A military guard observes from a watch tower at the Combinado del Este prison during a media tour in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Cuban authorities led foreign journalists through the maximum security prison, the largest in the Caribbean country that houses 3,000 prisoners. Cuba says they have 200 prisons across the country, including five that are maximum security. (Photo by Franklin Reyes/AP Photo)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

A brown capuchin monkey holds a fruit in the Botanic Garden of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 5, 2013. (Photo by Pablo Porciuncula/AFP Photo)

“Hiding In The Shadows”. This Baby Sandhill taking refuge under Moms wings while sitting on her second egg. I witnessed this baby being born earlier that day,and the next morning saw the other one hatch,what a sight to see. Photo location: Deland, Florida. (Photo and caption by Scott Helfrich/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros of Yamaha team in an accident during the fifith stage of the Rally Dakar 2016 between Jujuy, Argentina, and Uyuni, Bolivia, 07 January 2016. (Photo by Felipe Trueba/EPA)

Female porters carry a holy woman belonging to the Jain community through a street to collect food from local residents living in nearby areas, during early morning in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad December 19, 2014. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

An Indian woman wrapped in a shawl travels with others on a bullock cart on a cold day at Jhansi district, in Bundelkhand, India, Monday, December 29, 2014. Most parts of north India Monday continued to shiver under biting cold with the mercury dipping several notches. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A frozen public bench is seen next to a lake side due to the heavy wind conditions in Geneva February 8, 2015. (Photo by Pierre Albouy/Reuters)