Cuba

When we lived in Budapest, our landlords expressed their desire to vacation in Cuba. Really? Cuba? It was a place they always wanted to visit. Later, we sat together in the living room of our flat, looking at pictures of them enjoying the sights of Havana. My American mind thought, Why would someone want to take a vacation to Cuba, a communist country? They wanted to visit while Fidel Castro was still in power; before it changes. 

I met a 20-something young lady from Cuba who was serving at the cafe in the Florida hotel we stayed at prior to the short flight to Cuba. Like many others, her family left Cuba when she was a little girl. Her take on the Castro-rule? We see the face of Raúl, but we hear the voice of Fidel. Fidel, now 87 years old, handed over the dictatorship to his 82-year-old brother Raúl in 2008.

Cuba is hemmed in by the waters of the Atlantic, isolated by the U.S. embargo put into effect after the Revolution of '59, and trapped in a time warp. Think the 1950's. Anyone who has seen photos of Cuba—maybe National Geographic or Havana souvenir postcards— has seen the old American cars on the streets. It's hard to imagine the normalcy of this, but it's true. I gawked out the van window as we drove to the pastor's home in which we stayed. Old cars all over the place. A 1951 Chevy was parked in the pastor's driveway, a car passed down through the generations, kept running and maintained over the years. It's hard to believe that one can enter a very different world in only a 90-mile flight from Key West.

The people have been under communistic rule since 1959, almost my lifetime. Although I am refraining from any details concerning our visit, it was encouraging to see the church thrive in spite of the limitations placed on them. 

Taxis in Havanna

Typical Scene

Street Corner in Havana

Not unusual to see horses or horse-drawn wagons/carriages for transportation

Doors and Windows are intriguing to me :)