For some people happiness might be money and consumption.

For others it is to love and to be loved.

For someone else it could be success and prestige.

For you it may be your family.

For me happiness is traveling.

For the lady on the picture it is obviously smoking a cigar.

But why is it sometimes so hard to be happy even when we have everything we wanted?

Sometimes we reach for a big thing in our life and expect that to make us happy – like a new house or a new job.

So we have to see poorness or terrible things happening to get reminded of how happy we are already.

Sometimes we have to be reminded how small things can be happiness – like smoking a cigar.

This picture has been taken in Havana, Cuba.

I shot this musician last year in Madrid (Spain) in a park.

In generell the Spanish seem as if they knew how to enjoy life – they hang out in bars or restaurants all the time and have fun with their friends and family, some go for party every night.

It was December when I have been there and it was still quite warm and sunny so I was walking around the city, sitting outside in nice cafes and enjoy the Spanish lifestyle. But this is just one site of the truth.

Although most people there seem as if they do not have to worry about anything, there are also a lot of homeless people in the streets of Madrid. The men on the picture did not seem very happy and wealthy either.

Whenever you see pictures about Cuba you might see nice old cars, impressive colonial buildings or happy cubans dancing salsa and singing. Well all this can definitely be found on Cuba for sure, but if this is the only thing you see about the island you just know the half of the truth.

If you think about Cuba…

…you may imagine a lot of rum and cigars. But no one tells you that the rum is almost cheaper than water and how many alcoholics there may be.

…you may think that everyone drives a cool old-timer car. But you do not know that there are even more people that cannot afford any car and have to walk instead.

…you may believe that there are great old colonial buildings wherever you go. But if you leave this one street that is made up for tourists there are people living in ruins and poorly build houses.

..you may imagine the cubans as happy people that are dancing and singing all the time. But no one sees what is happening behind closed doors.

Julio Muñoz is a street photographer in Trinidad (Cuba). When I read about him in my guidebook I wanted to meet him as soon as we got there.

Whenever I travel I really love taking photos walking around foreign streets and places. Taking photos of local people during that is the most interesting thing.

Therefore I took some photography lessons with Mr. Muñoz and they were really helpful. He showed me how to combine different settings on my camera, how to create interesting composition s and strategies to get a good shot on the street.

After the workshop I took even more pictures than normal and I think this is one of my better photos. It shows some boys kidding around on the way back from school. I really like their uniforms and their facial expressions.

In Cuba education is free, even university. But when I talked to a local guy he said that education is not really worth anything, because many people do not get a job after graduating. And even if they get a job, they will not earn more than $ 20-40 a month.

Mr. Muñoz said that a photo is good when it tells a story – and I think this one does.

What do you think about this picture? I would be happy to hear your opinion about my photos in the comments!

Last week I just came back from my holiday in Cuba. I traveled around the island for three weeks with my sister.

This picture has been taken in the streets of the nice town Trinidad, which is in central Cuba right next to the southern coast. The houses there are much better kept than in other cities and there are a lot of nice bars and restaurants to hang out.

After being in South Africa where white and black people live separated from each other, this is completely different in Cuba. There is about 64% white people, 9% black and 37% mulattos and they seem to live quite peaceful together.

The man on the picture would be considered white and he is polishing shoes. In South Africa these kind of job would definitely be done by  a black person while in Cuba it just does not matter. You see mixed groups on the streets, mixed couples and families.

Furthermore there is not really any violence or crime in Cuba. The worst thing that could happen to you is probably that someone is stealing your bag because you look like a rich tourist (which can happen to you in any other place as well).

I guess the reason for all this is that there is no big difference between rich and poor people. Just everyone seems to be kind of poor due to the countries political and economical situation.

The isolation of the island could be another reason why cubans have no other choice just than accepting each other, because no one can hardly leave the country. This is also reflected in slogans like “nos une el barrio” (engl. our neighborhood unifies us) that can be found all over the place.

Next week I will publish another post about people in Cuba.

Last year I traveled from south to north Vietnam. One of my last stops there was Sapa a small town in the mountains. Sapa was way much too touristy but from there you can do hiking trips to smaller villages where the Hmong minority lives.

The woman on the picture was the guide of our small hiking group. All the way through green rice fields up to little villages she was talking about the Hmong and their life.

The Hmong are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. She told us that family is the most important thing and that every tribe there has a old wise person that gives advises. They mostly live in very small cottages with one room where everything is done: cooking, sleeping, living. So we went to her own house where we meet her children and her husband and cooked together. The family didn’t have a bathroom or toilets nor electricity. “The kitchen” is a hole in the ground where you can make a fire to cook.

But the food was actually really good, we had rice (of course) with cabbage and other vegetables.

The men are normally working on the rice fields to get food for their family. Cows and pigs are running around, as well as water buffalos. The women take care of the children and sew these  nice colorful clothes.

This hiking trips was one of my best experiences in south east asia and just another example that you do not luxury to be happy.