"Habaneros are very friendly, invite-you-into-their-homes friendly. At Orlando and Niurka's home, where we stayed for the week, you get a good night's sleep and better meals than in most restaurants. Plus, you're in the real Havana.
Dan Callis has plans for your photo trek. And those plans are flexible enough to adapt to your group. Above that he will improvise and find something new – just for you. Could be a dance troupe rehearsal, a Santeria ceremony, a special meal.
Mostly though, you're going to walk in a zig-zag with some secret destination ahead, but the pace is yours. Different directions every day. At magic hour, the last rich rays of the sun are leaving and the first street lights come on, we're out on the street again. In the evening editing photos on laptops, the work winds down.
I wouldn't be surprised if on the Friday of your week, when everyone's free to go their own way, Dan will offer to spend the day and evening with you. You might go out and buy cigars from a factory or Americanized hotel, coffee from Cafe O'Reilley Roastery and rum 7 years or older.
Dan is a teacher in a subtle way, a guide, a facilitator, a guy with a network of contacts in Havana, and sometime during the week, he becomes a friend."
Claude Paradis, Ottawa