Blog Archives
#7: blockade and foreign policy
My attention wandered, after a while. I became much less interested in joining the group who were photographing the boxers at the gym and instead turned my attention to the details of the place. You know, the way I tend to do: details reveal a lot, but only if you take some time to step away from yourself and let them reveal themselves to you.
And so that’s how I got this shot of a saggy table and a bunch of notices, just inside the doorway off Calle Cuba.
After I got home, I spent some time translating (Google Translate, if I am being honest: I am not a translator) what all that stuff on the walls said. Item number 7, on the list titled “Directrices” (Guidelines) says “bloqueo y polítca exterior,” or “blockade and foreign policy.” Without context (Who is supposed to follow those guidelines? Why are they on the wall at a boxing gym?), it seems confusing.
But on the other hand, blockades and foreign policies did impact our visit, our visa requirements, and probably other things I don’t even know about. So there’s that.
Gimnasia de Boxeo Rafael Trejo
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.11.2022
the woman on the stairs
I glance into open doorways. Always. I can’t help it.
But also: that’s how I noticed this woman sitting on the stairs of a building in la habana vieja, the old quarter of the city.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.11.2022
transportation options
It is true that are old cars in Cuba.
There are other transportation options too, like newer cars, or horse-drawn carts, or pedi-cabs, or motorbikes, or buses. Or this bicycle built for, well, three, rolling down Avenida San Carlos in central Cienfuegos.
Cienfuegos, Cuba
photographed 11.9.2022
laundry day (plastic bags)
Not only did white clothes and sheets and towels get laundered the day I was in town, but someone washed out an assortment of plastic bags and hung them on the line to dry.
Cojímar, Cuba
photographed 11.6.2022
laundry day (detail)
Almost every day seemed like laundry day in Cuba, and this was the day the household washed their white things, which glowed in the tropical light. But mostly what I liked was the thin orange of the clothesline cutting across the view.
Cojímar, Cuba
photographed 11.6.2022
