Capturing Cuba

Trinidad de Cuba (To see the full Cuba set click here)

Another year begins and another escape from the frigid temperatures of the Canadian prairies. I must admit however our winter here in Saskatchewan has been alarmingly warm. Much to the chagrin of those I left behind my 1 week trip did allow me to dodge the brief cold snap of -40° weather.

From Jan 12th-19th I made my hotel room at the Barcelo Solymar resort in Varadero my base of operations. Traveling with one of my best friends, who is also my roommate, we planned a nice mix of excursions and relaxation (read: partying) during our 1 week vacation.

The day after our arrival we met with our Sunwing rep and booked our tours. We opted for a 1 day Havana excursion and then a 2 day overnight trip through 4 provinces up to the mountains (aka Trinidad + Rambo tour). Prices seemed fair at around $60 and $120 respectively.

We still had the remainder of the day to explore Varadero a little so we paid 5CUC for an all day bus pass on the double-decker bus that cruises up and down the strip. I was leery of taking my 5DMKII along to Cuba so I opted to bring my 2Ti instead which had served me very well in Halifax, Mexico, and Cypress Hills. I also brought along my trusty Canon SD780IS point & shoot and my tiny Golden Half, a diminutive half frame camera put out by Superheadz in Japan.

Like most of the tourists in Varadero we wound up at the various fleamarkets that dot the main drag. While the various tables held treasures for some it was the side streets and photo opportunities that lured me in.

Street scene in Varadero, Cuba

Shot from my Golden Half on the main drag in Varadero, Cuba

The next day after an unintentionally late night (hey the drinks are free) we boarded the tour bus for Havana. Just getting to see some of the countryside instead of the very touristy Varadero was nice.

Scene beside a rest stop on the way to Havana

Throughout Cuba there are people who make their living just posing for tourist photos, the gentleman in the shot below just hung out at this one rest stop where people on their way to Havana would stop.

A "tourist model" poses for a shot at a reststop on the way to Havana

Havana itself was an impressive sight, you could just imagine how crazy it must have been in the 30's with the mobsters flocking there and setting up casinos and nightclubs. Everywhere you turned there were amazing sights to be seen.

Amazing architecture is everywhere in Havana

Having never been to Havana before, or Cuba for that matter, we wound up sticking with the tour group the whole time. This limited the shots I was able to get but I still managed to get some good captures. Street photography is a genre I haven't dabbled in too much but I was very happy with some of the shots I was able to get. The photo one below was actually shot out of our bus and was one of my favourite from Havana.

A Habanero looks down the busy street from his window.

The Havana tour ended with a stop at their Capitol building which looks very similar to another landmark in another country.

Capitol Building in Havana, Cuba

Next we had a few days at our resort, initially we were a little worried because we seemed to only be running into Russian or French speaking people. I like meeting new people but if they don't speak any English its hard to break the ice. Eventually though we found there were lots of other English speaking Canadians and after a few Cuba Libres everyone was a friend. We also met lots of cool people from around the world, Sweden, Russia, Albania, Belgium and I even met a female Italian rally driver!

These group shots are always a big hit, especially with drunk people!

On yet another sleep deprived morning we boarded a bus for our 2 day excursion. Traveling south from Varadero we'd pass through the city of Cardenas, then on to the Che Guevara Museum in Santa Clara. Lunch would be in the city of Sancti Spiritus, followed by a stop in Trinidad de Cuba before heading up to our hotel in the mountains of Topes de Collantes.

A statue of Che at the Che Guevara memorial in Santa Clara

Our tour guide explains the ration system at a distribution center in Sancti Spiritus

My favourite city from the trip though was Trinidad de Cuba, this was less touristy than some of the other places we'd been. The town had more of a sleepy laid back vibe and the people were very friendly.

A street scene in Trinidad de Cuba

A pretty girl smiles for the camera from inside a building in Trinidad de Cuba

Two girls hang out in front of their shop in Trinidad de Cuba beckoning people to come in look at their merchandise

After the last rays of daylight had faded we boarded our bus and made our way up the mountain to our hotel. After a nice dinner I had what proved to be my only hot shower during my entire Cuba trip. Feeling human again I went to bed knowing we'd have a full day the next day. Eight hours later I fueled up on a light breakfast and a few cups of coffee before hopping aboard an old Russian army truck which was going to carry us further up the mountain. From there a new tour guide was to take us on a 3km hike down the mountain where we'd see various flora and fauna and see a nice waterfall.

Lush vegetation covers the mountains in Topes de Collantes

My buddy serves as a human tripod to let me take a slow shutter snap of this waterfall

A bit further down the trail we stop and those who wanted to were free to swim in this mountain pool.

At the end of the trail we broke for lunch, the restaurant was open air and had some very nice flowers and trees around it. The flower in the shot below reminded me of those cheap fiber-optic wand thingamajigs you used to be able to buy at the circus.

A neat flower from outside the mountain restaurant

After lunch we boarded the Russian army trucks again and headed back to our regular tour bus. From here we'd make our way down the mountain then west to our last stop of Cienfuegos, a port city on the Caribbean side of Cuba.

The Russian army trucks that transported us up and down the mountain

An anorexic cow grazes on the side of the road on our way to Cienfuegos


A windsurfer takes a ride off the shore of Cienfuegos

School must have just let out in Cienfuegos while we were there because the streets were full of students.

Just before boarding the bus to head back to Varadero one of the many street artists I'd encountered during my stay in Cuba had managed to pen my image. I think the hat and goatee are a magnet for caricature artists :) I actually really liked this one but had just spent my last $1.50 on a container of ice cream to help soothe my now burning throat (I had a nasty cold at this point). My buddy, seeing my predicament, quickly hopped off the bus to pay the gentleman and snag what I thought was one of the best caricatures of me I'd seen during the whole trip.

From here we left on the 4 hour bus ride back to Varadero for our last night in Cuba. Sick with a cold and thoroughly exhausted I felt as though I'd done my best to see a fair chunk of Cuba over my stay and capture the experience as best I could.

Cypress Hills & Area - Summer Vacation 2011

A bluebell catches the last rays of daylight on Balde Butte in Cypress Hills Inter-provincial Park

To see all photos from this trip click here

[Editorial note: I meant to post this months ago and apparently forgot so here goes, better late than never]

This summer holidays took place right here in Saskatchewan, southern SK to be exact. Me, my girlfriend [at the time], and her dog, spent 5 days tenting in Cypress Hills Inter-provincial Park (Centre Block) and then a day and a night in a really great little campground called Pine Cree. Initially we had planned on staying only 3 days in Cypress and then 3 days in Pine Cree but we opted to stay at Cypress a little longer. There were some great photo ops along the way, interesting things to see and do, but mainly it was just nice to get the hell out of the city and away from my job for awhile ;)

Camping (Deer Hollow in Cypress Hills Centre Block)

The first thing I learned upon arriving at Cypress Hills is that the park is located on a geological formation called Conglomerate.

A conglomerate (/kəŋˈɡlɒmərɨt/) is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together.

Now why the geology lesson you might ask? Well aside from my girlfriend [at the time] being a geologist and finding this sort of thing very interesting it became painfully clear that regular tent pegs were simply not up to the challenge. The saying "you've brought a knife to a gunfight" came to mind as blisters formed from futilely pounding the tent pegs into what is described as "natural cobblestone cement" using a picture hammer. I was making up new words on the spot and none of them were fit for a family campground, it was just lucky we didn't get kicked out ;) Since our tent needed at least 14 pegs and after an hour I'd only managed to get 4 into the ground I conceded defeat and sought help. To our extreme luck our nearest camping neighbours not only had a bigger hammer for me to borrow but lent us a bag of gravel stakes! These things are fantastic and I can't recommend them enough, I'll never go camping without some again. I quickly set about exacting my revenge on the conglomerate as my framing hammer rang out victoriously and split through the many tiny rocks to get purchase in the cobbled earth below. Ten or fifteen minutes was all it took for all of the stakes secured.

That hurdle being overcome the rest of the trip was relatively without incident. Our tent which we borrowed from Mary's sister was nice and leak proof (ordered the same one as soon as we got home). Guinness, our canine camping companion, was really good throughout the whole trip. On the first or second night we had a good thunderstorm with scared her a little and after running around inside the tent a little she calmed down and somehow curled up under my cot just below my head. I joked the next day that we bonded during the storm :)

With our basecamp setup we day tripped to Fort Walsh, the Conglomerate Cliffs, Cypress Hills Winery &Vineyard, and Eastend to see the T-Rex centre. We also checked out some of the attractions within the main campground like Lookout Point and Balde Butte.

Congomerate Cliffs (map link)

Located just a little ways off of highway 271, very easy to find with good signage showing you where to go. Whatever you do though don't take Gap Road* to get there ;)

Amazing view from the Conglomerate Cliffs in Cypress Hills Inter-Provincial Park

*While planning our trip out to the Conglomerate Cliffs and Fort Walsh we saw a road that connected the Centre block with the West Block, it was called Gap Road. Now that road had a little disclaimer saying that it was impassable when wet. Since it had been fairly dry while we were there we figured we'd take it. At the last minute before heading out I figured we should stop and ask one of the locals at the gas station as to whether or not we should take the road, the kid raised an eyebrow and said that he doesn't even use gap road lol. It was lucky for us we stopped, a few days later a friend who was fishing in the West Block was supposed to meet up with us for lunch and never showed. I simply thought the fishing was good and they decided to stay longer, since cell reception is spotty I wasn't surprised to find I couldn't reach him. A few days later I found out they had been on gap road in a 4x4 and slid down and embankment, no injuries luckily but they were stranded until a farmer finally saw them and pulled them out with his tractor.

Taken a few minutes away from the Conglomerate Cliffs

Fort Walsh (map link)

This turned out to be a very neat place, there was a lot of history there that I had no idea about. The Fort was built in response to the Cypress Hills Massacre, an event which also precipitated the formation of the North West Mounted Police. The fort was, for a time, the central base for the NWMP in Canada. Today at the site you can find a nice little visitor's centre and a partially restored fort complete with tour operators dressed in period costumes. Tours are offered of the various buildings left standing in the fort but you also have the option of a self guided tour. We opted for a self guided tour, we had the dog with us and wouldn't have been able to go into the buildings with her. Also by going self guided we could avoid the crowds so I could get some unobstructed photos. We did go into a few buildings with one of the guides who were between tours and he was quite knowledgeable and friendly. If you have the time I'd recommend following the guided tour just for the sake of good information, then lingering for any photos you may want to take.

Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery (website)

When you think of Saskatchewan the last thing you'd probably think is wine country, beer country perhaps due to the vast fields of wheat and barley but not wine. It's still in its infancy and though its had some setbacks the Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery is a quaint stop that you should definitely check out. Despite not being a wine aficionado I still found it neat and its a great place to stock up on gifts for friends and love ones who are winos afficionados. As a side note the people running this place turned us on to another SK winery that has been creating quite a buzz, the Living Sky Winery out of Perdue Saskatchewan.

Pine Cree Regional Park (unofficial website)

View from "Top of the World Trail" at Pine Cree Regional Park

As I said earlier our original plan was to stay 3 days in Cypress Hills park and then leave early Friday morning in hopes of getting a spot at this little gem of a campground. I'd heard from a friend who lives in Shaunavon that come the weekend all bets are off as to whether or not you'll be able to get a site. In the end it was until Sunday that we got to Pine Cree so we were only able to spend a night. It turned out this was lucky, had we came on Friday there wouldn't have been a spot anyway.

I'm a little apprehensive about even including Pine Cree in this post, its a great little spot and part of me doesn't want the secret to get out, the other part wants to shout "Hey look at this!!!!". Located just little ways NE of Eastend if it weren't for the sign you'd never even know anything worthwhile was down the road you turn off onto. After a few hundred feet you quickly descend into this amazing little valley filled with towering pines that immediately wedged a Saskatoon band's version of a Joan Baez song in my head I couldn't shake loose for two days.

Shot from my previous visit to Pine Cree in 2007

Pine Cree is fairly small with only 28 sites and most are very close to the stream. Within about half an hour of arriving the camp's caretaker showed up in her little quarter-ton and welcomed us. She immediately began apologizing for the state of the campsite (which already appeared pristine) and found 2 some hitherto unseen beer cans that had been left in the fire pit. To say she took pride in her campground would be an understatement :) I've never had to do my business in a cleaner porta-potty than the one at Pine Cree lol. I can't say enough good things about the place and others have described it better than I can. Check it out if you can but leave the trailer at home because they don't accommodate them, also if you're just wanting to get out an party don't bother coming here because you're not welcome.


In conclusion...
All in all I had a great time and was able to capture what I thought to be some good images. If you live in Saskatchewan and haven't been down south to Cypress Hills I highly encourage you to check it out!