I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Cuba in January 2016. The trip was amazing - stepping back in time to a city full of colorful cars with fins and hood ornaments, few cell phones, and beautiful, dilapidated buildings.
In 2011, Raul Castro was elected head of the Communist Party in Cuba. He introduced a series of reforms, including allowing certain private enterprises to exist outside of government control. We were there to document the food - what happens when private restaurants emerge in a country with limited access to fresh, quality food? How does it work with rationing? (Rationing was so severe when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990's that most Cubans lost a third of their body weight.) What are people eating now?
Throughout the trip I was struck by the ingenuity and resiliency of the people, and the sharp contrasts between Cuba and other countries I have visited in Central and South America. Nothing went as planned, but everyone we met was helpful, friendly, and making due. It is a country on the verge of an incredible transition and we were lucky to see it at this cusp of change.
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