I recently returned from my first trip to Cuba, and it was an extraordinary journey that far exceeded my expectations. A group of friends and I spent seven days in Havana with a day-trip to the tobacco country of Pinar del Río province in western Cuba. Everywhere we went we felt welcome. We stayed in a private guesthouse, a casa particular, that was very comfortable with modern amenities and an attentive staff, and we took all our meals at privately owned restaurants called paladares. These arrangements, as well as the many activities we scheduled with providers from Cuba’s small private sector, were “in support of the Cuba people,” as required by the US government for American travelers who rely on the Treasury Department license that we did. We saw many sights that I heard about from the narrators in my just-published oral history book about Cuban exiles—the Prado, Havana’s main thoroughfare; La Cabaña fortress overlooking Havana Harbor; the Hotel Nacional; Havana Vieja, the restored colonial settlement; the Floridita, Hemingway’s favorite bar; Hemingway’s home on a hill overlooking the city; the Viñales Valley in western Cuba; and much more. Most of the city was as rundown and decrepit as you’ve heard, but you could see how glorious Havana must have been before the revolution. Signs of decay were everywhere. At the Havana airport a mob of Cubans was trying to enter the terminal so they could board a plane to Nicaragua and journey from there to the US, a reminder that Cuba’s economy is undergoing its worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union. But I’ll never forget the trip and am ready to return. #cuba #patriayvida
