I was walking down a street in Centro Habana when I ran into an open window from which Benny Moré’s voice came out with his “Lajas, mi rincón querido, pueblo donde yo nací” (Lajas, my dear spot, town where I was born). I stopped and I stayed close to the house to listen. I stood there until the end of the song. I continued with my camera in hand and, while photographing, the King of Rhythm’s voice sounded in my head like a ritornello.
A spot is a small and generally set aside space within a larger place; in a room, a house, or even outdoors. They are usually intimate areas, in which to find some privacy or tranquility. Metaphorically, it can be a personal refuge, a place full of significant memories; a starting point, a destination, and a return.
Returning to these spaces is a way to keep personal and collective history alive. While walking through the streets of a city that welcomed me for years, a series of images loaded with nuances are arrayed before my camera. Surely it was always like that; but the distance makes the gaze acquire some foreign, strange look; while still being close.
Cuba, and its people, are my dear spot. It will always be, as a lifesaver in the middle of the open sea. I treasure, under any circumstance and anywhere, the voices, looks, gestures, smells, sounds, flavors, and laughs of this corner of the world. When I again make contact with all that, my connection with the beloved spot is renewed with overwhelming force.
I have visited Cuba twice. Lovely island, lovely people.
My wife (esposa) and I spent six delightful winter vacations in Cuba. The last one pre-COVID was for three months living in a village with a Cuban family. If high cuisine is your greatest desire, then Cuba is not your preferred destination. However, the food is fresh and healthy, but do not drink the water coming through the pipes. Christmas until past the New Years is the period when everyone takes time off work. Stores and markets run out of food because the delivery system is also on vacation. Garbage pickup is spotty to non existent. The lack of ugly American Tourists is a treat as the official/unofficial embargo endures. But had the US and Cuban governments made nice, maybe we would not have Russian warships mooring there now. And maybe the destitute Cubans would not be sending sons to fight for the Ruzzians in the horrendous war against Ukraine. Cuban people are joyous, loving, kind and poor as church mice. Gifts of clothing, footwear and modern utensils and tools are welcome. We continue to speak highly of Cubans but not Government.