Wires, wires and more wires

It's hard not to be impressed at the number of wires around this entryway. And it's hard to believe it all works. What I am curious about is what happens when something needs to be fixed. This is from Habana Vieja, Cuba.

A Drawing for Inktober

Here's the horse that graciously allowed me to ride her on an excursion to see a waterfall near Trinidad, Cuba. This is a drawing for Inktober, a challenge to draw an ink picture everyday in October and then post online to share. Adding other media is okay. There are daily prompts to follow or not. I chose to work from travel pictures. Right now I'm working from my Cuba photos.

Hurricane Irma in Havana, Cuba - the day after

I was in Havana, Cuba when Hurricane Irma hit. Actually, I was in Camagüey on Thursday morning, 08 Sep trying to get a ride northwest to Havana before the hurricane hit. I was fortunate enough to be able to hire a car to make the 6 hour drive that day, and while on the drive heard about the effects of Irma in Camagüey as it hit there. Power and water were out pretty quickly and a lot was knocked over. Weirdly, the drive north ahead of the storm was sunny and beautiful. 

Getting to Havana was a relief because it meant I was that much closer to the airport and being able to leave when my flight was scheduled the following Wednesday. If I had still been in Camagüey, it would have taken much longer to get up to Havana with the storm damage and disruptions to travel and services.

The hurricane hit Havana Friday night, 09 Sep. It wasn't too bad mainly because the eye of the hurricane wasn't anywhere close to Havana; it was out at sea. However, during the night there was still a lot of damage that occurred because of the wind and rain. A couple of times during the night I heard loud shrieking and then crashes on the street below of things that had come off buildings and fallen down. Scary! The visually beautiful urban decay of Havana, is actually dangerous. Many people walk in the center of the road when they can to avoid falling bits of masonry.

There was a lot of flooding the next day, and a major amount of tree debris, and trees down. There was also a fair bit of building masonry on the ground. Power was out. Fortunately, Havana Vieja, where I was staying, was only without power for 24 hours. There was still water. 

For me, I was very lucky with my experience of Hurricane Irma. It was more like a winter storm in the American northeast where everyone comes out the next day to see what happened overnight and there are lots of neighbors talking to one another or to various people walking by. People, Cubans and tourists, were out recording the damage and effects with their cameras. Everyone was chatting and talking about their experiences. I was just in a small fortunate slice of the aftermath of Irma. After I got home, I saw pictures from other areas in Havana which were severely flooded and without power for days. I was lucky. In fact the only real disruption I had, was that the Havana airport was closed until the day I was scheduled to leave. That day they only began to accept flights into Cuba. I had to reschedule my flight out and was able to do it online (Yay! Online is not also easy in Cuba) and got the first flight of my carrier out the next morning. I was delayed 16 hours. That was nothing given a category 5 hurricane had just passed over the island.

Fallen building masonry in the street.

Smashed out stained glass decorative window in Plaza Vieja

Storm surge and massive waves at the Havana port entry and at the Castillo Morro.

Some small portion of the tree and leaf debris on the ground the morning after.

Some of the flooding from Havana Bay into the streets next to it.

People viewing and recording the flooding.

More tree damage from the storm.

One of the four statues atop the Gran Teatro de Havana knocked horizontal from the storm. The others were all still vertical. Later the day, a crew was out taking down the bent over statue. There was an enormous crowd of people out watching and taking pictures of the process.

More storm damage in another park. This one is Parque Central.

A Fruit Seller

Fruit and vegetables are often sold in Havana off of bicycle carts similar to these. The sellers seem to have their regular spots as well. On different days and on different trips, I would spot the same people in the same spots. The fruit here looked gorgeous!

Una Bolsa de las Piñas - A Bag of Pineapples

A pineapple is good and a bag of pineapples is better, especially if there is fresh juice being made with them. The only problem is the needing to carry them up four or five flights of stairs daily. This is part of daily life in Havana, Cuba.

A Wonderful Building in Plaza Vieja in Habana Vieja, Cuba

I was taking refuge from the rain and started to draw this building, Edificio Gómez Vila, across the square. I started but even though it is very regular, I kept messing up the proportions. I saved what I had and continued working on it after I got back home. There is a camera obscura on the top floor which gives 360 degree views of the city of Havana. Regularly on the corner by the planters, there was an ice cream vendor, and someone selling coconuts.

A Spread from a Travel Sketchbook

This is the finished spread from a travel sketchbook that I'm working my way through from a 2014 trip to the Boston area, and then on to Europe. Every day from the trip gets its own spread and I wrote notes on sticky notes to remind myself of what I did those days. Somedays I was able to get in a sketch onsite from some part of the day's activities. I do rely heavily on my photographs from the day. I also like to include maps whenever I can and will also draw tickets or passes or receipts to add to the day's events. This particular day was spent in walking around the neighborhood I grew up in, enjoying all the old houses and going to my elementary school. It was also farm share day, so it was a trip out to the farm to pick up the week's bounty for my mom.