A special Engagement Trip for Chiqui and Pepín
I first saw these old photographs after my brother found them in a box and decided to create a small collection for our parents’ wedding anniversary.
I first saw these old photographs after my brother found them in a box and decided to create a small collection for our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.
These photographs had been taken by my father years before, and they were quite lovely.
Seeing these images in large frames gave me a wonderful view of Cuba – not only of the historic city of Trinidad, but also of my parents on the island when they were young and in love.
Both of my parents grew up in Havana. I’m not sure how they met, but I do remember hearing that Chiqui and Pepín, as they were known to their families, had done something special to celebrate their wedding plans.
It was a with a little adventure traveling from Havana to Trinidad, Cuba.
On the back of several photographs my mother had written “Viaje de Compromiso”, or Engagement Trip, 1948.
The trip was a gift from my maternal grandparents who, of course, had to accompany Chiqui and Pepín. They would serve as tour guides and chauffeurs and, also, as the chaperons required for a respectable young lady.
At the time, my mother was only 19 years old and my father, 22.
Exciting 1940s roadtrip, and their first flight in an airplane
Since traveling from Havana to Trinidad by car in those days was a slow 10-hour journey, my grandparents decided that they would all fly, and then drive.
And for my parents this would be the first time either of them would travel in an airplane.
That was not surprising in 1940’s Cuba, since air travel was still a luxury and quite expensive. I imagine it made the experience of flying all the more special and exciting.
Traveling by airplane, however, did not mean that there would be no road trip.
Trinidad at the time didn’t have an airport, so the flight on Cubana Airlines would be from Havana to the small city of Camagüey. And from there it was another 4 hours by car to finally reach Trinidad.
It would be a long trip, but I’m sure my father didn’t mind the extra drive.
He was traveling with his camera, so the road trip was a chance to take even more photographs of the unfamiliar countryside and tropical views along the way.
With beautiful old photos, I got to travel with my parents through central Cuba
Growing up, our parents never shared with me and my brother the enchanting photographs my father took during their engagement trip.
In fact, we never heard much about their early lives in Cuba, before my father got a job offer and they moved to New York City in 1957, which was pre-revolution.
When my brother gave our parents those framed photographs of their Trinidad trip they must have told us a few details about that visit.
But at the time I was not yet focused on learning about my family in Havana, Cuba, and I didn’t even know to ask about the many places and countries my family had been before that.
Then my father past away, and my mother began to forget details.
If only I could ask them now about their impressions of traveling in their early years of love and photographs.
Never thought of my father as an artist, but his photographs of old Cuba are rather romantic
Sometime around the age of 22, my father bought himself a camera in Havana and started taking pictures.
He had previously studied some art and architecture in school, and the few sketches of his that survive show that he developed quite a skill for drawing.
He clearly also had a talent for photography.
My father, who ended up working in civil engineering for the Port Authority of NY and NJ, was known to be a practical man. He liked to build things “nice and square”, as he would say in his strong, Cuban accent. I can’t imagine anyone ever describing him as creative or romantic.
Yet as a young man, when life seemed easier and he was in love, my father took more time to frame the beauty around him.
My father certainly took a lot of pictures during their Viaje de Compromiso to Trinidad. Maybe he was just still excited about his new camera.
But I believe it was the stunning landscapes along the roads through central Cuba, as well as the enduring colonial architecture in Trinidad, that enticed my father to shoot such a wonderful variety of images.
Artful landscapes and photographs that captured moments in time
Surprisingly, my father had a wonderful eye for composition and for capturing a perspective that was intriguing.
Of the photographs he took during the visit to Trinidad, few are shots of people just standing in front of a landmark.
Instead, my father’s photos mostly frame grand vistas of the distant mountains and interesting views of the colonial buildings and plazas in the historic downtown.
Vintage views of Trinidad’s old town center
Trinidad is a historic city, one of the oldest in Cuba that was founded for the Spanish Empire. The settlement of Villa de la Santísima Trinidad, its original name, was established in 1514.
Amazingly, the city center has many old buildings, some centuries old, that are almost unchanged today. They are all still wonderful to photograph.
And these traditional homes, churches and public plazas are the same ones that my great-grandfather, and great-great grandparents, walked by in the early and mid-1800s.
In Trinidad’s historic downtown you can still experience the main church in the town center - the Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad - rebuilt in the 1870s. Beside it is the former palace of the Brunet family, constructed during the late 1700s.
And about a block away you can easily see the tall tower of the old monastery, or the Convento de San Francisco, finished in 1814.
And while I’ve never yet been to Trinidad, I think the most picturesque spot in the heart of the city is its town square, or Plaza Mayor.
This public space, re-constructed the 1850s, is charming and elegant. Its walkways cross between tall palm trees and leafy tropical plants, and the entire plaza is surrounded by a wrought iron fence and Spanish colonial buildings that feature shaded verandas and red-tiled roofs.
My father’s perfectly framed view of the Plaza Mayor from the balcony of the Palacio Brunet (not accessible today) is my favorite of his photographs from 1948.
Photographs reflecting the surrounding mountains in Valle de los Ingenios
A good place in downtown Trinidad to appreciate the city’s geographical location is up in the monastery’s bell tower, which is still open to visitors.
From there, looking out of each of the four tower archways, you get a 360-degree view of the extended parts of the city, as well as of the surrounding mountains and the valley known as Valle de los Ingenios, or the former Valley of the Sugar Mills.
Another important and historic landmark — not far from Trinidad — is the tower of the former Manaca-Iznaga sugar mill.
It’s an impressive site and much the same now as when my parents visited in the 1940s, although my father captured a photograph that made the watch tower seem more abandoned and haunting than those taken in recent years.
My father’s 1948 photographs of Trinidad captured older views of the Cuban colonial city
Photographs my father took with his camera in the 1940s offer views that are both similar and quite different from those taken today.
For instance, in the center of Trinidad, the Spanish colonial landmarks are very close to each other, so a good photographer can take striking images from a few key spots.
If you stroll near the main church and the former Brunet Palace (now the Museo Romático) that are in front of the Plaza Mayor, it’s possible to frame those two handsome buildings into one shot that will also include the monastery’s classic bell tower just a block away.
Photographs almost like the ones my father took over 75 years ago are easy to come across today online.
However, Trinidad has changed a bit since 1948.
The historic section — now a UNESCO World Heritage site — has been well-preserved by its residents. But beyond the downtown, new buildings have since been built and some older ones have disappeared.
My father captured one 18th century structure that is now gone.
While up in the bell tower downtown, my father had framed a view up the north hillside showing only a scattering of small buildings. And at the top of the hill you can see what was once a convent and hospital, first constructed in 1716.
This large white structure, referred to as La Popa, had been expanded through the 1800s and was already abandoned when my parent visited. However, today the site is a ruin, with only the front facade of the old chapel barely standing.
So wonderful to travel back to a Cuba in other times
These old photographs, rediscovered, are my new treasures.
Through them I see landscapes of Cuba as my parents did when they were only about 20 years old and just imagining their future together.
Even the photo prints themselves are special. Developed back in the 1940s, this batch of Trinidad images were mostly printed in half-tone, a process which makes each image appear through lighter and darker dots on paper.
And now with a sepia color blended into the old black and whites, these images seem warmer, softly textured and frozen in time.
To me, this collection is beautiful and meaningful, rich with both the history of previous generations and that of Cuba’s intriguing past.
