My Cuban Experience
When I was a boy I asked my mom why we didn't keep in touch with our relatives in Cuba. She gave me one of those answers that, from time to time, we all give to children hoping to send them away. I did go away. But then in 1989, the same question kept popping into my head.
Soon after, I started researching and then traveling into communist Cuba in search of my long-lost relatives. From that very emotional first trip I decided to return so I could record the struggles of this misunderstood people and the complexity of the relationship between the Cuban and the US governments.
Today, over fifty trips later, Cuba continues to write a new chapter in my photography career as well as in my personal life. In many ways, much has changed in Cuba since that very first trip back when I was basically the only tourist walking down the streets, or traveling across the island with a back pack and cameras over my shoulders.
I remember those long bread lines right after the Russians left the island. Or the days when having a single US dollar was a crime against Socialism and was something that could get you sent to jail for several years.
Other things remain the same today, like the beat of the drums, the tones of entrancing music as the sound of folks dancing salsa on the streets reaches your ears from two blocks away. Music is contagious and I embraced the voice of Benny Moré and other new names while I searched for the mambo of Orestes "Cachao" Lopez and the electrifying voice of the "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz but sadly couldn't find them in their own homeland since every Cuban exiled artist, due to the Revolution, was erased from the books.
Just like its music, but much rare those earlier years after the arrival of the "Periodo Especial", was the tantalizing aroma of a Cuban dinner making your mouth water until you exclaim, "I've got to have it."
Most of all, there is that unbroken Cuban spirit that, like a dependable old '57 Chevy on the streets of Havana, keeps in touch with the past while never failing to reach its destination. To everyone, let me share with you a small piece of the beautiful and vibrant Cuba!
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