Diaries – Page 6 – Havana Times

The End of a Dream

Dariel had his bags packed to leave Cuba when I met him. My mother warned me that starting a love story was doomed to failure. (12 photos)

Meivy works at the same supermarket where I work. She’s Cuban, like myself, but her situation makes my struggle seem like child’s play.

We wanted to bring her with us. We tried again and again, but we discovered that some goodbyes are not determined by how much we love…

I have always had mixed feelings about Cuba and it is worth clarifying that I am someone accustomed to living with that constant duality.

It is a system here in Cuba where the common greeting has become the pitiful, “At least we’re still breathing.”

A storm suddenly broke out, and I had to run to close everything up. But it’s hard to “close” a house when so many window shutters are missing

My friend Valentina waited for months before finally getting the call to have an MRI. At just 26, pain had already changed the way she lived.

“Driver, could you let me off at the next garbage dump?” The remark came with unexpected naturalness from a passenger.

On a corner at Infanta and San Lazaro in Havana stands a closed door that, for years, was meant to open many others.

Over time, I came to understand that leaving Cuba does not make us all the same. It simply places us on the same road.