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Every evening, in an otherwise nondescript Vedado home, behind the Hotel Melia Cohiba, a gathering of nations takes place at the restaurant Atelier.

The night I went there, the French table was peppering the waiter with questions about the blue cheese sauce, the Germans were dressed as if they had walked from the pool, a Canadian couple was being romantic, and a table full of my fellow Americans was going on about tomorrow´s schedule. 

La Esperanza opened as a paladar in 1995, at the height of the Cuban Special Period.  “When we first opened, our day off was on Thursday because that was the day our neighborhood had its electricity cut during the energy crisis,” Hubert, the owner, told me while recalling the early days of the business.

I didn’t go to Caibarién on purpose. My bus pulled into Remedios where I had planned to disembark. But when I looked out the window at yet another gorgeous colonial town: pristine multi-coloured houses, sandy streets, wide-open plazas and the scent of flowers in the air - it left me dead. After months of postcard perfect colonial vistas, I had become inured to it. So I simply stayed on the bus, a sense of adventure in not knowing where it would take me to next.

InsightCuba caught up with David and Shelley Kuczkir, a quirky couple from Charleston, South Carolina, following their trip to Havana with insightCuba. After having set their mark on the sunny climates of Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean islands and Hawaii, they decided it was time to take a leap of faith and visit Cuba. 

InsightCuba: Who are David & Shelley?

I always try to immerse myself in the stories and sagas of a country before I travel, so when I’m lost in the beauty of it all, I have something to guide me. There is no more immersive way to contextualize yourself than through the fiction of that country. Cuba is ripe with stories; it has a history so utterly unique and dramatic, that many people both Cuban and otherwise have brought the past to life in stunning and compelling ways.

InsightCuba caught up with Darcie Goldberg, Executive Director of the Chester County Art Association, following the organization’s two consecutive trips with insightCuba. The non-profit, cultural institution, founded in 1931, provides art education and exhibition space for artists of all ages and aspirations.