In all I spent 10 wondrous days in Havana that first trip. I returned for the month of November and enrolled in a Spanish class at Havana University. At the end of the month I returned to Green Bay and less than two weeks later I returned - for what I thought was going to be a one week stay - to document the St. Lazarus procession. I extended my stay to photograph the International Jazz Festival; then extended it again to photograph Christmas. By this time the travel agent and I were on a first name basis so he wasn't surprised when I changed my ticket one more time so I could drive across the country to Santiago de Cuba to photograph Fidel celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Revolution. This was my first trip out of Havana and I found the country stunning. In March of 1999, I returned to photograph the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban National baseball team. On the plane I met Grammy award winning musician Ry Cooder, who played on and produced the CD "The Buena Vista Social Club." Then, at the baseball game, I met Woody Harrelson. He asked me how the trees in Wisconsin were doing.

In 2000, I returned three times: in February and March I photographed the tobacco workers in the fields of Pinar del Rio in western Cuba. In May, I returned and took the passenger train from Havana to Las Tunas and photographed sugar cane workers; and in July and August, I photographed Carnival in Santiago de Cuba.

In all I've spent about six months in Cuba and I realize that I still have a ways to go so please view this as a work in progress.