José, El Hombre de la Guitarra, "The Guitar Man." José was a sweet man who always entertained us with his guitar at his restaurant in the countryside near Trinidad de Cuba - it's a regular stop on our horseback ride. In 2020, my good friend Joleigh Rainwater, who had traveled to Cuba with me the year prior, brought him two sets of guitar strings and a copy of her photo "José's Hands", which received an award at the Alaska State Fair in 2019.
During the pandemic years when I was unable to visit Cuba, José tragically passed away after an accident while working on the roof of his restaurant. When I showed my photo of José to his son, Andy, he became very emotional and told me the story of losing his dad. I was able to email the image to a guest in the second group this year (2024) to be photo printed and put into a frame, as a gift to Andy. Here is my tribute to José, with contributions from our tour guests, and Joleigh.