Diaries Archives - Page 522 of 647

Just for a Little Rice

While I was listening to my brother, I thought that he better not return to the central warehouse because one of these days he’s going to get himself in hot water.

Reviewing My First Year in Cuba

Recently I passed the one year mark of living in Cuba as a medical student. This anniversary, of sorts, was cause of more frustration and angst than celebration. I’m disappointed of how little I have learned about Cuba.

The Latest CD by Cuba’s Buena Fe

As a whole, these songs make up a critical collection with demands that demonstrate the commitment of these artists to people — especially to the youth of Cuba — in these days of momentous changes to the island’s economic and political model.

Fast and Furious

Today I want to illustrate an issue that has been widely discussed in the Cuban media: highway traffic accidents associated to the frequent use of private trucks.

Workshops that Don’t Fix Themselves

Thirty years ago the cultural life in Cuba was sustained by an institutional framework designed by the revolutionary government. This wasn’t perfect, but at least it worked at that time.

A Test for Dictatorship

If you want to know if a government is dictatorial, ask its representatives if there are or are not dissidents. If you get a negative answer, the more absolute it is the more it’s a symptom that things are pretty ugly.

Don’t Fret and Enjoy the Games

It’s sad to think that only because a certain team will not be in the playoffs, hundreds of thousands of Cubans want to hear nothing more about baseball.

A Red Ribbon to Protect Cars

In Cuba it’s a tradition to hang a red ribbon in your car to protect the vehicle. It’s said that this disperses negative energy; in other words, it can reduce the effects of the “evil eye”.

Coffee and Cooperatives

Though there aren’t too many things that we put in our mouths here on this island, and it’s a daily battle to find and buy food here, Cubans are always trying to get hold of the country’s most popular drink: coffee.

Cuba, Where Time Is Not Money

In Cuba every day ambles by marked more by stagnation and the lack of any seeming need for promptness. To waste time, sometimes out of simple apathy or because there’s no other alternative (which is usually the case), is the fate of Cubans.