Crossing the WaterIn the summer of 2000, two award winning photographers, Claire Garoutte and Anneke Wambaugh, were researching Afro Cuban religious practices in Santiago de Cuba, a city on the southeastern coast of Cuba. A chance encounter led them to the home of Santiago Castaeda Vera, a priest practitioner of Santera, Palo Monte, and Espiritismo, a Cuban version of nineteenth century European Spiritism. Out of that initial meeting, a unique collaboration developed.