TRAVELS IN CUBA

TRAVELS IN CUBA -- Arriving in Cuba, Charlie feels almost like a time traveler. Instead of the resorts he's heard about, he finds strange incongruities -- Havana's grand Hotel Nacional sits next to buildings that seem to be crumbling before his very eyes. The streets are filled with empty storefronts and packs of wild dogs, but also music and flowers everywhere. There are many different kinds of walls -- from Havana's famous sea wall to the invisible ones that seem aimed at keeping tourists and locals apart. As he goes from one strange and marvelous escapade to another, Charlie finds that his expectations about a place and its people are overturned again and again.

With accessible language and humor, the story also raises deeper questions about the role of tourism, white privilege and socioeconomic diversity. And with the current travel restrictions, this may be an excellent time for readers to travel in their imagination