Rome, 2006

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I stopped in Rome on the way, and coming back from, a trip to Ethiopia in January and February of 2006.

Rome is a city that is jam-packed with so many sights for the traveler that it can be overwhelming to contemplate. After all it holds well over two thousand years of history, art, and culture. It’s necessary to make up a list of what you most want to take in while in Rome because you won’t be able to see everything that’s worth seeing. Actually, just walking around some areas of the city can be very pleasurable because Italy is a country where art is appreciated to the point where it is on display everywhere not just in museums and galleries. Your camera will definitely get a work out in Rome.

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Cuba, 2003

Cuba stands apart from the rest of the world because of the American trade embargo. On America’s doorstep but shut off from formal contact with it, Cuba has been sheltered from the juggernaut of American corporatism. Of course that means that the country has also been spared from the jobs and investment money that goes along with that.

Given Cuba’s existence as one of the last Marxist states it’s easy to think of it in political terms before you visit. Once you get there however you forget all that and just enjoy yourself. I found the Cuban people to be very friendly and easy to like. All my interactions with them were pleasant and cordial.

It’s common in many poor countries for a certain subset of the populace to look upon tourists as easy marks to be conned or cajoled out of money. Cuba is almost entirely free of that. In my experience there no one expected to get hand outs from foreign visitors.

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Mexico City, 2003

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I spent several days in Mexico City In January of 2003 in order to break up a return flight from Cuba. I had been there for a few days in the summer of 1985 and was intrigued with it enough to want to return.

On my first trip I had stayed in an area known as the Zona Rosa. This time I found a good cheap hotel near the Zocalo, the main square of the city.

Mexico City is of course an enormous town but it has a very good subway system so getting from place to place is easy not to mention cheap. Actually Mexico City is inexpensive overall and offers great value to the traveler.

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London, 1997

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London Is Ghastly Expensive But A Place You Have To See At Least Once

London served as a gateway for my journey to North Africa in 1997. I had to go there before flying to Tangier, Morocco. After my trip to Morocco I had to return to London before going on to Tunisia.

I had been to London a few times before but I had not produced any noteworthy photos from those visits so there’s no need to cover those visits here. Truth is I was more interested in hitting a plentiful number of pubs on those previous trips than I was in taking photos.

In a city as often photographed as London it’s more of a challenge to take photos with any visual appeal. How many pictures of Big Ben does the world need? I decided the best way to approach this was to concentrate on close-up photography for the most part.

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Guatemala, 1992

Guatemala may be a relatively small country but it has a lot to offer visitors. It is a lush, verdant tropical country with plenty of gorgeous natural beauty, ancient Mayan ruins, and excellent cuisine.

Aside from Bolivia, Guatemala is the only country in the Americas that still is mostly populated by native people. Many of these indigenous people still wear traditional clothing and live much as their ancestors did. Ancient Mayan religious rites are incorporated into the Roman Catholicism of the Spanish conquerors and the Mayan language is still very much in every day use by the majority of the inhabitants.

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