“Creo que la belleza la encuentro en las personas que tienen la actitud de resistir y de darle una mano al otro. Creo que es algo que no hemos perdido totalmente. Ayudar. Esas ganas de ayudar al otro. El día que perdamos, if some day we lose this attitude, we are finished. We survive because of this attitude of helping other people.”
El pan durooo, El pan durooo!!
10 x 104 inches, 2024 work in progress
The 1978 Atlas de Cuba is the foundation for El pan Durooo, El pan Durooo!!! This new book captures the sounds of Cuban street vendors in El Vedador in a city straining at the seams because of COVID, few tourists and whatever else life hands the Cubans remaining on the island.
In February 2024 Jacqueline Hayden and I returned to Havana for the first time since January 2020. Oh, how things have changed these past 4 years, yet, not at all. We stayed with our dear friend on the western edge of El Vedado, the neighborhood we know so very well.
In 2020 the Cuban peso to the US dollar was 24 to 1. When we arrived the black-market exchange rate was 300 pesos to $1.00 and we left seeing 330 pesos/ $1. Everyone needs a small suitcase to carry their money.
It was so very wonderful to see friends, to relish in the sea breeze on the Malecón, and enjoy the Almendrones taxis with exhaust so thick one can chew. These all make Havana a magical place to visit.
We left Havana with very mixed emotions.