Read this post on TravelFeed.io for the best experience
Two years ago I was travelling in Cuba for four weeks. I have tried to experience Cuba as it really is using local transport, eating local food and talking to many amazing people. Today I want to share some of my favourite photos from Trinidad and some insights into the Cuban society and economy. I will show you the romanticized decay that makes Cuba famous as well as the life behind the colourful facades.
If you want to know more about Cuba, head over to Part 1 of my series on Cuba, my photo documentary about Havana.
View on Plaza Mayor
The colonial town of Trinidad looks like it has been cut out from a movie that is set in the Caribbean some centuries ago. Trinidad has been one of the first European settlements in the New World.
50mm, f9, 1/320; Click on image to enlarge.
Tourist Destination Trinidad
Today, the beautiful colonial town is visited by thousands of tourist every day who flock in from the resorts around Varadero and the capital Havana.
135mm, f5.6, 1/160; Click on image to enlarge.
Colourful Facades
The centre of town is really beautiful, since mainly thanks to the poor economic situation of the country no buildings have been torn down or been replaced by modern buildings. Recently, the colonial buildings in Trinidad have been renovated and look really beautiful.
50mm, f8, 1/200; Click on image to enlarge.
Colonial Architecture
Various museums are set around the centre of town, all of them will try to convince you how awesome the Cuban Revolution has been.
22mm, f7.1, 1/200; Click on image to enlarge.
Classic Cars roaming the Streets
A reason for many tourists to visit Cuba are the classic cars that can be found everywhere.
100mm, f6.3, 1/200; Click on image to enlarge.
Cars and the US-Embargo
While it is not true that all cars in Cuba are classic cars, many of them are, since the trade embargo placed upon Cuba by the US government since 1962 makes it quite hard to import modern cars to the isolated country.
Since most of the cars in Cuba are still owned by the government that tries everything to bring foreign currency into the country, many classic cars are now operated as taxis for tourists.
70mm, f8, 1/250; Click on image to enlarge.
Expensive Taxis: Only for Tourists
Most Cubans would never be able to afford the tourist taxis. If they can afford them, they use taxis collectivos, shared rides, which cost a fraction of the price of a ride in a tourist taxi. So if you are travelling on a budget and would like to get a ride in a classic car, look out for a taxi collectivo and pay with Pesos Cubanos (more on this currency later).
75mm, f8.0, 1/250; Click on image to enlarge.
Fuel efficient: The moto taxi
Another option popular with Cubans and a way to avoid the relative to the income very high fuel prices are the moto taxis. The problem with them is, that these scooters still need some fuel. Cuba used to buy oil from its socialist brother country Venezuela, but recently Venezuela's economy has been struggling a lot, so they can't afford to support Cuba any more.
80mm, f5.6, 1/125; Click on image to enlarge.
The best Option? Bicycles!
This is where bicycles come in handy. They are widely popular all over Cuba but are quite an investment to make since second hand bicycles are far more expensive than in capitalist countries where we can easily afford new bicycles.
105mm, f5.6, 1/160; Click on image to enlarge.
Horses are still popular in Cuba.
Bicycles are great for getting one person from one place to another, but in some cases there is a better way.
26mm, f6.3, 1/200; Click on image to enlarge.
One Horse Power
Horses are capable of transporting people as well as cargo. The best about horses is, that they run on food instead of gas, and while Cuba has no oil reserves, they can feed their horses with the produce of their own agriculture.
135mm, f5.6, 1/250; Click on image to enlarge.
Forget Buses, in Trinidad they have Carriages!
Even in the 21st century, in Cuba horse drawn carriages are widely popular as a replacement for the unreliable government buses.
50mm, f6.3, 1/125; Click on image to enlarge.
Advertisement in Socialism
As bad as socialism is for the people in Cuba, you have to let them one thing: The advertisements on the back of buses are way prettier than the one in the capitalist countries!
35mm, f8, 1/250; Click on image to enlarge.
Cuban Buses
There are different kinds of buses in Cuba. Modern long distant buses for tourists are run under the brand Viazul, while the older buses run by Astro are cheaper and only for Cubans (believe me, I tried to get on many times, no chance).
When I visited Cuba at Christmas time 2015, Viazul buses were booked out days ahead, so I decided to get around in local buses. These buses are called camiones in Cuba, which means "truck" in Spanish. And well, this is what they are, trucks with some benches installed in the back and cramped with as many people as possible. The buses are the chosen way of transport for many Cubans who cannot afford the Astro buses. A trip in a camion is a unique experience, but I would not recommend crossing Cuba in these vehicles (I did though..). Also, there is a railway line crossing Cuba from West to East, but Trinidad is not connected to the main railway line.
18mm, f8, 1/640; Click on image to enlarge.
Tourists enjoying a Tourist Restaurant
Let's get back to the centre of town, where tourist can enjoy the warm afternoon light in a restaurant. They will pay a few dollars for a meal here, which is very reasonable for Western standards. But you may remember from my last post that Cubans salaries can be as low as 15 USD a month, so how could they ever be able to afford to eat at a restaurant?
50mm, f6.3, 1/125; Click on image to enlarge.
One country, two currencies — Just like Steemit!
Well, let me introduce you to the Cuban currency system. While we as Steem and crypto users are used to handling multiple currencies, it comes as a shock to many tourists that there are actually two currencies in Cuba.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba went through a severe economic crisis. Since the socialist Caribbean country has almost no industry, the value of the Cuban Peso dropped a lot and the Cuban government struggled to pay for any imports since nobody was willing to accept the currency of a failing economy. Currently, one Cuban Peso is worth only 0.04 USD.
Quickly, the US-Dollar became the real currency in Cuba, since its value was stable. At one point the Cuban government had to accept this, but they quickly realized that having the currency of their arch-enemy might not be the best thing to do. So they came up with a second currency pegged to the US-Dollar, the Peso Convertible.
The Peso Cubano is also often referred to Peso Nacional, while the Peso Convertible is called CUC. To make this more confusing, both can be referred to as Peso.
For Cubans, all goods except luxury and imported items are paid in Pesos Cubanos, while most tourists will only pay with CUC during their visit. The great news is, that you can exchange your CUC to Pesos Cubanos completely legal in one of the government-run change houses (casa de cambio). After commission, 1 CUC gets you 24 Pesos Cubanos and in fact you can pay anything but accommodation in Pesos Cubanos and travel incredibly cheap!
35mm, f8, 1/200; Click on image to enlarge.
The cheapest Food in the World?
Here you can see some prices for food from a small street side cafeteria. You can get a delicious cheese pizza for 5 Pesos (0,20 USD!) and a bucket of ice cream for the same price for dessert. Even if you feel like a millionaire, I encourage you not to start giving away money, since generous tourists are becoming an increasing problem for the Cuban economy: If begging tourists for a Dollar earns more money than working for the government, the Cuban economy will do even worse which will be bad for everyone. The socialist government may not enable most people to get rich, but they make sure to provide shelter and food for everyone, so real poverty in Cuba is actually lower than I have seen in any other Latin American country and so theoretically nobody would need to beg for money.
22mm, f5.6, 1/125; Click on image to enlarge.
Cafeterias: Eating like a Cuban
There are also many government run restaurants for the locals around where you pay a few Pesos Cubanos for a decent meal, but the small cafeterias are actually quite a new sight in Cuba: They are actually not owned by the government, since a few years back the government decided to allow Cubans to start small businesses. Since then, there have been many family run pizza shops like this one opening up all around the country.
55mm, f5, 1/100; Click on image to enlarge.
The Cuban Spirit
Although having very little money compared to people from the Western world, people in Cuba seem a lot happier, they smile more and spend time with their friends and neighbors.
70mm, f5.6, 1/125; Click on image to enlarge.
Streets filled with Life
I don't know if it is the Latin American spirit or the fact, that only some people own a TV, but the streets in Trinidad are filled with life.
Life in Cuba seems a lot more social than in many Western countries where everyone sits in their own apartment in front of their own TV. It is funny though that people in socialist Cuba actually have a very capitalist mindset and dream of buying their own smartphone or TV, while some people in the Western industrial countries are slowly realizing that there is more to life than money. I think cryptocurrencies demonstrate every day how relative the value of money is, so working a well paid job you hate is not be worth sacrificing social life.
30mm, f7.1, 1/160; Click on image to enlarge.
A "real" Playground
Another reason while there are so many kids playing on the streets might be the playgrounds in the suburbs. Seriously, who would like to play at a place like this?
18mm, f8, 1/500; Click on image to enlarge.
The Suburbs of Trinidad
The suburbs of Trinidad look way different from the renovated Colonial buildings in the centre. This is the Cuban reality that most tourists never get to see.
18mm, f9, 1/1600; Click on image to enlarge.
Lining up for Internet
Many people in Cuba have never used the internet, although there are several telepuntos available across Cuba. The telepuntos are basically internet cafés, but internet access is to expensive for most Cubans.
The Western point of view is, that the Cuban government does not want its people to be able to inform themselves about the world outside of the isolated country, but this is just one side of the coin. In fact, for many years the US has successfully blocked all attempts to connect Cuba to the world wide web using a submarine cable. Large parts of the internet connections leaving Cuba are lead over satellite, which incurs high costs. According to Wikipedia, the total download bandwidth between Cuba and the global internet is just 397 Mbit/s! For this reason the Cuban government is hosting a Cuban intranet providing various government run websites and even their own version of Wikipedia (well, you see that censorship might also be a motivation here...).
28mm, f8, 1/250; Click on image to enlarge.
Cuba's Wifi Parks
While in private homes internet access is still not available legally, the Cuban government has installed various Wifi hotspots in parks around the country just a few months before I visited in 2015. Internet is priced at about 2 CUC per hour and therefore too expensive to most Cubans.
Tourists love the Wifi hotspots and it is funny to watch hordes of tourists gathering in local parks. Did you notice the boy in the photo who is the only one without a smartphone in these hands? And then parents complain about their internet-addicted kids...
35mm, f6.3, 1/160; Click on image to enlarge.
Change is coming
With the increasing adoption of internet and the introduction of private businesses Cuba is changing quickly. When I was there, there were still big hopes in the Obama administration to discontinue the embargo, but with the current US-government it seems like this will have to wait.
30mm, f8, 1/640; Click on image to enlarge.
I hope you have enjoyed my photo documentary about Trinidad and I hope I have added some paint to your image of Cuba.
75mm, f9, 1/500; Click on image to enlarge.
Please note that the information in the post is mostly derived from conversations I had during my stay in Cuba and may not be totally accurate.
18mm, f8, 1/1000; Click on image to enlarge.
10 days ago I posted my photo documentary about Havana, Cuba to celebrate 50 Followers. Today I hit 100. I want to give back to this amazing community so I decided to do this part two about Trinidad, Cuba.
All the photos in this post are original and many of them have never been published before. All my photos are available for licensing, please contact me through my Website.
Hello. Cool photo. I love it.
Thank you mate!
Oh my god
You wrote too long in one posting.
Scroll down. . . several times .
lol
thank you for your pics
When I came up with the idea of this post I had the plan to post 5, maybe 10 photos but then I just could not decides which ones to choose. I hope your mouse wheel is still alive haha! Thank you very much for your support!
lol yeah me too i scrolled down a lot
I've been to Cuba too last year and I have the feeling Cuba is changing fast. Me and my girlfriend are used to travel in Asia and South America and we always try to connect with locals and find our own way but in Cuba this was not easy. We always had the feeling we never saw the real Cubans and that they saw tourists like a walking ATM.
We managed to change some CUC in Pesos but in most places they just refused our money and demanded CUC so the price was x25 higher. We tried to eat local in small restaurants away from tourist centers but they all have a 2nd price card with 'tourist prices'. After a while we started to get tired to avoid being scammed every time.
My cousin traveled to Cuba in 2015 and again this year and visited some of the same places and he said the country was totally different. When I was there in September 2016, there were again direct flights from the US and American tourists were flooding in. Locals adapt very fast and visiting Cuba is loosing it charm.
Oh really? This sounds kind of bad, I am probably lucky that I have been to Cuba in 2015, but I plan on visiting again. But even in 2015 the problem in Cuba was that scamming tourists for a few Dollars can earn a Cuban a lot more money than working in a government job; if they just manage to make one Dollar a day it already is a decent income and since most tourists don't mind one Dollar they probably make a lot more than that. The "bad Cubans" were mostly the obvious scammers approaching me in English at the tourist places.
Do you speak Spanish? I was lucky enough to have learned Spanish at school and I found that even most Cubans who speak English will only see you as a tourist and therefore as a walking Dollar-Sign when you talk to them in English. Speaking Spanish, I got to know many amazing people and almost none of them were trying to earn money with me.
Yes, my girlfriend speaks almost fluent Spanish after doing an internship in Ecuador. She's used the live between the locals over there and expected to find hey way in Cuba
I've seen my cousin (who also speaks fluent Spanish) yesterday on Christmas and he confirmed the enormous change the country made the last 2 years. Especially the west of the country changed. Places like Vinales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Havana have been flooded with tourists. In the east you still can find some of the original atmosphere and cheap prices you mention above.
Ok, seems like there have been massive changes, what a shame..
I went to Vinales for a few days in the end of my trip to Cuba and since the small village almost had more tourists than locals it was impossible to find cheap street food there. But still, the people from the casa where I was staying at were amazing and invited my to the neighborhood dinner.
When I was visiting in 2015, in Havana, Trinidad and the other cities there was a very small touristy core where all the scammers and tourist-priced government places were, just two blocks away from that people were asking me if I was lost haha, it seems like most tourist only ever visit the tourist centre.
Santiago was quite different from the rest of Cuba but it certainly is an amazing place, I had the most amazing lemonade of my life there and visited an ice cream place where I met some great people, but it turned out that they had many different ice cream cups like Tutti Frutti on the menu, but actually the only difference between them were the number of cones and waffles you would get since they only had one kind of ice cream :D
I was so shocked to hear that a hurricane destroyed the small east coast town of Baracoa last year, I have met so many great people there..
Oh I know! So sad about Baracoa! I didn't get to go there, but one of my best friends knows TONS of people there and is just so upset about it. Breaks my heart...Cuba already has it hard enough
@pieter87 I hope you see this. I'm new to Steemit so I'm just now seeing this post, but that's so interesting that you said you feel Cuba is changing.
I haven't been there since 2012, so that makes me VERY curious about in what ways it's changing, because when I was there, I actually made friends with lots of locals!
I'm just like you and your girlfriend...I always try to connect with locals. What a shame you had a hard time in Cuba connecting. I wonder if they're less friendly now because of more American tourists?
I was always afraid of Cuba changing once direct flights from the US were allowed again...which is why I made it one of my goals to go before they were allowed. I was scared the whole time that something bad was going to happen to me for doing it, though haha.
I'm such a rule follower, that's like the one rule I've ever deliberately broken.
I discussed this with my cousin during Christmas. He's been there 2 year ago and again last year.
He said especially the more touristy places like Havana, Trinidad, Vinales,... are changing fast. Locals see lots of tourist coming and going and see that they can make easy money. For many of them, the tourist are walking ATM's. And especially with the Americans coming who have the habbit of giving big tips and don't complain when they get an excessieve restaurant bill.
He said they less touristy East still has the original Cuban vibe he liked during his first visit. The people are less greedy and more honest.
The photos are vivid and colorful. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for reading :)
Incredible post. Cuba is really worth to visit.
Totally, Cuba is an amazing place to visit!
Wow, that's a hell of a post, and you deserve every penny you earned. Very nice! When I started I did a couple post that rivaled something like this. It blew up for like 60 dollars, not 190 like here! But I was all excited, I then did another post of the same quality.......$3.50, and it took me all afternoon to put together. I was bummed out. One time I copied and pasted a like to another website about somethng in Ecuador. Took me 5 minutes, blew up for 70 dollars! I learned to find a middle ground and build connections like you have with me. You can see how my post all earna similar amount with votes from the same people mostly works for me!
I bet this post took you some time. I hope you have better luck than me if you keep pumping out this quality work. You'll breeze past me in no time if this becomes a norm for you. Congratulations!
I was very lucky to have this post supported up by @curie. I put about 6 hours of work into it, not including the time I needed for editing the photos in the first place. It would really not pay off to spend so much time for a 2$ post that is viewed by 10 people. Since @curie won't support me for every post I make (if for any other than this one!) I also have to think about doing post that take less time to create, but still offer a certain amount of quality; Your Real Life Captured series seems like a great way to do this. Building up a base of regular readers and upvoters like you have is also my goal and your support is a great start!
Exactly. That was my issue. Several months ago, now I do some post on occasion that take several hours and they usually pay me more too. Getting started is the absolute hardest part. I played around with a lot strategies, then came to a conclusion of about 3-6 paragraphs with 10-20 photos, and several different numbered themes. It has really worked well for me. Feel free to take do a similar thing of your own if you feel that is right for you. My average post takes about 30 minutes to an hour to put together from start to finish now. The absolute worst was doing a a 4 hour post for 37 cents. That happened to me more than once, several months ago.
This sounds like a great plan. I have already published two posts about Cuba, so I might just name the third post Two faces of a city #3. Numbered themes also seem like a great way to bring consistency into the Blog and attract regular readers. Thanks for the tip!
You are welcome. Also I've found no need to blast out too much material at once, break one big post into two or three and get paid twice or tripple for the same amount of time spent. Also expands your visibility on the platform, and increased your chances that one of them could go a little viral. Just my opinion, some will argue against that. Saying do one super post like you did here and you'll get paid more....in this very case, that philosophy would be right. So it's you're call and something to consider.
I am about to finish my next post about Cuba and it has 13 photos and about 1.300 words. Also, the post is pretty much about New Year's Eve, so it might not work to publish a second part at a later date.
Would you still recommend splitting it into two posts?
So I decided to publish the full post now, I just hope I didn't just waste New Year on a post worth only a few cents in the end! Well, at least it is shorter than this post about Trinidad..
Since I have started my theme Two Faces of a City with a lot of information and photos on my first two posts, I will keep doing this for this theme, but I will try splitting my next post in two parts anyways.
Also, I will soon be starting with other numbered themes that will take less time to create.
Excellent job Julian! What an elaborated and well-composed travel post :) We didnt make it to Trinidad when in Cuba but now, after reading this post and watching all those stunning photos (the streets look incredible!), I feel like I was there too :) Thank you for sharing. I wish many people will read and upvote it because it took a good deal of hard work to put it together like this. Glad my vote is currently worth at least 4 cents :D Keep it up my friend.
Thank you my friend! It took me about 6 hours to create this post, but today I woke up to see that it now is at over 182$, that is more than I dreamed of, what an amazing Christmas present from this awesome community! It seems like high quality content really pays off on Steemit.
I replied to you on the chat ;)
Ho Ho Ho! Hier kommt Dein 100-prozentiger Weihnachtsupvote! Danke für Deine Teilnahme an der Weihnachtsaktion. Frohe Weihnachten wünscht @eikejanssen.
Source
Danke dir und Frohe Weihnachten!
Danke!
It is a good post, but there are actually some inaccuracies in it, as cuban i can tell
......
.
.
.
Thank you for your comment! I was in Cuba two years ago, so not all the information are up to date. I have also mentioned that my information are mostly derived from conversations I had during my stay in Cuba and may not be 100% accurate. I did some research online and from what I found things still seem to be the same. Maybe my friend @phortun can confirm this?
I literally laughed when this post opened up and I saw the top photo is the EXACT same picture my friend took a few months ago. It's definitely a super artistic shot... you both have a good eye.
This post is goals. Seriously.
I went to Cuba almost 6 years ago, when it was technically not legal at all for Americans to go. I was too scared to take pictures of my trip, because I didn't want to have evidence of having done something wrong.
I only have maybe 3 pictures from Cuba that other people tagged me in.
Seeing this makes me want to go back SO badly to capture it all on film.
It's such a beautiful country. Did you also think the streets of Havana were filled with life? Curious about your Havana impressions. I assume that's where you flew into?
Following and upvoted.
Thanks for your nice comment!
Wow, how did you make it into the country with an American passport? Was entering the country only prohibited by the US government and not by the Cuban government?
I loved Havanna! I could have spent my entire time in Cuba just roaming the streets of this amazing city. The streets are really filled with life, probably the good side of having little internet and TV. I was watching some Cuban guys playing chess next to the street and they invited me to play a match with them. Also, I loved the cheap street food! I also did a post about Havanna while ago.
Good point...I never thought of lack of access to internet as a reason that everyone hangs out still. Makes sense. Honestly I think it's a happier life that way.
I felt the same about Havana, although I did sense a little sadness from some people on the Malecon. Some of them seemed to be drinking to forget something painful or difficult in their life.
But other than that, yeah...I had an amazing time in Havana and loved it. I'll have to look for your Havana post.
I probably shouldn't be saying this, but oh well...I paid everything in cash, switched planes in Mexico, told Cuba not to stamp my passport...actually, the story gets pretty funny, maybe I should write a post about it here.
Nice pictures and beautiful city. I wish to visit this city in future.
Beautiful Photography you have an amazing eye.
Thank you
Thank you!
Your Welcome
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @jpphotography to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
World of Photography Beta V1.0
>Learn more here<
Thank you for participating in #streetphotography, the weekly selection will be released on Saturday.
You have earned 6.00 XP for sharing your photo!
Daily photos: 1/2
Daily comments: 0/5
Multiplier: 1.20
Server time: 03:39:52
Total XP: 851.57/1600.00
Total Photos: 42
Total comments: 16
Total contest wins: 19
Follow: @photocontests
Join the Discord channel: click!
Play and win SBD: @fairlotto
Developed and sponsored by: @juliank
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=jpphotography
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=trinidad-cuba-two-faces-of-a-city-a-photo-documentary
Want to have your post on the map too?
Add the following inside your post:
!steemitworldmap xxx lat yyy long description d3scr
(replace xxx and yyy with latitude and longitude)
Your Post Has Been Featured on @Resteemable!
Feature any Steemit post using resteemit.com!
How It Works:
1. Take Any Steemit URL
2. Erase
https://3. Type
reGet Featured Instantly – Featured Posts are voted every 2.4hrs
Join the Curation Team Here
This post has received a 0.48 % upvote from @buildawhale thanks to: @jpphotography. Send at least 1 SBD to @buildawhale with a post link in the memo field for a portion of the next vote.
To support our daily curation initiative, please vote on my owner, @themarkymark, as a Steem Witness
wow keep up the good work just love reading your content
Thank you, glad you liked it :)
Congratulations, your post received one of the top 10 most powerful upvotes in the last 12 hours. You received an upvote from @hendrikdegrote valued at 138.10 SBD, based on the pending payout at the time the data was extracted.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, reply with the word "stop".
Congratulations @jpphotography, this post is the most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a User account holder (accounts that hold between 0.1 and 1.0 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by User account holders during this period was 2469 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $4886.51. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.
"If your goal is to replace the dollar, I think you're kind of missing the point. What's so revolutionary about what we're doing isn't that we're making a "better dollar" it's that we're monetizing entirely new things."
Wow. In three lines you changed my view on cryptocurrencies. Amazing statement.
I know your a fan of thinking from first principles, just wanted to say you do it really well.
@jpphotography I love this post. Thank you for sharing and all the work that’s gone into this. Absolutely stunning photographs
Thank you! It was a lot of work indeed, but I am very happy to see my work getting so many positive reactions :) Merry Christmas!
Definitely keep it up, you are suberbly talented. Merry Christmas 🎄
Great and even greater photos!!! Welcome to steemit.com you will love this site and get great advice from others here. Keep the post coming!
I already love this site! I have always wanted to start a blog, but starting a blog on an own website takes a lot of time and hard work until the blog has at least some relevance. Here at Steemit there are already great people reading my posts and I get paid generously for my work which is great. Social media is dead, long live social media!
I've never travelled to Cuba, however, have read many books about the area and it's history. I really enjoyed your photo essay and will now go and view Part 1, thanks.
Thanks, enjoy part 1!
Thanks Dear....Good Job.
I hope to get something better ahead.
Thanks! Good luck, high quality posts are always welcome here on Steemit :)
Thank you very much
Amaizing
Hi @jpphotography I really like to see pictures of your travel documentation. Thank you for sharing. I'm waiting for your next trip.
Thank you! I still have some photos from my past travels that I want to share.
Wow, amazing, I'm looking forward to those photos you share @jpphotography
It is good that more and more people are convinced that despite everything that has happened in Cuba for years, it is still a great country that has managed to overcome the economic and political crises and move forward. All this is due to its people.
Yeah, it is quite interesting how they have managed to build up tourism as their major source of foreign currency income, but here still are a lot of problems in Cuba, some caused by the US embargo, but most by the socialist economy that doesn't work so well..
Good Photo bro
Thanks!
Beautiful - thanks for the awesome post!
Glad you liked it, thanks for reading!
Great post man! These food prices integrated me the most, pizzas are really cheap :) Also, I would really apprecdiate if you could check out my work I do photography too ;)
Yeah, the prices for food are quite unbelievable.. Did you know that you can even get some homebrew beer for 1 peso (0.04 USD) per 250ml cup? #
I checked out your blog btw, cool photos, I decided to follow you :)
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in: http://www.urdunewtrend.com/
Great article Julian! Really well writen article with outstanding photography of course😃. Thanks for the inside information and it's too bad that I was in cuba over 15 years ago. Maybe I have to go through some printed images and check out if they are worth showing.
Nice little reward you received for your article! Merry christmas🎄🎅🏻!
Thank you! Wow, I bet 15 years ago Cuba was totally different, your trip must have been an amazing experience. I would love to see some of your photos from Cuba back then! Merry Christmas :)
I haven't read a more detailed blog in my life! What's even better that it is peppered with such amazing pictures! Makes my resolve to visit Cuba even stronger. This blog is a gem. Thanks a ton!
Thank you very much :)
Dear @jpphotography
it was nice experienced visiting cuba. here in philippines there are a lot of cuba. In fact in my house inside the cuba there is a source of water. We get a water there for almost 25 years. you really have fun in your travel.
this is your friend
https://steemit.com/travel/@sorenkierkegaard/my-church-travel-to-south-cebu-oslob-philippines
Heya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in our Daily Travel Digest!
I want to give a small disclaimer that I did not upvote this post as I think it has a substantial reward already. Which is not to say this is not an AMAZING post. I really love what you're doing with the photo documentary posts and I am definitely looking forward to the next one!
Cool, thanks! I agree, some other people (including me on my next photo documentary haha) need your upvote more than I do with this post.
This. Is. Amazing. Content.
Wow. I'm in Mexico at the moment and will probably head to Cuba in February. I really appreciate the information, and your photography is top quality as well. It's given me a lot of inspiration for my own work.
I'm very new to Steemit, and I'm here to share my story of travelling from India to Germany without using a plane. I'd really appreciate it if you checked my blog out, and maybe gave me an upvote and a follow if you like my content. Like you said, I'll be more motivated to produce great content if I have more followers!
Thank you! I checked out your posts, amazing content mate, I wish you good luck on Steemit! I am excited for your next posts.
Your posts really deserve more upvotes, I am also quite new on Steemit and this is my first post that has managed to make it to the trending page.
Over the past weeks I have learned some tricks about Steemit, here are some tips for you to get you started: You can use originalworks (just comment @originalworks below your post) and resteemit (replace https://steemit... with resteemit... in your post url, but don't enter you password unless you want to donate!) for a start, both are free to use bots. Also, use @steemitworldmap to mark your posts on the map, you might even be featured in their daily travel digests and get upvoted by them.
Also think about joining @qurator, the 2 Steem you need to pay will quickly be returned in upvotes and your content will certainly qualify as high quality! When you put a lot of time into creating a post, think about paying an upvote bot to get your post a head start (check out the steemit bot tracker!). Promoting posts is basically free since the money you pay will be returned to you in upvotes; some people promote low quality content which is bad.. Some bots like @buildawhale manually curate and select some high quality posts to get upvoted. Good luck!
Thank you so much for this amazing advice! I have started using originalworks and steemitworldmap because I saw you using them. I will definitely join @qurator once I get my payout from my intro post. I didn't know about resteemit but I will do that too, and I will look at @buildawhale now as well.
I know I have the content to be successful on Steemit, now I just need the audience!
Happy to help :)
Incredible, I still have doubts about internet access, I would like to know if surfing the internet is fast, I would like to go for 3 months to Cuba to visit. Greetings.
Haha no, Cuba has among the slowest internet in the world. Also I doubt they give out tourist visa for 3 months..
Really very good post...
Thanks!
Thanks for the excellent photo diary of Trinidad. About 10 years ago, I spent a few days there, and your photos capture the essence of the city very well. The quiet cobblestone streets, the old cars and the slow horses, the beautiful architecture, the quaint streets.
Thanks for reminding me.
Thank you, happy to have brought back some memories :)
Well written article @jpphotography. I am urged to visit Cuba sooner than later in hopes of experiencing the 'real Cuba' before it's westernized. Thanks for the insight and informative write up :)
Steem on!
jh3n :)
Glad you enjoyed my post! When I visited Cuba 2 years ago, the "real Cuba" was just around the corner from the tourist places, but this seems to be changing now..
waww very good job and good photos. ı'm following you and waiting new posts.