Views of the World, Morro Castle, Havana, Cuba

Well, it's been a week since my last post.  The fact is, I've been out backpacking.  In 1985, I soloed The Pacific Coast Trail, from the Mexican border to Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia.  Anyway, when I walked it, there were still some sections in southern California that hadn't been completed.  Thought I'd knock off one of those sections,  Walker Pass, to Kelso Creek Road.  In a nut shell, the first part, the mountainous part, was pretty easy.  It was after I dropped down into the Mojave Desert that things got unpleasant.  Hot, open, dusty, and worst of all, no shade.  Too, it doesn't help that I turned 60 in January.  So, I turned back early, and since I'm back, I might as well get back to one of the collections that I dribble out from time to time.

Okay, as I've noted before, I've owned this collection of postcards since I was in high school.  In an earlier post, I noted that Views of the World, sure as hell looked like Views of the United States.  As promised, the rest of the world....sort of.  Morro Castle is one of several forts built, by the Spanish, to defend Havana Harbor and Cuba.  It was completed in 1640.

So, is the (foolish, pointless) embargo of Cuba over?  Got me, I'm sure the Republican party will do their best to prevent Americans form flooding Cuba, spending Yankee greenbacks.  Now, as any regular visitor to The New Found Photography knows, I spent decades working in photo labs.  Let me tell you, the embargo, at least as far as tourism goes, didn't work.  I printed vacation photos from Cuba all the time.  Rich people, famous people, political people, from both the right and left.  Countries like Mexico and Canada didn't give a rat's behind about our tourism laws, and if an American wanted to visit Havana, a ticket could be bought in Toronto for a quick flight to the island.

Click on Views of the World in labels to the rest.

Key West, The Travelers Collection

This one's labeled "Key West, 1940."  My first visit to the Keys was forty years latter in late February of 1980.  At first, I thought it was heaven.  A month earlier I had been in a snow storm in western Pennsylvania.  But in Key West, the temperature was nice and warm and the Gulf waters were perfect for swimming.  I visited Ernest Hemingway's house, and met a woman who owned a book store who had been a friend of Jack Kerouac.  But then reality hit.  It only took a few days for me to realize that Key West life was pretty much hanging out and that was about it.  Most of the residents worked in the tourist trade, gift shops, motels, restaurants, and bars.  At night they went home or became bar patrons.  There was a lot of low level drunks and stoners.  Not exactly a tropical paradise.

Click on travelers collection in labels to bring up the lot.