Come to Cuba!
I enjoy nothing better than showing my home. About Cuba I know a great many nooks and crannies, I’ve toured it from one end to the other, few corners still have not resisted me. I can’t say I have a favorite place in Cuba. I’m moved by Cuba’s countryside, the healthy ingenuity of its people; I’m impressed with its colonial cities, full of impeccable harmony or disharmony; I adore the Cuban beaches, when I dive in them it’s like being at home. But when I close my eyes and think of Cuba there’s no uninhabited landscape, the people are always there.
That’s why I tell my friends: if you want to be alone, take in the sun, enjoy the summer, or isolate yourself in the tranquility of a very beautiful beach; don’t go to Cuba. We have all that, but it’s a waste to go to Cuba and not grasp its culture, or get acquainted with its people.
Cuba cannot be understood and I stopped trying to understand the Cubans, but it’s not necessary. You can go to Cuba and feel alive, enjoy and suffer; question yourself, surprise yourself. You can like it more or less, but you’re not leaving Cuba feeling indifferent, moved, a mark that you’ll have forever.
This magazine is the invitation I am making to my friends to visit my home. I will try to show you all of it. I like its lights and am not afraid of its shadows, I just want you to honestly get close to it, that you let go of all the masks you can and fully enjoy, suffer and live it.
Author
Tahimi Arboleya
