[Leica] Dancing through Havana --- Part 2 (long again!)

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Three hours later and some combined 20 rolls of Tri-X used, we bid LUGger, 
Hong-I Wu and his   Tango troupe farewell as they were heading to rehearsals 
and an afternoon performance. It was a nice way to start "shooting in Havana" 
and being born with two left feet (at least when it comes to dancing) I am 
deeply envious of the Tanguardia members' skills as dancers. Argentinean 
Tango is something to see, trust me!
 I set out on this trip with a "mission". For many years I have been using 
the M6's and benefited from the built in meter. Somehow I felt that I had 
lost the skill to pick exposures from experiences and stared to rely on 
electronics. This trip I only took along two M2's, a 35/2, a 50/2 DR and a 
90/2,8 Elmarit. All of these pieces were made before 1959 (well, the 90/2,8 
was a 1960 version, but I did not have one of earlier vintage) thus they 
predated Castro in power in Cuba. Tri-X existed already in 1959 and to keep 
it in the correct timeframe, all the film was processed in D76 1:1 for 10 
minutes. The conclusion from this experience, you screw up occasionally, but 
you also work faster - the diodes in the M6 slow you down and occasionally 
breaks the concentration.
 The next couple of days we roamed the city, taking pictures of Cubano's, old 
cars, old buildings, and whatever took our fancy. Walking along the Malacon, 
the old Seafront Avenue, watching the Cuban's hanging out. Drinking huge 
amounts of Cuban coffee (it can be used instead of those defibrillators that 
hospitals use). One cup of that coffee gets your heart going in the morning!
 Yes, there are lots of old American car's from the fifties, mainly used for 
taxi's and in the cases where the old V8 has died, it has been replaced with 
a 5 cylinder East-bloc diesel. It is somewhat disconcerting seeing a 1956 
Cadillac Coupe De Ville going by, emitting billowing clouds of diesel smoke 
and as for tires "bald is beautiful"! Suspensions are jacked up too, as the 
some of the potholes are big enough to have secondary potholes in them. 
 The economy of Cuba is interesting. There are two levels to it. The local 
Cuban makes an average of $ 15 a month and has a ration book. If he wants to 
buy eggs, bread, meat, cooking-oil etc for Cuban pesos, it is closely 
monitored and stamped. However, if he/she has access to US$ or the 
DollarPeso, those purchases can be made in the $-stores (where they have it 
in stock too!). Of course, you don't pay rent or taxes if you are a local and 
medic-care is free (and of very high quality) and any education is free. 
There is an axiom in biochemistry that applies to so called totalitarian 
regimes too. "Under the most closely guarded and monitored circumstances, the 
organism will do what it damned well pleases anyway." The Cubano's have 
invented multiple ways to supplement their income- you can buy Official 
Cigars at the government outlets, or you can buy black-market. "The Monte 
Christo A are not available as we cannot get the cover-leaf for them anymore" 
- - this was the Official line. Now, my black Market supplier's comment was "Of 
course I have Monte Christo A's - the government can't get the cover leafs, 
but that does not mean that I cant get them!". $100 bought me a box of 25 
Monte Christo A's, and as the seller is a friend, each cigar was checked by 
at least two other experts before they were deemed satisfactory. I gave the 
box to a friend as an early Christmas present - he was impressed!
 The unfortunate effect of this economic "duality" is also a raise in 
prostitution and you are propositioned quite often, but being Canadian's we 
always said "Non gracia" - after all, we Canadians are known to be 
exceedingly polite anyway!
 Chris had met Raoul Corrales on one of his earlier visits and brought me 
along to meet him. Next to Korda, Raoul is one of the icons of Cuban 
photography. He followed Fidel Castro through the Sierra Madres in 1959 and 
one of his shots of the horsemen in front of the Havana Fortress is used on 
the Cuban 10 peso note ($0.50 value). I do not know if there is a political 
angle here, but Korda's shot of Che is on the 3-peso coin!
  On Sunday's at noon there is the Rumba at Callejon. This is in a narrow 
lane, brightly decorated and packed to the rafters with locals and a 
sprinkling of tourists. It is a part of the Santori religion (somewhat 
related to Haiti's Voodoo, although a far more benign version). It is a 
3-hour performance and between the Tango on my first day and the Rumba on the 
last day, dancing seemed to be a leading thread on this trip. Again, my 
friend Chris had been there before and brought prints to give to the 
performers. This assured us ringside seating (me on the edge of a bathtub - 
now used as a planter and Chris got his own chair). The only piece of modern 
equipment in my arsenal was a Bessa-L and the 12/5,6. It was brought along 
for some more formal shots of old cars and for the Rumba. The close focus of 
this lens is 12" and occasionally I had to pull back into the foliage in the 
bathtub to get far enough away. This was Rumba up close and personal! Great 
music and talk about being right in there! Have you ever heard "Yesterday" 
played as Rumba, with two trumpets and drums. Best non-Beatles performance of 
that standard I have ever heard!  Monday it was back to the airport, back to 
Vancouver - leaving +30 C for cold and a light dusting of snow.  I shot about 
50 rolls in all.
 I like Cuba and the Cuban's - they are friendly and proud of their Island. 
They went through a very rough time in the early 90's when the USSR collapsed 
and their main source of income went. Now there is an optimism about the 
future, particularly as there is substantial investments being made by 
countries like Spain, Germany, UK, Japan and others, in building up the 
tourist trade. So, one channel on Cuba-Vision has an inordinate amount of 
Fidel stuff on it and the other has baseball (actually I found Fidel more 
interesting, he is a public speaker like few other). There is very little 
discussion about politics and when I asked if it was a dangerous subject, the 
Cuban's laughed and said, "No, not at all - it is just boring!". All right, I 
suspect that too loud dissent could be hazardous to your health. During the 
whole 7 days, I saw one cell-phone (I don't think it worked) and not a single 
laptop computer in a café or restaurant. Suddenly it makes you realize that 
the lack of these "modern conveniences", at least for a short time, is rather 
peaceful. Did I miss anything, yes! There seem to be a severe shortage of 
toilet-seats in Cuba, it is not a big deal but I can't really figure out why 
they are all gone!
 Travelling with an other photographer is also interesting. We have known 
each other for more than 13 years, so we knew that there where no major 
"discoveries" we would make. We are both avid walkers and averaged 6-7 miles 
a day on foot. Havana is quite compact and for longer forays, you use either 
the old taxi's or the Coco-Cab (a small yellow bubble on three wheels, driver 
up front, passengers slightly behind him, one on each side) - great shooting 
platform too, no windows to obstruct vision. We are also quite compatible 
when it comes to eating habits. Every two hours we stopped for coffee and 
Chris had discovered on one of his earlier trips, the only French Bakery in 
Cuba, so on occasion we partook of Croissants and Pain de Raisin.
 Will I go back. Yes, I hope so and this time take Tuulikki along and stay 
for a couple of weeks and maybe go outside Havana and see some other parts of 
the country. Not many Leica's around, apart from LUGger, Hong I-Wu with his 
M3, I only saw a M5 with a 50/1,4 in the hands of a Japanese tourist. In 
Korda's book "Diary of a Revolution", there is an interesting shot of Che 
with a Nikon S2 and a 50/1,1 in his hand. I will ask Korda about that the 
next time I go to Havana!
Hasta la Vista!
Tom A
 
Tom Abrahamsson
Vancouver, BC
Canada
www.rapidwinder.com