A sampling of Cuban culture

Last October, we booked a Cuba trip pursuant to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control People-to-People licensing for Americans to travel to Cuba.

We were as surprised as anyone to hear Raul Castro's and Barack Obama's announcement of a new relationship on Dec. 17, 2014.

Our traveler-licensed group of 24 met at a Miami airport hotel. After a brief orientation, we boarded our charter flight. It's just 42 minutes, wheels up to wheels down, to Havana's Jose Marti International Airport.

Cellphones and credit and debit cards became useless objects for seven days.

On the flight, we saw American Cubans with checked luggage of bicycles, flat-screen TVs and even a stainless steel kitchen sink. They travel heavy, bringing goods and money to their Cuban relatives.

Our "step-on" guide in Havana was, of course, a government worker.

The first stop for tourists is Revolution Square with its iconic, larger-than-life image of Che Guevara and his well-known slogan, "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Until the Everlasting Victory, Always), on the Ministry of the Interior building.

On the first day, we stopped to see the art of Jose Rodrguez Fuster. He has transformed his neighborhood into a quirky display of mosaic-covered figures and scenes.

We stayed five nights at Hotel Nacional, the gathering place for American glitterati and mobsters in the 1950s.

On arrival, we hop in a 1957 turquoise Dodge taxi with the top down and go for a 15-minute cruise around Havana.

A typical dinner was outdoors with live music, ropa viejo, cooked pumpkin, chicken, white rice, black rice, black beans and sweet potato chips.

Many of our meals were in paladares, family-run restaurants located in the homes of the operators. Paladares have always existed in Cuba but were legalized in the late 1990s during the period of hardship following the loss of Soviet support, known as the Special Period in Time of Peace.

Our first such meal of lobster in a pineapple sauce, swordfish, chicken, white rice and black beans was served family style in Paladar Mercaderes.

We visited a community project where an old landfill had been converted to a gathering spot for youths to develop music and artistic talents.

After dinner, we danced to the tunes of their live teenage band.

Our group interacted and shared lunch in Havana with an emerging dance troupe of renowned dancers from the Danza Combinatoria.

Sitting in the backyard of the modest home of one of Cuba's most important engraving artists, 88-year-old Joaquin Crespo Manzano, known throughout Cuba as Bebo, we heard his story of oppression and difficulties following the defection of one of his sons.

A priceless experience was our visit to a senior center, where we played dominoes and talked with seniors, our group serving them a snack of guava paste on a bread roll and a glass of yogurt drink.

Our final stop in Havana was at a fruit and vegetable market where the local Habaneros shop with their version of the two-tiered system of currency. Locals use the national peso (moneda nacional or CUP) while tourists must use Cuban convertible pesos (CUC).

Our final two nights were at the all-inclusive Varadero beach resort of Melia Varadero, 82 miles east of Havana.

Tom Bruno is a lawyer, and his wife, Beth Matthias, is a psychotherapist. They live in Champaign.