All my life, I’ve heard stories about Cuba. I listened to the reminiscences of my Abuelo, who left Spain for Cuba on his way to the United States in 1920. At every family gathering, I heard tales of family members I would never meet, trapped by life’s circumstances after the revolution ended in 1959. In the early 1990s, my Abuelo made five trips to see his brother, taking clothes and medicine. He told me it was as if time stood still and that he avoided any political discourse since many of the younger generation were proud communists, never knowing another way of life.

As a Miami-area resident for the past 48 years, I feel very connected to Cuban friends and neighbors. Many Cuban descendants refuse to visit the island, others with Spanish or Latin American backgrounds (like my mother) stay away on principle, not wishing to appear to support the government. It’s complicated and emotional.

I always wanted to go and see things for myself, and finally had the chance. Indeed, it was as if time stopped. Unfortunately, so did any upkeep, restoration, or improvements.

First, let me say, I loved the trip. It was a “people-to-people” cultural mission. These trips support the people of Cuba as opposed to the government. Americans cannot identify as “tourists,” and we are not allowed to officially stay in the fancy, nicer government-owned hotels.

Our hotel A/C worked at about 10% capacity, but we were just happy to have any; Cuba has had major power outages for the past six months. Most days, we did experience rolling outages in places we visited. Basic wi-fi was only available at the hotel, but again, we were very lucky to have power along with hot water, and the minimal A/C, certainly more than most people living in Cuba. Any visitor needs to know you can’t flush toilet paper here – not anywhere we went. But we were prepared for that too.  Americans can’t use credit cards, but our US dollars (paid out to individuals) are very welcome.

The trip was intense, and never intended to be a luxury vacation; it was an experience. These “missions” allow Americans to visit, but we are on a preset agenda and don’t have much time on our own. I am not naïve enough to think we saw enough of the difficulty of life facing most Cubans today. Our Tauck tour director, Xavier, and local guide Edel did a terrific job showing us the culture and putting things in context. I think visitors have to be open to understanding what they are and aren’t seeing.

Havana was our base, and much of our time was spent learning about Cuban art, architecture, and history, as well as visiting local musicians and dancers. Our meals were at “paladares”, which are private restaurants run by enterprising Cubans (now legal), often out of their homes. I found the Cuban people welcoming, helpful, and happy to see us.

We also visited the beautiful countryside around the town of Viñales, but more on that later. My posts about this trip will be organized into categories like architecture, music & dance, paladares, etc. I hope you will follow along.

As my good friend and travel partner, Sarah, said, Cuba is “so close, yet so far away.”