Cuba, a land of it's own

The day has finally come after so much anticipation and guessing. Looking at signs at the airport or seeing billboards and having an image of Cuba. Watching movies, reading Wikipedia and different articles about Cuba. Cuba- the land that is deeply guarded from us on paper but incredibly easy once you buy your ticket. The land that was stuck in time and you can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Everything is on the verge of falling but is incredibly photogenic and beautiful. The land where everyone is literate and educated but no one is working. The land where it doesn't seem like class exists and that everyone has equally as little as everyone else. The place where rubble piles gather throughout the city from crumbling buildings but the cars are scratchless classics. The land that you'll never be able to understand fully what the life is like unless you grew up here. I'm walking around trying to make sense of this and everything that's going on around me but I can't. I can't because I'm not part of it. I didn't grow up in a socialist dictatorship. I didn't grow up going to school for free or getting pensions or food rations. I didn't grow idolizing war heroes or my parents always being home and not working. I didn't grow up surrounded by everyone being outside instead of inside. I didn't grow up without technology, television, cell phones. I didn't grow up in a warm climate isolated from the world in the Caribbean. I didn't grow up never leaving my barrio. I didn't grow up with nothing better to do than sit around and talk. I didn't grow up without structure. What were the castros and Che's vision? What did they ultimately want for Cuba and have they been able to achieve this. Is this how they envisioned it? If not, what don't they? Everyone is educated but by whom and how well? I love it here. So different from home. The Burma of the west. Glad we're here now