Prepping for Cuba

I am certainly fortunate to be traveling there at this time - Leaving Jan 17th with a few days in Florida first, then to Havana and returning on the 28th. I planned this trip about four months ago to travel with a group of photographers led by the Santa Fe Photo Workshops. In December, when I heard about the changes in the US / Cuba travel policies, I had no expectations that they would be in place by the time I traveled - I just couldn't imagine government moving that quickly, but now it looks like they will be put in place tomorrow! Four days before we land in Havana - that means that we will be one of the first groups of Americans to take advantage of the relaxed rules regarding personal purchases. I never liked cigars, so I don't expect to bring any back but I will have to try one when I am there. Rum, however, is a different story.

We will be a group of 12 plus our American photographer guide plus two Cuban photographers. I am feeling a bit of pressure to take perfect images, but I remind myself that the goal is to have fun and to learn something at the same time. No different than any other trip.
I will try to update with posts from there, but we will see how that goes. Our hotel has wifi, but you never know...

What Wikipedia has to say about the Cuban Flag–

The Cuban flag was created by Narciso López in June 25, 1848, and put together by Emilia Teurbe Tolón. The flag's origins date from 1848, when various movements to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule emerged, mainly among Cuban exiles in the United States. Anti-Spanish Cuban exiles under the leadership of Narciso López (a Venezuelan) adopted a flag suggested by the poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón (a Cuban). His design incorporates three blue stripes, representing the three parts that the country was divided during the independence wars, central, occidental, and oriental areas of the country, and two white stripes symbolizing the purity of the patriotic cause. The red triangle stands for the blood shed to free the nation, which is placed where the star is, symbolizing the sky turned red from the blood shed in battle. The white star in the triangle stands for independence. López carried this flag in battle at Cárdenas (1850) and Playitas (1851). Although López was not victorious, this was the first instance of the flag being raised in Cuba.

Here is my first recollection of the Cuban flag -
a Throwback Thursday thing:

When I was a Cub Scout, living in New York, our pack played a part in the ceremony that lights the Christmas trees which run the length of Park Avenue. One evening in early December we marched out of the Brick Presbyterian Church where our pack met, and circled the first tree at the north end of Park Avenue with the flags of the United Nations. The mayor said a few words and pressed a button, and TaDa! One year I remember wondering what flag I was carrying. Getting home, I looked up flags of the World in our fat Webster's Encyclopedia and, finding the Cuban flag, realized that it was slightly scandalous to be seen with it. So naturally I thought that was cool - this must have been 1959, or there about, when Cuba was first shunned by the US.

Photo thanks to Tommy Wolfson (sitting next to me) and Miss Bergan.

Davey Freidberg, on the far right was in my pack too.