Anthony Bourdain, a world renowned chef and food critic—and as far as I know a happily married man—took me on a date to Los Amigos, a paladar that offers comida típica on the corner of M and 19th street. It was a breezy Friday night, and yet the paladar was hardly half-full. I was […]
The roof
There’s a building across the street from our house on Calle 13, and from the roof you can see everything. Sometimes my friends and I, on temperate afternoons or after rainstorms, sneak up in the elevator. We climb a rusty old latter to the very top of the building where the lightning rod is, silently […]
Teeth
Teeth are a manifestation and signifier of class: the ability to which you are able to care for and maintain your chompers. Physically, one of the most interesting differences I have seen between Cubans and Americans is their teeth. When I was two I fell in the tub and took a big chip out of […]
little idea
I have an idea. But first, a little backstory: Since the ‘60s, Cuba had been supported materially by the Soviet Union. The USSR acted as a surrogate mother for Cuba, subsidising things, buying exclusively Cuban sugar and tobacco, and importing things at a dramatically lower cost to Cuba. So essentially, Cuba’s relationship with the USSR […]
a lil drama
“I have some really bad news from home that I should tell you about” are words you never want to hear. Somehow the fact that I found out at a rest stop in the outskirts of Cienfuegos made it worse, because there’s nothing I could do about it, couldn’t contact my friends and find out […]