Cuba Street Photography

 

Havana, Cuba is among the best locales for destination travel photography if you enjoy photographing people.  They are genuine, and very willing to share their life story.  Typically it is an interesting story,  well worth the time it takes to get to know the person-perhaps in his or her own language if possible.  For me it may take 20-30 minutes before I even mention photography by asking their permission.  The woman this post features was very willing to speak about her family.  I visited her two or three times during my visit to Habana.  One word of caution:  As a couple of Cuban photographers warned me:  "Be leery of the "dudes."

The Captured by Scott Zesch: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Frontier

"The Captured" 

Barnes & Noble Overview:

On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comaches, he thrived in the rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years in a cave, all but forgotten by his family. 

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historians rigor and a novelists eye, Zesch's The Captured paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.

"A carefully written, well-researched contribution to Western history — and to a promising new genre: the anthropology of the stolen." - Kirkus Reviews

Zozobra- Burning away your troubles and gloom

In the Life in New Mexico Section B of   Albuquerque Sunday Journal, Elaine Briseño summarizes the long standing tradition of burning "Old Man Gloom."  This annual festival needs to be added to many unusual festivals such as the massive tomato fight that Spain puts on, or the Punkin Chunkin festival where Delaware determines who can catapult a pumpkin the most distance.  Of course the Pamplona running of the bulls could also be included, but that one is quite serious. While Nathan's hot dog eating contest in Coney Island has long since become big business.

In  New Mexico the zozobra (meaning doom and gloom or anxiety in Spanish) festival began in 1924 when a Santa Fe artist William Shuster first burned his large zozobra paper mâché puppet to protest fees being charged for the festival described below.  The idea came to him after a visit with the Yaqui indians in México, the latter setting their paper mâché Judas statue ablaze.  Long before 1924 Santa Fe folks annually celebrated annually the Fiestas of Santa Fe commemorating the 1692 reoccupation of Santa Fe.

On September 4, 2020 the Kiwanis of Albuquerque will host the event again this year.  It will be an on-line only event this year.  The Newbie Guide to the festival can be found here.

https://burnzozobra.com/first-timers-guide-zozobra/

Radio Martí

Radio Martí-La Tremenda Corte

Con domicilio en Miami, Radio/TV Martí pertenece al gobierno federal de Los Estados Unidos, y es la voz de los cubanos no castristas.  Por eso, no es necesariamente una voz neutral, a pesar de haber ganado premios por reportaje.  

Sin embargo, el post hoy está dedicado a un programa de Radio Martí que se llama La Tremenda Corte.  Para las que tengan Sirius Radio (sintonice Sirius canal 153), el programa ocurre dos veces por día.   La Tremenda Corte es una comedia resolviendo varias demandas no razonables con humor.  El juez casi siempre está perdiendo los estribos tratando con los acusados, abogados, imponiendo las multas, etc.  Lleno de las carambolas involuntarias, el ardid dura mas or menos diez minutos.

Desde que Sirius Radio acabó transmitiendo CNN en español,  Radio Martí es el único Sirius canal transmitiendo en español que yo puedo sintonizar.  Si unas seguidoras sepan otro, favor de comentar abajo.

Radio Martí transmita  asuntos o materia de Cuba incluyendo entrevistas con las familias de los presos politicos;  conversaciones sobre sanidad, temas históricas y mas.  Es un buen canal para escuchar el español dado que es difícil mantener un nivel del idioma durante el crisis  COVID 19.

Radio Martí también esta transmitiendo por la Television.  Tanto la radio como la  television son destacado here:

Radio y Television Martí 

José Martí is considered the " Apostle of Cuban Independence" for his role in Cuban separation from Spain in the 19th century.  He was a writer, philosopher and intellectual who unified the South Florida Cuban community to rally around independence.  He is the man Radio Martí is named after.

His biography is linked here:José Martí biography

Anuncios/advertising/nada de valor

Over the last few years I have taken photos of various posters, street stuff, etc.  It has absolutely zero value, unless you find a bit of humor herein.  All are self explanatory, except the license plate, which illustrates an india ink history of infractions so that as the notations increase it costs more to get you plate back from the Mexican police.

CUY : Its whats for dinner (AKA Guinea Pig)

CUY: Its whats for dinner

In some countries guinea pigs are kept as pets, known in Spanish as mascotas. Not so in Andean South America where they are dinner.  Several years ago we joined an Overseas Adventure Tour of Perú.  On the tour agenda was dinner in a very basic private home near Ollantaytambo in the Andes, where you guessed it,  only one main course available.  Inside the home there were many guinea pigs roaming freely underfoot. One poor soul was selected and the woman of the house adroitly and quickly dispatched said cuy and then demonstrated how to prepare the main course.  

Step one was to shave the fur off the squirrel sized creature (think Gillette), followed by removing the inner parts,  and then preparing the cuy for cooking over a wood fired stove.  I watched my fellow travelers facial expressions as dinner was served and remembered being in Japan and watching face colors change when live jumbo prawns were placed in front of friends.  In the case of cuy all were able, to a greater or lesser degree, eat what was placed in front of them.

And how did it taste?  It reminded me growing up when we used to hunt and eat squirrel.  Not much meat, bony, and I wouldn't order cuy again no matter who prepared it!

As an aside, Perú is a top five destination for me.  It rates up there with Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana),  Scotland,  México, and a few others.

Zarzuela: A Spanish tradition

Zarzuela:  An old Spanish Export

One of the oldest art forms Zarzuelas are live lyric type opera, that also involves spoken dialog, and dance.  According to Wikipedia it began under King Philip IV of Spain with a new comedy by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The origin of the name isn't clear, however one theory says it stems from the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid, which contained many bramble bushes and had many live performances.  Thus they became known as Zarzuelas.  Spanish speakers will associate the word zarza (bramble) in Spanish, with blackberries known as zarzamora.  As Spanish culture flourished in the 17th and 18th and 19th centuries,  Zarzuelas became popular in Cuba, Philippines, México  and other places within Spanish influence.   El Paso TX as recently as 1996 was putting on Zarzuela festivals.  Today some think it is a dying art form.

I attended a Zarzuela performance at the National Zarzuela Theatre in Madrid several years ago.  With its humor and rapid fire dialogue/singing, I gained little understanding of what that particular zarzuela was all about.  Maybe it is like trying to read Don Quixote in old Spanish?