I also have a dozen or so additional Lomo photos of Cuba that might be of interest.]