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Rosa Orbea and her niece Annalien Santander Orbea, who appeared in National Geographic Magazine´s article “Cuba’s Colonial Treasure,” October 1999. Photograph © KIKE CALVO.
For those of you who have been readers of National Geographic for years now, you may remember a beautiful and visually captivating article on Trinidad, Cuba, with images by David Alan Harvey, published 14 years ago.
In one of the photographs, Rosa Orbea was combing the hair of her niece, Annalien Santander Orbea. Annalien was wearing a crisp, bright white dress, and getting ready to celebrate her ¨quinces¨, a very meaningful celebration that occurs when a girl becomes a young lady, turning 15 years old.
As an expert for National Geographic Expeditions, I join our travelers in a search for unique places around the destination country. On this occasion, we went to visit the home of horse whisperer Julio Muñoz, who is none other than Rosa´s husband.
To say the least, luck was on my side when I found out the Annalien, now a mother, was visiting for a couple of days from Miami. As a photographer, I was thrilled by the opportunity, so I inquired the location of that white, now less sparkly, ¨quinceañera¨ dress. Sure enough, they found it.
Thanks to David for allowing me include his original photograph on my article. Photograph © David Alan Harvey
The room in which the photograph was taken years ago, is now being refurbished as part of the the family’s new project, a bed and breakfast. We sat together in the living room, a beautiful colonial space with high ceilings mosaic tiles. As we spoke about their appearance in National Geographic magazine and how that influenced their lives, I took some photographs to immortalize such a unique coincidence. These images of past and present display a perfect picture of change.
January 23, 9:31 am
