Cuba – A Country That Doesn’t Quite Move Like the Rest of the World
Cuba is not the easiest country to understand.
Not because it’s complicated—but because it doesn’t behave the way you expect.
I started in the west. Green landscapes, quiet places, and a pace that felt comfortably slow.
Then came cities that couldn’t be more different.
Cienfuegos, structured and almost calm.
Trinidad, preserved to the point where it sometimes feels staged.
Santa Clara, more direct—less decoration, more intent.
Santiago, where history isn’t just something you read about.
Camagüey, where getting lost is part of the layout.
And Havana… somewhere in between it all.
What stays with me isn’t one place.
It’s the contrast.
Between order and improvisation.
Between what is maintained—and what is simply left.
Between how things should work, and how they actually do.
Cuba moves differently.
Things take time. Plans change. Solutions appear where you didn’t expect them.
And somehow, it still works.
Not perfectly. Not efficiently. But enough.
I’m not sure I understand Cuba any better now.
But I think I understand how to move through it.
And that might be the closest you get.
