1. What is your first name: Michael
2. What city are you from: Trinidad
3. What country are you from: Cuba
4. What do you do: Security Guard for a restaurant
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Toronto because I want to work there.  I hear you can make good money and would like to go and send some back to my family.
6. What’s your dream and why: To travel the world by plane and see everything I can.

FOGG Notes: He was standing by the front door of a restaurant that we were about to go into and I quickly reached for my notepad to see if I could do an interview.  I hadn’t interviewed anybody yet while in Trinidad and he seemed friendly with a very welcoming smile (even if I didn’t capture it).  The interviews in Havana so far hadn’t been to hard to get but I quickly realized that anywhere else would be for Cuba.  At first he didn’t understand what I was asking or wanting but after a few minutes of explaining that all I wanted was a few questions and a picture he finally agreed.  Think it was more because he was hoping we’d come into the restaurant and spend money versus he really cared about someone interviewing him.

All the answers were very short and I had to be careful about giving him examples of an answer to the questions we were asking, henceforth why his dream was to fly around the world by plane (which I really doubt is his dream).  I used that as an example and he basically said “Yeah thats what I want to do.”  I’m not saying people in Cuba don’t have dreams of their own but I think not many people have ever asked them what theirs is.  I was happy to get this interview but was sad I didn’t really get to know his true thoughts on the subjects.  Time is really the true factor in any personal interaction, as in the more time you spend with someone the more you will know of them.

More ano viejo masks from Ecuador’s New Years celebration.  So far I have shown you the political leaders, the dummies they have mounted on to the ladyboys who own the streets that night.  These are what I call the fun viejo masks, from the scary, to the famous to the fun ones.  As I have stated before, Michael Jackson was the clear winner this year but there were many others represented.  I personally liked the Hulk viejo mask below as it just made me want to pour gas on it and burn it.  I mean who doesn’t want to kick the crap out of the Hulk?

To read and see more photos about New Years in Ecuador, click below:

Photos: Viejos & Masks in Ecuador For New Years (Part II)

Photos: Viejos & Masks in Ecuador For New Years

What I Did For New Years: Part V

What I Did For New Years: Part IV

What I Did For New Years: Part III

What I Did For New Years: Part II

What I Did For New Years

I started playing with another new technique that I have been neglecting for a long time.  Making panoramic isn’t that hard but does take a conscious thought when out shooting.  I mean your not going to be able to get back to your house and when post-editing you find a great picture thinking “wow that would make a great panoramic photo!”  Won’t work like that and you have to have the idea in your head before starting to shoot if you want good pano-shots.

So to mix things up, I’m going to try and post one panoramic shot per week now.  We’ll see if I can stick with it but a friend turned me onto a good program for stitching photos together, called ArcSoft Panorama Maker 5 Pro.  I don’t like all the features of it but it is easy to use and has a free striped down trail version (and free is always good!).

Still need help with people to fill out my survey about this site.  It takes 2min, I won’t ask for any personal information and you don’t have to register.  So help me out and click here.

Best part about mask hunting for New Years in Ecuador is looking at all the politician masks for the viejos.  No one is safe from it and some are really good in detail, others not so much.  Never did find a good viejo mask of President Obama but seen some pretty sweet ones of, Fidel Castro, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, Venezuela’s President Chavez and Bolivia’s President Juan Evo Morales.  These were the big ones but there was also a ton of local politicians as well that I have to clue who they were.

Still though, Michael Jackson was the main viejo that I seen on New Years but Hugo Chavez took second place over all.  I was trying to find as many American presidents viejo masks as I could because if I found four of them I was going to go Point Blank of some banco (bank) here in Ecuador.  RIP Patrick Swayze!  

President Obama and former US President George W. Bush.  Pretty much whenever I asked for an Obama mask they would just grab a mask that was black and say “Si, Obama!”  I was actually surprised that I didn’t see more of the George Bush mask.  Ecuadorians love their politics and aren’t afraid to speak out against anything they view objectionable to.  Even with President Obama in office now I figured Ecuadorians would be down for still be pissed at George W. Bush but I guess they have moved on.    

Hugo Chavez (left) is the president of Venezuela that is trying to convert it to full communism like Cuba.  Rafael Correa Delgado (right), Ecuador’s current president, was out on New Years as well but he was always overshadowed by Chavez because most Ecuadorians think he is a lapdog to him.  If you seen a viejo of him it would normally be of a full size viejo of Chavez then a small viejo of Rafael Correa on the side (see picture below).

A view of the badly damaged presidential palace - the center portion formerly 3 stories tall - after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

As I’m sure everyone has heard, Haiti has been rocked with a 7+ earthquake.  The country literally was leveled in just a few seconds with an estimated 45,000-50,000 already dead and a forecast of up to 100,000+ in total.  No one knows for sure the exact damage and death tool but looking at the picture above (the presidential palace) you get an idea of what kind of serious infrastructure damage has been done.  If the presidents house got leveled you can imagine what a locals home looks like now.

If anyone would like to help, the Matador Travel community has a post about what you can do to assist.  To visually understand the damange of Haiti, see Boston.com website with 47 large format photos.  Help spread the word, as any and all help will make a big difference to the people affected by this unfortunate incident.

A view of a damaged neighborhood in the Canape-Vert area on January 13, 2010, after an earthquake the day before in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Mask for the viejo's. They cost about $2 each and are hand made.

Just walking around the markets the day before New Years Eve is almost as much fun as the celebration that night.  Some of the mask are pretty damn good but others not so much (as Obama didn’t look like Obama at all).  Normally what you do is pick out a viejo (dummy) and go buy a mask for it.  Some people make their viejo to represent themselves, while others make their veijo to represent something.  Mostly politicians are up for grab most easily because people are always emotional such subject.  If you see a viejo of a politician it normally means that the person who made it are mad at the policies of that politician for the year and will write what they hope the politician will do for the coming year.

Most people will buy the mask, which cost anywhere from $2-$5 or even a full size head that can go for $20 a piece.  If you never got to shop for a dummy it’s wicked fun… especially since you know in a couple days you get to torch the crap out of it.  I’ll be posting more photos this week of the different mask I seen.  Some are super funny and some are actually really accurate.

Viejos for sale. A large one like this will go for about $20 USD.