How going to Cuba made me understand my Cuban family

When the topic of Cuba is brought up most people think communism, the Castros, Guantanamo Bay, and prime-time cigars that were banned from being brought into the US. When I think of Cuba I think of “ropa vieja” (a delicious shredded flank steak stew), and a loud/crazy family who aren’t afraid to discuss any subject. I repeat: any subject.

For a long time I didn’t understand the constant rowdiness. Was it a forced attitude or maybe just a chemical imbalance of the brain? Either way, throughout all of that rowdiness I was never bored with the topics discussed at family meals and events. However, there was one subject that was never really discussed at those meals: POLITICS.

Especially in the recent months, with Obama’s trip to Cuba, when someone figures out that I am of Cuban descent they almost always ask what does my family think about the different situations in Cuba right now. Now that I’m older, I’ve done some research and built my own opinion on the Cuban Revolution and the current changes going on in the country, but I never really understood why my family didn’t really talk about it until I finally went to Cuba in 2013.

One might ask, “What do you mean you don’t talk about the situation in Cuba? Isn’t that the reason why your family left?” My grandmother’s family left soon after The Cuban Revolution in the 1960s, so it is safe to say that she wasn’t a big fan of Fidel Castro and his new regime.

Picture to the Left: My aunt Dinorah sitting on the ledge with two friends. Picture to the Right: My grandmother Nelva as a young girl.

When I walked down the streets of Havana I knew for a fact that people could sniff out right away that I was foreign. Still, people would approach me constantly asking me questions mostly about what I liked to do for fun. People wanted to show me right away what the city had to offer.

“Have you been to Floridita?” (Famous bar)

“Do you like art? There’s a new pop-up museum that opened with new artists that you should see.”

“Did you go to the beach at Santa Maria yet? or Varadero, that one is the best.”

“Wanna dance?” (In the middle of the street when there’s no music playing)

Of course I took a tour or two, but I learned the most just by talking to random people. Who have no problem approaching you, so don’t freak out. Even the people on the streets will give you the lengthy history of Che Guevarra, and why they love or dislike Castro. Nonetheless, politics and the regime is not a hot topic in a Cuban conversation. This made me realize that people talk about politics recreationally a lot more in the US.

The way Cuba runs the country obviously affects the way their citizens live their day to day lives, and each person has to deal with that in their own way. Once I realized that most Cubans on the island are just happy to have a place to live and eat, and it doesn’t matter if they live to a certain standard then I started realizing that my family felt the same way just in the States. They would rather crack a joke about the guy who lives next door, than get into an argument over a political synopsis because every Cuban has a different opinion.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity that I had to go to Cuba, but I think we can all agree that it hit very close to home.

Uncle Pedro cruising outside of Havana