[darkpuppet]

just got back from my Cuba vacation...

Thought I'd share some pics... lots o' interesting cars... will add pics as I go along through them all (1400 to go...).









more to come...

[euro_zx5]

Welcome back Steve!

[darkpuppet]

[smith21]

hey steve, did you got a brief rundown on the car situation down there? My parents just got back from cuba and told me about their cars. One of their tour guides actually told them that the vehicles are passed down from parents to children but not till their like 25 or older or something along those lines, which is why there are so many older cars down there. Just a fact I'd see if you knew about...Btw, nice cars and I hope you had one hell of a vacation...

[meford4u]

Looks like you stayed in Veradero. Where did you stay at? How was the food? We stayed at the Los Americas and the food was actually good for the most part, even excellent at times.

Hope the two of you had a great time.

[darkpuppet]

smith21,Apr 7 2010, 08:51 PM Wrote:hey steve, did you got a brief rundown on the car situation down there? My parents just got back from cuba and told me about their cars. One of their tour guides actually told them that the vehicles are passed down from parents to children but not till their like 25 or older or something along those lines, which is why there are so many older cars down there. Just a fact I'd see if you knew about...Btw, nice cars and I hope you had one hell of a vacation...
[right][snapback]304753[/snapback][/right]

Yup.. people in Cuba don't get much money, and things like new cars are allocated by the government. So the majority of the cars come from when people could afford them (pre-revolution), or when the government allocated them a car (ie, soviet era ladas).

there are a lot of newer cars, including peugots and fiats... however, the vast majority of them are government-owned cars now (rentals, taxis, government etc).

So, with what little money people have, they maintain whatever car they or their parents/grandparents had. Most of the american cars are now running engines the cars never came with (ie, diesel). In most cases, parents keep the car until their kids can afford to maintain/run them, and then pass them on.

I've got a lot of great stories -- we met a lot of great people down there, and can't wait to get back...

Meford,

Yes, we stayed in Veradero -- the Breezes Veradero, a resort we particularily like, though many others seem to think it's not quite the happening place they're looking for.

Las Americas lost their beach in a storm the week we were there (along with another resort, only three down from us). They actually trucked in sand to re-beach the beach.

I find you don't go to Cuba for the food... but that being said, we've had pretty good luck -- the food at our resort was decent, with a couple of the a la cartes really standing out (the lunch we had in havana was AMAZING).

[paolo]

how many stars was the resourt? is this your first time in cuba? i noticed your vacation was quite the talk on FC.net, why is that?

[darkpuppet]

paolo,Apr 7 2010, 10:53 PM Wrote:how many stars was the resourt?  is this your first time in cuba?  i noticed your vacation was quite the talk on FC.net,  why is that?
[right][snapback]304763[/snapback][/right]

It was a four star resort.. our second stay (and only 3 more to go for a free week), and it never hurts to suck up to the admin once in a while.

[NikiterZTS]

looks good, i miss Cuba
i just came back from France (my second work trip there)...checked out Paris...tower, food, wine.....good stuff

[paolo]

I came back from a trip too, I just didn't bother posting about it.. cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too. :P

[2001 ZTS]

I just took a dump. I also know how big my large intestine is now.

[meford4u]

paolo,Apr 10 2010, 10:33 AM Wrote:I came back from a trip too,  I just didn't bother posting about it..  cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too.  :P
[right][snapback]304888[/snapback][/right]

We don't need to know when you go to Church and Wellesley. :o :fag:

[paolo]

meford4u,Apr 10 2010, 09:57 PM Wrote:We don't need to know when you go to Church and Wellesley. :o  :fag:
[right][snapback]304908[/snapback][/right]

We don't need to know when you go to the Mosque and Wellsley either

[darkpuppet]

paolo,Apr 10 2010, 11:33 AM Wrote:I came back from a trip too,  I just didn't bother posting about it..  cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too.  :P
[right][snapback]304888[/snapback][/right]

I sure hope I don't lose anyone's accounts when I migrate to the new site. <_<

[ZTWsquared]

darkpuppet,Apr 12 2010, 10:01 AM Wrote:

paolo,Apr 10 2010, 11:33 AM Wrote:I came back from a trip too,  I just didn't bother posting about it..  cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too.   :P
[right][snapback]304888[/snapback][/right]

I sure hope I don't lose anyone's accounts when I migrate to the new site. <_<
[right][snapback]304970[/snapback][/right]

Lose someone's account you might ... a real shame that would be.

[paolo]

darkpuppet,Apr 12 2010, 09:01 AM Wrote:

paolo,Apr 10 2010, 11:33 AM Wrote:I came back from a trip too,  I just didn't bother posting about it..  cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too.   :P
[right][snapback]304888[/snapback][/right]

I sure hope I don't lose anyone's accounts when I migrate to the new site. <_<
[right][snapback]304970[/snapback][/right]

No need to worry, I already checked my account is active and in working order on the new site already. If anything so happens to BrIan's site, let him know he's welcome to stir some ish at over65retirees.com he might wanna join them on bingo nights as well. :P

[paolo]

make sure to put a browser script checker. apparently somethings wrong with yours and other peoples browsers puppet, its nor parsing the smileys for some reason. :P

[NefCanuck]

ZTWsquared,Apr 12 2010, 09:30 AM Wrote:

darkpuppet,Apr 12 2010, 10:01 AM Wrote:

paolo,Apr 10 2010, 11:33 AM Wrote:I came back from a trip too,  I just didn't bother posting about it..  cus if I did, then I might as well post about when ever I take a dump, or what I'm currently having for lunch or when I'm visiting my dentist too.   :P
[right][snapback]304888[/snapback][/right]

I sure hope I don't lose anyone's accounts when I migrate to the new site. <_<
[right][snapback]304970[/snapback][/right]

Lose someone's account you might ... a real shame that would be.
[right][snapback]304974[/snapback][/right]

Keep it up Yoda :lol:

Do Or Do Not There Is No Try...

NefCanuck

[torradan]

Hey Steve, glad you enjoyed your trip!

Did you happen to get any more shots of the steam engine? I wouldn't mind seeing more of it, since a) I can't go to Cuba, and B) actually have zero desire to go there even if I could. Therefore, can't go and check it out on my own.

Some of those shots are amazing too. Did you shoot everything in raw format? Colors just pop right out, and some even look like HDR action going on.

[darkpuppet]

Hey Torradan,

Sorry, no more really good pics of the steam engines. I didn't know enough spanish to get past the guys working the yard.

As for the pics, they were all shot in RAW (I filled my 32GB card) I touched up maybe six of the pics to fix underexposure or white balance, and one was processed as a single image HDR (can you guess which one it is?).

Otherwise, I try to get by with as little post-processing as possible. Going equipped with a polarizing filter helps, and with some of the more sun (shadow)-filled pics, I bumped up the fill light where a linear filter would have been used (like I have time to keep swapping filters).