Christopher Cloonan traveled to Havana as soon as the island’s José Martí International airport lifted COVID-19 travel restrictions. Photo credit: Christopher Cloonan

Disclaimer — As someone who works as a travel professional, university lecturer, and freelance journalist, all involving Cuba, I felt a personal, moral, professional, and humanitarian obligation to get down to the island as soon as physically possible.

This is not the case for most people, and I strongly urge you to avoid any unnecessary Havana COVID travel until there is a COVID-19 vaccine.

I was, seemingly, the only non-Cuban or Cuban-American on my flights. There were plenty of stares and even pointing at the oddity of seeing someone who looks like an American tourist traveling to Havana right now.

I flew through Miami, though if you’re coming from the Northeast I recommend the JetBlue flight from JFK. It’s direct and has free WiFi. 

Cubans are super serious about COVID-19. It is an immediately noticeable step up from the United States.

Have low expectations for airlines or airports to take COVID-19 seriously. At the airport State-side, mask wearing is hit-or-miss depending on the individual and there are zero attempts at social distancing. You must protect yourself.

During the flight, masks are mandatory and there is no food or beverage service.

Cubans are super serious about COVID-19. It is an immediately noticeable step up from the United States. You will be tested at the airport and quarantined in your casa until you get the results.

Information is evolving on requirements for tourists (non-residents), but the consensus seems to be that arriving passengers who go directly to a hotel or casa must await the negative result of the PCR test administered in the airport before leaving their isolation, which can take up to 72 hours. Arriving passengers who go directly to the community (their homes, or the homes of friends/family) must await the negative results of two PCR tests and are expected to self-isolate for 10 days from arrival.

DO NOT put your casa owner or anyone else at medical or legal risk. Follow the rules. For those returning to New York, you must get a negative COVID-19 test in Cuba within 3 days of your return flight. 

Photo credit: Christopher Cloonan

The medical professional who took my temperature was sitting in a Havana Club Rum chair, which put a smile on my face. It helped to break the tension in the air.

Related Post: What It’s Like in Havana During the Second COVID-19 Lockdown

Your taxi driver will wear a mask. Masks are mandatory and enforced by the police at all times in public.

There is a shortage of everything in Cuba, so your host will need adequate time to prepare for your stay. Also, request for them to escort you to your mandatory COVID-19 test on Day 5.

Be prepared to quarantine in Havana during the pandemic. This means having a discussion with your casa host ahead of time about having food provided for your first night and morning. (Keep in mind that Americans are prohibited from staying in Cuban hotels, so a stay at a casa particular is, at least in the waning days of the Trump Administration, mandatory).

Photo credit: Christopher Cloonan

There is a shortage of everything in Cuba, so your host will need adequate time to prepare for your stay. Also, request for them to escort you to your mandatory COVID-19 test at the local policlinica on Day 5. This is where either the ability to speak Spanish or your casa owner’s ability to translate is important.

Be safe, smart, masked, distanced, and prepared if you decide to go to Havana during the pandemic. 

(Note from El Equipo: Havana COVID travel policies are fluid and changing frequently. Please confer with a Cuba travel professional to best understand travel rules before you travel. The situation could be different than what’s presented in this article at the time it was published.)

Independent and unaffiliated, Startup Cuba exists to amplify the community of voices in the Latinx space throughout the US. Through a mix of video, photography and written content we tell stories that bring us closer together.

As chatter about making Puerto Rico the 51st state of the Union gets hot again, we want to know what you want. Do you think the island should be a state or remain an unincorporated territory?

A November 2020 referendum about statehood asked Puerto Ricans whether they support the island territory becoming a state or not. A majority said they do — 52.34%, to be exact. It was a simple yes or no question: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a state?”

Politicians are now claiming foul with Florida Democratic Rep. Darren Soto stating that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reversed his position after previously supporting a bill for statehood. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) and New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez are pushing their bill that urges “self-determination” for the island. And interested eyes are looking towards Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) as the senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — the first step in senate legislation for the issue. The irony is not lost, of course, that when Senator Murkowski was born, Alaska was a territory. Not a state.

While there’s plenty of deep divide to go around about Puerto Rico statehood, this isn’t new. Efforts for statehood have stalled before and look to be headed for the same fate once again. Will this time be different?

For our Question of the Week, we want to know what you want. Do you think Puerto Rico should be the 51st state of the United States of America or should it remain an unincorporated territory? (All responses are anonymous.)

The Puerto Rico statehood convo is heating up again. Where do you stand?

• 49.33% — Puerto Rico should be a state.
• 29.67% — I have no opinion.
• 24.00% — Puerto Rico should not be a state.

The results of the previous week‘s Question of the Week:

What Does Our Audience Want Biden’s Cuba Policy to Look Like?

• 10.69% — Keep Trump’s policies
• 66.67% — Rollback to the Obama era
• 9.43% — Find a spot in the middle
• 13.21% — Other

The sense of dining out at a restaurant can make these anything-but-normal times feel a bit normal. Do you do it?

Question of the Week: In an extremely complicated time it seems like any sense of normalcy is welcome. Restaurants and just the act of going out to eat with family and friends, as trivial as it may seem, is a way for us to feel normal. So, we’re wondering this week what you do.

Do you go to restaurants during the Coronavirus pandemic? Or not?

Watch Startup Cuba Video Replays here.

Thanks for requesting access to the full video from Steve’s photography class. This is an unedited cut from the Zoom class Photo: Steve Anchell

We’d like to express our gratitude to the co-hosts of this event, Greg Kahn and Karen Vierbuchen. Please give them a look and follow them on social media. Their work is exceptional. If you have feedback or input as to how we could improve replays of our online classes, please contact us.

Steve is a professional photographer, instructor and author. If you’d like to learn about any of the books he’s written, we’ve provided a link here on Amazon.

Watch our replay videos here on YouTube.

Here’s some new music released to the Cuban rock scene by this young Indie band riding the Indie Rock genre’s popularity surge. Ruido Blanco band members Marcos Wong, Ariel Cruz, Marcos J. González, Raul A. Nápoles Enríquez, Alejandro Brito. Photo: Daniel Rosete

In recent years, new and refreshing pioneers have entered the Cuban rock scene; bands with contemporary proposals and styles, in tune with the current times and voices of the island. The massive use of the Internet – quite new for Cubans – has enabled us to know international art’s most updated movements.  Indie Rock is one of the top genres that has seen an explosive surge, and one of the bands that have enjoyed a growing popularity in Cuba is, without a doubt, the young ensemble Ruido Blanco.

The band’s first steps date back to 2013, when love for music and the desire to create something of their own were enough reasons to bring together three of the current members and embark on the path that would lead them to what Ruido Blanco is today.

The lockdown time has also been very favorable to us despite it all; during this time, we did thorough research on the music sound we like to listen to, mainly Spanish Indie, which is our referent and, in some way, the foundation of our sound.

“The path of an artist is never easy; there have been great economic difficulties, hard times, resource scarcities”, Marcos J. Gonzalez, songwriter, singer and band leader tells us how “studies didn’t allow for much time and at the beginning we could only rehearse on weekends. Plus, the University didn’t pay”, which was why he had to drop out and fully devote himself to the band. Nevertheless, his major in Philosophy, and the knowledge he acquired while studying it, have served him to undertake a search for what he means to say through his songs in the clearest way.

The band has performed in prestigious local venues and has been invited to share the stage with more experienced and famous groups such as La Vieja Escuela, which put them on the map and made them known among those with a taste for more alternative music. But it was undoubtedly the Mis fantasmas (My Ghosts) video clip, directed by the young filmmaker Fernando Almeida, the one that filled all of us, who knew their work, with joy: the clip received six nominations at the Lucas Awards – the most important competition of its kind in Cuba – including the nomination to the Best Video Clip of the Year; it ended up winning three of them. 

These laurels, as well as the band’s performance on the award ceremony, were the necessary boost for them to reach the national mainstream media and massively spread their music across the country, thus embarking on an ascending and unhindered path to sneak into the hearts of this genre’s fans in Cuba.  

Related Post: Sweet Lizzy Project: The Band That Went From Havana to Nashville

Currently, the band has taken advantage of the pandemic lockdown to focus on the production of their next record: Canciones para sombras, and released an EP revealing what they are up to: songs lyrically loaded with concepts of Carl G. Jung’s analytical psychology, sound experimentation; all influenced by Indie Rock bands in Spanish such as Izal and Vetusta Morla and classic ones like Radiohead. 

On this point, Raúl A. Nápoles, lead guitarist, responsible for the band’s musical sound, tells us: “The EP is just a way for us to premiere and commercially and extensively release part of our music on main streaming platforms. This EP titled Sombras is made up of three songs that are also included in the record Canciones para Sombras, which we are currently recording. Within the recording process we’ve had no constraints when it comes to experimenting and taking advantage of all the production tools we have found, and somehow this has helped us in our search for the album sound. The lockdown time has also been very favorable to us despite it all; during this time, we did thorough research on the music sound we like to listen to, mainly Spanish Indie, which is our referent and, in some way, the foundation of our sound. All these creative and practical tools have been used freely during the recording process because our production is totally independent and no one but ourselves decides what’s right or not in our music.”

Ruido Blanco, Cuban Indie band. Photo: Daniel Rosete

“So far, the EP has been quite welcomed by national and international audiences. Still, its reach is limited due to the band’s slow activity because of Covid. Several radio stations, professional Instagram profiles and some digital magazines have shown interest in what the band is doing, and due to this exposure to international media, we’ve received very positive feedback from foreign audiences, which is the EP’s main goal given that the local audience was familiar with the songs; for them we thought of releasing through non-traditional means, considering Cuba’s issues using  streaming platforms. Notwithstanding, our beloved national audience, one of the most faithful and committed, was the first one to have the songs”, adds guitar player and co-founder, Alejandro Brito.

Related Post: I’m Literally in LOVE With This New Music From El Individuo: “Reacciona”

Ruido Blanco has plenty of immediate future plans filled with ideas and creativity, which, together with their willingness, make them overcome any difficulty without major damage. Among their immediate projects is the production of a promotional live DVD for the release of Canciones para Sombras, as well as the shooting of a new video clip directed once again by Fernando Almeida. Now we, the fans, just need to wait and be pleasantly  surprised by Ruido Blanco’s artistic endeavors and be ready to return – when this necessary isolation is over –  to their concerts and sing and cheer from the crowd.       

Against all odds, small individual or family businesses have bloomed during the pandemic in Cuba. Yanitza del Toro is the founder of Maxi Bebé. Photo: @maxi_bebe_habana Instagram

Diana Bermúdez couldn’t find any cosmetic products that suited her. Due to her extreme allergies, her skin often broke out in a rash. Then she began to research and take some courses. By the end of 2020, she transformed her need into a new source of income: D’eco, a line of handcrafted natural cosmetics. 

While at first the catalogue only had soaps, now it includes different types of creams, oils, lotion, hair wax and face masks. Everything is carefully presented in small units, either in cardboard boxes or recycled bottles. 

Against all odds, small individual or family businesses have bloomed during the pandemic in Cuba. Boldness defines them, as well as diversity.

She confesses it was difficult to run the business along with her work as a language therapist in Havana’s hospital Manuel Fajardo. Despite being afraid, and her parents’ reluctance, she made the decision: she quit her regular job and just fully devoted herself to D’eco. 

To  this day, her mother and father, grandparents, and her partner complete the team behind this initiative. “We will keep growing, if everything goes well,” Diana said. 

Against all odds, small individual or family businesses have bloomed during the pandemic in Cuba. Boldness defines them, as well as diversity. There are gardening shops, like Vivero Online; bakeries, like Migas and Panpana; knitted accessories online stores, like Chulita Teje and Sutileza; baby food manufacturers, like Raizes and Maxi Bebé.

“I prepare home-made food for my three-year old daughter, and I believed this could be a way to help other moms that maybe had less time,” founder of Maxi Bebé, Yanitza del Toro, describes. Adults also enjoy healthy food, such as fruit compote or peanut butter, so the menu and the clients have been expanding. 

Related Post: Idania Del Rio and Leire Fernandez’s Clandestina Is Cuba’s 1st Independent Fashion Brand

Yanitza says that perhaps she felt the uncertainty of jumping into something new. However, it was precisely the pandemic situation what gave her the impulse to start. “The experience has been enriching, it’s nice to influence eating habits and contribute to education in that regard.” 

“Social media is the ecosystem where we have grown”,  asserts Yanitza. Now we sell  in some private stores in Havana, but, before that, we (just) existed in WhatsApp groups and our Instagram account. Word of mouth doesn’t let us down, though”. 

Yanitza del Toro, Founder of Maxi Bebé

Unsurprisingly, one of the key problems for her is to find quality supplies at reasonable prices, so the output didn’t rocket. Worsened scarcity and the increased, rising prices of nearly everything due to the financial reform initiated last January  – the so-called Tarea Ordenamiento – are, no doubt, major issues that entangle daily life. To make matters worse, during these last months, frequent power cuts have complicated things, too. 

On the other hand, the semi-lockdown brought about some positive aspects. Coinciding with the trend worldwide known as “ghost kitchens,” businesses like MaxiBebé don’t need a physical place (nor the corresponding investment) to sell their products, but only the Internet and delivery. 

“Social media is the ecosystem where we have grown,”  asserts Yanitza. Now we sell  in some private stores in Havana, but, before that, we (just) existed in WhatsApp groups and our Instagram account. Word of mouth doesn’t let us down, though.” 

Elephant Hands is a brand of cold ceramic earrings. Photo: @elephant.hands Instagram

This is actually a common factor for several entrepreneurs. Camila Sabido, creator of Elephants Hands, a brand of cold ceramic earrings, doesn’t rely on a physical shop. She wasn’t a social media person, but now she is, because that’s the way she takes orders and shows her colorful craft.  

Related Post: Cuban Entrepreneurs: 500,000+ People Figuring It Out On Their Own

For Camila, being online means also the possibility to build alliances with other owners.  Organizing raffles, contests, and other joint activities has become a proven method for attracting customers, as well as gaining more visibility. For instance, Diana Bermúdez recently attended a Fair of Eco-Friendly Experiences, in Havana’s Quinta de los Molinos, along with other private initiatives. 

And again, difficulties with sourcing raw materials  caused Camila have to raise prices. “It was hard. I was delaying that moment until it was inevitable,”  she acknowledges. “Everyone who now runs a business has been through the same.” 

“Good afternoon, all. Sadly, we are going to be forced to stop working for a while,” Dania Hakim wrote in Elaboro’s WhatsApp groups, on October 23^rd. The message explained to customers that, having seen the struggle to find consumables, they would rather close than increase prices. “Hope you understand the situation we are facing. We are hopeful about being back.”

Based on their supplies, week in, week out, Elaboro used to deliver turnovers, home-made desserts, croquetas, burgers, meatballs, spices… even a seasonal vegetable pack which might include guava, sweet potato, pumpkin, avocado. The sort of offer that would ease household chores, “always thinking about stuff that we would buy ourselves,” Dania highlights. 

They didn’t generate great profits but they maintained a fair price point and they did receive many favorable reviews. “We were very pleased knowing that people liked many of our products,” Dania said.

Vivero Online is a gardening shop in Havana. Photo: @vivero.online_habana Instagram

It turns out that this kind of business represents more than making profit, but a way to reach personal fulfillment. “I do this because I like it and it makes me happy,” Camila Sabido added. Autonomy, a flexible schedule, positive feedback from clients, to enjoy work – these benefits are often as valuable as earnings. 

Since she does everything –  from designs to sales – Camila would want to hire somebody else, in order for Elephant Hands to continue to grow. In the meantime, she has kept her regular job as a foreign trade specialist in a state company. 

Dania Hakim assures they are not done with their business idea, but in the current situation they don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. “We can’t forecast when it’s going to get better.”. 

Last August, the Cuban government issued eight decree laws that recognized and broadened the scope of micro, small, and medium-sized companies (Mipymes). They could be state-owned, private, or joint-venture. According to official statistics, 43% of them are new businesses. Though that is certainly good news, this sector needs more than a proper legal frame to develop. 

Individual and family business have shown a remarkable capacity of adaptation, as well as a good sense to seize opportunities, even in the midst of harsh circumstances. 

While in the early stages of private initiatives in Cuba, most owners likely targeted tourists and foreign companies’ officials, the businesses that emerged during the pandemic seem to confirm the importance of the domestic market, always greedy for consumer options. 

After more than 200 visits to Cuba over 28 years, National Geographic photojournalist Christopher P. Baker still finds memorable, double-take images on his journeys to the island. Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

I’m crouching on the floor of a humble solar (slum tenement) in Habana Vieja, hemmed into a corner with my back hard up against cheap pots and pans beneath an antique kerosene stove, as I shuffle around for the perfect angle.

Marta, 72, posing in her sillón (rocker), holds an unlit cigar in her lips. Her eyes are rheumy and her weathered skin wrinkled and slightly lustrous with age. She wears many collares (necklaces in Cuba’s Santería religion) of colorful beads, and her yellow flip-flops are perfect complements to the yellow-dressed doll of Ochún, the Santería orisha of sensuality and beauty, among several Afro-Cuban deities that form an altar at Marta’s feet. Behind her, above the blood-red faux-leather sofas beneath a collapsing ceiling, hovers a framed image of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda. Marta calls him “Saint Che,” believing his spirit still lingers.

It’s a perfectly harmonious composition… made better when I suddenly register with a double-take the faded poster of a topless brunette, circa 1980, next to Korda’s iconic “Guerrillero heroico.” Taken in March 1960 at Havana’s Cementerio Colón, the world-famous photo shows Che gazing intently over the horizon with a “hard and determined visage,” thought author Tom Miller, “the head tilted slightly, the eyes burning just beyond the foreseeable future.” To his left the busty Playboy brunette holds her own head slightly tilted, enticing with a come-hither look.

Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

Cuba’s yin and yang duality forever causes me such double-takes. A more inspirational setting for photography is hard to conceive. It’s this neck-snapping, dream-like, haunting-in-its-fantastical-unfamiliarity quality that makes Cuba as camera-ready and photo rich as any place on the planet. 

Even after more than 200 visits during 28 years, in this quasi-magical realm where the borders between reality and fantasy intertwine, on any day in any place I’m guaranteed at least one memorably unique double-take image.

Related Post: Cuba’s 1st Independent Fashion Brand: Startup Cuba Docuseries #6

In the ‘90s and first decade of the millennium, my focus was on illustrating travel guide books and magazine stories. Since 2011, when Obama opened the door for U.S. travelers, my Cuba visits have leaned heavily towards leading group programs, from helping set up and lead Santa Fe Photographic Workshop’s first Cuba programs to almost 100 trips for National Geographic Expeditions as photographer and “Cuba Expert.” My emphasis has morphed from shooting touristic venues to a focus on portraiture and street photography (the very stuff of group photo tours), informed by a goal to capture Cubans —not least the warm, tender side of the island’s endearing humanity— in their environment and to tell their uniquely quixotic life stories in situ.

I shoot with heavy gear: two Canon 5D Mark IVs with 24-70mm and 70-200mm zooms, respectively. Plus, I always carry a Speedlite flash for fill-in (never for full-flash P-setting use) to lighten deep shadow and capture slow-sync ghosting motion. A BlackRapid double camera harness helps lighten the load on my shoulders. But any camera will do. Expensive SLR cameras won’t guarantee great photography. That requires an eye for strong composition, effective use of ambient light, and recognizing mind-blowing subjects when you see them. 

My standard sell-out itinerary for Jim Cline Photo Tours follows a classic triptych: Havana, with all its grit, glamour, old cars, boxing gyms, dance troupes, and the Malecón seafront at sunset… Laid-back Viñales for quintessential landscapes and tobacco farms and farmers… And Trinidad, Cuba’s best-preserved UNESCO World Heritage city, teeming with cowboys, pulsing sunshine, and colonial buildings as if colored by Crayola. You can’t go wrong with this Holy Trinity itinerary. 

Havana’s urban decay, and humbling living conditions such as Marta’s, are the backdrop that make the city a breathtaking panegyric of photographic potential. On a purely physical level, Cuba is astoundingly rich and Instagram-ready. The talcum beaches and bathwater-warm seas the colors of peacock feathers; the bottle-green mountains and valleys with waterfalls tumbling to jade-colored pools; the ancient cities with their flower-bedecked balconies, Baroque churches, and palaces and castles evocative of the once-mighty power of Spain. Cuba’s landscapes are soft and calming, epitomized by chartreuse cane fields undulating like a great, swelling sea. Royal palms are everywhere, towering over the countryside like columns of petrified light. And then there’s Viñales with its tobacco fields, and mogotes —sheer, freestanding limestone knolls the size of skyscrapers— looming over a broad valley suffused with the softness of a Monet painting.

As a professional travel journalist, I’m trained to tell a story in words and pictures. In the early mornings, when I set out to walk Habana Vieja, Viñales, or Trinidad, I typically start with a rooftop sunrise cityscape and/or other wide-angle “establishing” scenes to give context as I narrow down on my subject. If I’m working on a magazine story or book, I’ll have a shoot list and thus seek to hone in on a narrative. But whether I have a purpose or not, I’m in perpetual photojournalistic alert mode to grab opportunities as they arise. In Cuba, serendipity guarantees to deliver. 

I love working Cuban streets, especially away from tourist zones. They’re an endlessly spontaneous theater. Everyday activities here have a gritty contextual quality that evokes a nostalgic and seductive response, piquing subconscious analysis about the social and cultural complexities of contemporary Cuba. You don’t need to push the envelope to find poetic and emotionally charged images that spark the psyche. Often, I’ll linger at a particularly compelling street corner and “work” the scene, waiting patiently for slice-of-life moments amid the non-stop street theater. 

Related Post: The Dogs of Cuba

Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

One of my all-time favorite images (published as a double-page spread in National Geographic and Gold winner for “Best Portrait of 2015” in the North American Travel Journalist Association Awards) is of a shirtless man —actually, mi hermano Julio Muñoz— affectionately nuzzling his horse on a street in Trinidad. It’s a simple close-up street shot that speaks volumes about Cuban gentility. For novice photographers: note the conscious use of the “rule of thirds,” placing the main subject off-center; and the blurry background subject —Julio’s shirtless neighbor, Nelson— purposely placed as subtle contextual punctuation.

It helps that Cubans love to be photographed, or simply ignore your presence while you shoot. There’s a refreshing innocence to Cubans. They thank you for taking their picture, then smilingly urge you, “Come into my house!” A bonus: Their homes —often tucked up eerie alleyways like secret speakeasies— often seem to resemble surreal stage sets to those who are visiting the island for the first time. Shooting a story on Cuba’s near-sacred nail salons for Thomas Cook Holiday in 2018, I found myself inside a dilapidated solar where Selis, 37, ran an illegal salón de uñas, illumined from above by a harsh fluorescent light and awash with vibrantly colored pots of lacquer. I shot away as she painted majestic swirls atop her client Angela’s magenta claws. Suddenly a young black girl ran in. Angela, a chubby 47-year-old white woman, embraced her and planted a lingering kiss on her cheek. Click! Click! The resulting image is another of my cherished spontaneous photos that, in this case, opens the viewer’s eyes to race relations, community, and demonstrations of affection in Cuba. You have to always be ready for such fleeting yet seminal slice-of-life moments.

Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

While spontaneous images are preferred, don’t be afraid to position your subject  to help make the photo’s innate story more compelling. One time, while shooting in the dusty farming village of Manicuragua, I was invited into a simple wooden home where I discovered a litter of newborn puppies. I asked the daughter to bring two puppies outside and hold them up, just so. Then I positioned her dad in the doorway, silhouetted with golden-hour sunlight behind him. Taking a lesson from my friend David Alan Harvey’s June 1999 National Geographic cover shot (he wrapped a blood-red towel around the neck of a boy leaning out of a classic car window), I grabbed a purple towel off the washing line and draped it over the dad’s shoulder for a splash of color. The resulting image —with wide aperture for narrow depth of field to soften the background and focus the viewer’s eyes on the puppies— has its own National Geographic hallmark feel. Such set-up portraits are standard fare on group photo tours. 

Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

Whether it’s of farmers posing inside a tobacco shed, or of ballerinas posing on the bed in an astonishing yesteryear mansion where Annie Leibowitz famously photographed a nude Rhianna. Such shots typically have a well-conceived narrative focal point that, when shot from fresh angles, lends an attention-grabbing narrative aspect. On my most recent photo tour, my group and I worked with father-and-son farmers in Viñales: The father behind, in shadow; the son outside, smoking a cigar while holding a gamecock in the palm of his other hand. I gave some edge to the choreographed shot by a slight tilt of my camera.

Join me on one of my Cuba photo tours and you are very likely to experience plenty of your own double-take moments.  For more information about me, visit my website.

Photo credit: Christopher P. Baker

It’s hard to describe prú to people who aren’t familiar with it, especially since many of the herbs used to make it aren’t native to regions outside of Mexico and the Caribbean. Pru is traditionally bottled in re-used plastic bottles. Photo: The Cuban History

I first tried prú at a cafetería by the University of Havana in 2019. My boyfriend and I were wandering around Calle J, sweating buckets and searching desperately for something cold and cheap to quench our thirst. When we happened upon the cafetería and spotted prú on the menu, his eyes lit up. “Have you ever had this?” he asked, and when I shook my head no, he walked straight up to the window and ordered two glasses. 

The drink he put down in front of me was the color of an amber lager–while usually darker, depending on the specific recipe, prú can range anywhere from dark brown to yellowish. Cautiously, I took a sip and licked the froth from my mouth. It was fizzy and sweet with a tang of spice, just what we needed to cool down. And the best part is, prú is also super good for you!

The best prú I’ve had to date was in Guanabacoa, where you can stop and buy a bottle while taking a free tour of the historic municipality.

Originally thought to have been brought to eastern Cuba by French colonists and French-Haitian enslaved people after the Haitian Revolution, prú–also known as prú oriental–is the original detox drink. Brewed with ingredients like ginger, cinnamon, and raíz de china, it has amazing purifying and digestive properties and is full of antioxidants. Some Cubans even say it makes for a great aphrodisiac. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhg8wSE6vI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0KaMQsA3u8&t=73s Programa HERENCIA El Prú oriental: sabor y tradición.

It’s hard to describe prú to people who aren’t familiar with it, especially since many of the herbs used to make it aren’t native to regions outside of Mexico and the Caribbean. However, it’s basically just Cuban root beer: a non-alcoholic fermented soft drink with that characteristic Cuban kick. In fact, one of the main ingredients–the raíz de china–comes from the same plant family (Smilax) as the sarsaparilla used to flavor the root beer we know and love here in the U.S. 

While it started in the eastern part of the island, prú is now consumed and sold all over Cuba. Nevertheless, like most things, the best prú isn’t what’s found in restaurants; it’s the homemade stuff. Besides the fact that homemade prú just tastes better, many Cuban families have in recent years begun to sell prú directly out of their houses as a means of earning supplemental income. This means that buying straight from a local vendor will not only guarantee you a better beverage experience, but you’ll also be ensuring that your money is making a difference. 

Prú for sale in MIami. Photo: Offerup

The best prú I’ve had to date was in Guanabacoa, where you can stop and buy a bottle while taking a free tour of the historic municipality. However, since current travel restrictions might make that difficult, check out the recipe below to make your own prú at home! It’s a little start-and-stop, but is otherwise easy to make and sure to yield delicious results.

Servings: 5

• 30g jaboncillo (chinaberry)
• 30g bejuco ubí or 15g ground bejuco ubí–find a 60g bag of the powder version here (price in USD, including shipping, is $40.81)
• 3g Jamaican pimento leaves
• 15g fresh ginger
• 150g raíz de china (in Mexico it’s known as cocolmeca)
• 4g cinnamon sticks
• 2.5L of water
• 100g brown sugar

**Note: You can save the pulp from your first batch–called prú madre–to enhance the flavor of your next one**

Raiz. Photo: Cultura Verde

Place a large pot (a stock pot works well) with the 2.5L of water on high heat while you cut the chinaberry, raíz de china, ginger, and–if fresh–bejuco ubí into pieces. Add all the ingredients except brown sugar to the pot, stirring occasionally for about an hour. Cover and allow to rest overnight.

Next, strain the mixture and keep the pulp for a later batch, if desired. Add in the brown sugar and mix until fully dissolved. Once this is done, pour the prú into a sealable container like a plastic water bottle. Let rest for 3-4 days (the longer the better for your first batch) in a dark place so that it can begin to ferment. 

Refrigerate before serving or serve over ice.

Bottling Prú in Holguin. Photo: Radio Angulo

**Handy tip: To avoid the geiser of foam typical of so many fermented and carbonated drinks, hold the bottom of the bottle with the palm of your hand when opening it**

El Cafe Havana is a Bohemian Havana vibe meets hipster chill zone and it’s this author’s favorite cafe, just about anywhere. Photo: Karen Vierbuchen

El Café isn’t so much the Havana coffee shop newcomer on the block anymore (that block being Amargura entre Aquacate y Villegas en La Habana Vieja). They’ve been around for a few years now and have even had to expand due to popularity. Nonetheless, El Café is still my favorite coffee shop pretty much anywhere in the world — and I’ve been some places.

The brainchild of Nelson Rodríguez Tamayo (an awesome human), El Cafe is a Havana coffee shop opened in April 2016 after he had lived in London for a while. I first met Nelson when we were filming for Startup Cuba. He’s featured in Episode Three and conveniently, El Café is across the street from our go-to casa particular.

“El Café is still my favorite café, pretty much anywhere in the world…” 

When Nelson returned to Havana from London, he realized there really weren’t any spots for breakfast (true) and so, El Café was born. The place is exactly what it’s name implies: a café. In fact, while Nelson was building out El Cafe , he used to tell his wife as he walked out the door, “Voy a ir al café.” When it came time to open and he didn’t yet have a name, “El Café” just stuck.

Startup Cuba’s Ken Deckinger talks with Nelson Rodríguez Tamayo, the founder of El Cafe in Habana Vieja.

With bread made from scratch, fresh-ground coffee beans, smoothies and vegetarian options, the food alone is worth the visit. The warm and welcoming staff, bohemian vibe and gorgeous open air Havana space make you want to stay.

“When it came time to open and he didn’t yet have a name, ‘El Café’ just stuck.“

Grab some pancakes, don’t miss the pork sandwich, and give Nelson a beso for us.

Photo: Karen Vierbuchen

Related Post: Nazdarovie: Havana’s Soviet-Themed Restaurant

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El Café La Habana Vieja, Cuba. Photo: Karen Vierbuchen