January 23, 2001
On the highway, Ecuador

Finally in possesion of Baby Blue again and released from two days of administrative Purgatory in Guayaquil, it is a pleasure to be on the road in South America! It has a slightly different texture than Central America. A little more primitive and exotic! I feel much further away from home.

Along this stretch of highway, between the two largest cities in Ecuador, the pavement has a secondary purpose. It is where to farmers spread their cacao beans to dry in the sun.
I stopped to photograph some of the future Hershey Bars and was invited to find out more about cacao from a woman in her sixties. Her family lives on the highway in a house that serves as a billboard for local politicians.

She indulged my interest in local agriculture and before I knew it her family and friends were fetching every manner of fruit from nearby bushes and trees.

Caimito

When I finally said goodbye to my new foreign friends, I left with a bag and a belly full of fruits I never knew existed.

Carambola

Mame, Zapote & Tagua

 

And hey, next time you’re savoring a Snickers Bar try not to think about hot pavement with diesel trucks thundering by!

January 22, 2001
Havana, Cuba
 
Panama to Ecuador Via Havana

Unbeknownst to many people, you cannot drive from Central America to South America, in spite of the so-called Pan-American Highway. The highway is still not completed through what is known as the Darien Gap, between Panama and Columbia. Dense jungle and at the moment, political considerations, prompted me to ship Baby Blue to Ecuador, bypassing Columbia. She was tucked, not so carefully into a container then on board a freighter. 
  
HOW DOES HAVANA FIT INTO THE PICTURE? Enough geography, onto airline economics! A one-way ticket from Panama to Ecuador costs almost as much as a ticket from Panama to Havana and on to Ecuador! 

The other motivating factor involved was my Cuban Goddaughters’ birthday coinciding with the time period that Baby Blue was to be in transit. The perfect excuse for a little Havana holiday and a visit with my adopted foreign family and friends.

I had been unable to reach my friends prior to my arrival, so our greeting was quite the surprise. One of the saddest parts of my adventure is having to say goodbye to new friends. It was a delight to be saying hello again for a change!

I loved watching everyone in the family dance around in the new shirts I had brought them. I also brought a stack of teen magazines tor the girls and found that they were a big hit with the adults. They crave any information from outside Fidels’ propaganda machine, even about Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

They are starved for many consumer items, including cars and cigarette lighters. Out of necessity, they have refined the arts of re-cycling and re-use beyond even the extreme American eco-freak.

Cuban politics and culture fascinate me and if you and I had a couple of hours and a bottle of Havana Club, I would certainly get into it with you!

I must have put in fifty miles walking the streets of Havana. You could tack on another twenty miles if you converted dancing into mileage. I was a great excuse for them to party as well!

January 15, 2001
Panama City, Panama

I own and drive my own bus and tengo estilo (I have style!). My last day in Panama City (and country) was packed with last minute arrangements, errands and good-byes.

In between, I grabbed my final opportunity to get some photos of something that had fascinated me since my arrival, the public buses.

There are colorful buses in other Central American countries but Panama gets the prize! Many are driver-owner-operated. They take pride in their machines and put their names and personalities on them! The airbrushed decor ranges from religious to racy to downright rude!

The back of the bus is often a rolling, smoke belching frame for a portrait. Anything from a family member to a favorite rock-star or pop-culture icon.

I was running through traffic trying to get the perfect shot of Monica Lewinsky when a cop on a bicycle flagged me down. A citation for poor taste in portraits? A shakedown for some quick cash? No, a genuine concern for my welfare and that of my camera! I was pleasantly surprised to get a personal escort into a safer neighborhood four blocks away.