Diaries

Without Cap or Gown

After my thesis was approved, I began to become concerned with the issue of dress. Few Cubans have a suit or tie. This type of clothing is very not very functional on the island due to the heat here. In addition, it’s quite expensive.

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Havana’s New Chinese Merchants

Nonetheless, there’s something I’m not able to understand: If China is the fourth largest world economy, why is it that this nation is unable to guarantee conditions for its students in Cuba that prevent some of them from having to become street peddlers?

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Women’s World Softball Championships

While the planet is being turned upside down by the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, in another southern region —that of the Americas— another world championship is taking place. This competition is in the discipline that was eliminated as a sport for the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro games: softball. (34 photos)

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An Older Woman on the Streets of Havana

Either things are moving too fast or I move so slowly that I can’t keep up. Over the last few months I haven’t been in the capital much; instead, I’ve been roaming and combing backcountry roads, observing and talking with women and men of the forest.

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What to Do with the Mind

I know very decent people who, with the best aims and intentions, work arduously at stopping their own minds and those of their friends. Some have already passed the limit of no return, or so it seems.

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Carnavalling in Havana

Earlier this week, I discovered the dance company Carnavaleando de Alexis Matos, located on the corner of Jovellar and N Streets in Vedado. Salsa music can be heard blasting through the windows of this studio just about any day of the week. (11 photos)

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Clothes for Looking Good

Ever since the beginning of my adventure in demanding construction materials for the repair of the “gingerbread houses” in my neighborhood, I haven’t stopped asking myself a certain question.

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Stingrays, Killing Them or Not?

With my camera in hand, I approached the group of women and men on the dock. In all my life I’ve only seen one stingray or devil ray, however you might call it, nor had I ever seen such as massive quantity of marine life of any species. (15 photos)

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Let’s NOT Clone Lazaro Exposito

Like Lazaro, ordinary people battle against everything that is poorly done. However, in Cuba there is this insane system of double command: a popular one (which is accountable to the people) and a party-based one (which is accountable to the Party’s secretary-general).

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Respect for Life

Saving a life, be it a plant or an animal, is always one’s duty. That’s why when I discovered a gray chick, curled up between a sidewalk and a wall (both gray), coming to its assistance was like an order for me.

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