The Return To Cuba Thing

The year 1960 was a pivitol turning point in Cuban history.   In  July of that year all U.S. businesses and commercial property on the island were nationalized by the new Castro government.  And in December  Castro aligned himself and Cuba with the Soviet Union. It was also the last time I was in Cuba.

Unlike most of the harrowing stories one reads about Cuban refugees that come to this country, mine was somewhat uneventful.  I was four years old when I left Cuba  with my mother in 1955.  We flew “Cubana de Aviacion” from Havana into Idlewilde Airport (JFK) on a very cold November night.  My father, who had come several months before, met us and took us to our new home. My father had rented a room from a nice Puerto Rican lady who owned this  huge apartmment on Riverside Drive.

We eventually moved into our own apartment on 135th. Street (highlighted on the left.)  I remember that my parents worked very hard  and saved their money so that we could go back to Cuba each year.  At the beginning of each summer my mother would take me to Cuba so that I could spend time with my grandparents. My father would then come at the end of summer to bring me home.

I remember that there were a few mishapps on those trips.  For one thing my grandparents lived in a small town in Oriente Province, which was a good 12 hour bus ride from Havana.  On one of those trips the bus was involved in an accident in which I ended up losing my two top front teeth.  On another occasion on our plane ride down to Cuba our plane had to make an emergency landing in Miami because one of our engines had caught fire.

After 1960 relations between Cuba and the United States quickly disintegrated.  In April of the following year the botched invasion of the Bay Of Pigs occurred and then came the Cuban Missle Crisis in 1962.  My parents, like so many other Cubans in the US at the time, managed to return to Cuba to bring their families much needed necessaties, but I never returned.  As a matter of fact, I never saw my grandparents or other family members again.

Well this coming summer all that will change.  You see my daughter has always dreamed of visiting the land where her father came from. So last year we started thinking about actually making the trip.  Currently my daughter is attending graduate school at Ohio State and as it so happens, she applied for a study abroad grant in Cuba to study dance.  Since President Obama relaxed the travel restrictions to Cuba last April, we thought that this would be a perfect  opportunity for us to reconnect with our Cuban Thing.

After my father’s death I had rummaged through his personal items and came across the email address of a cousin of mine in Cuba.  This cousin is a retired doctor in Havana who apparently has the benefit of having computer access.  So I sent him an email telling him about our plan to visit Cuba this coming year.  He was ecstatic to hear from me and in the several emails that we have exchanged

The course that my daughter will be attending will last about a month.  During that time I plan to go into the interior of the country and visit the towns where my father and mother came from.  My cousin will accompany me on this journey and hopefully I will find some relatives and friends along the way.  It should prove to be quite an adventure.