A reflection upon returning

Try as one might to extract or diminish the preconceptions built of movies and postcards, some ghost of them stubbornly persists to lift your expectations of an unexplored country.  Although I hate to admit it, the first time I arrived in Cuba, a part of me somehow expected everyone to be bronzed, beautiful, lithe, and industrious in some common focus to uplift the country and care for everyone… but really Cubans are very much like Americans, they’re human – encompassing all those both wonderful and disastrous traits that humans do.  Of course there are key differences, but mostly if you look for it, you will find it, beauty, obesity, health, indifference, diligence, nobility… if you want a glimpse into the Cuban life in Havana check out Suite Habana, utterly captivating.