cuba's moment of transition

PowerPoint Show by Andrew

♫ Turn on Speakers

The United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations today, beginning a new post-Cold War era.

This rare moment of transition, as diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States resume, provides an opportunity to see old and new Cuba, past and future, through the same lens.

Restored cars, many with Japanese engines, line up in front of the old Capitol building waiting for tourists.

An apartment building with million dollar oceanfront views on the Malecón has been condemned for the past 30 years. It is filled with office workers and young children playing dangerously close to broken railings and gigantic holes in the floors.

Many things that American children take for granted, such as amusement parks, were unsustainable without imports and electricity.

Visions of development of the future are visible along the Prado.

Havana's streets shimmer after an afternoon rain.

Bob and Alex Lonergan, from Atlanta, Ga., dine on the rooftop of La Guarida Restaurant. The price of a meal at Havana’s top restaurants is out of reach for most Cubans.

William Lopez and his 7-year-old daughter, Mailliw, (William spelled backwards) live in a small two-room home in El Hueco, a bleak settlement next to the old railroad tracks southwest of Havana.

Port Esperanza is a poor fishing village at the dead end of a rutted road north of Havana.

Sixto Fernandez,74, who has lived in El Hueco for 60 years, adds to his income by making charcoal by burning piles of wood under the hot jungle sun all day.

In El Hueco, ancient cars and skinny young animals share the road.

After school, children congregate along the Malecón, trying their luck with fishing line.

The Martinez family has long wanted to welcome tourists on their small tobacco farm in Pinar del Río.

The capital of Matanzas Province was once home to writers and intellectuals and a hub of sugar cane and tobacco industries. Today many of the once magnificent downtown buildings are collapsing or shuttered.

Raoul Zapata Bajo, 77, lives in Matanzas. The roof in his kitchen has partially collapsed and is being held up by uneven bricks and a temporary pole.

Juliette Fernandez, 10, lives in El Hueco in a one-bedroom wooden shack with her mother and two siblings. They just got electricity in the past year, yet they have no water or toilet.

The sea wall along the Malecón becomes the city’s biggest sofa when the sun goes down.

A single barber chair in a tiny wooden shack in El Hueco is the neighborhood salon.

A new hair salon gets finishing touches on Concordia Street in Havana.

Marie Tejeda uses a 40-year-old Russian washing machine that has no lid or working controls other than the power plug.

Hand towels for the bathroom at the famous La Guarida restaurant hang to dry before the restaurant opens for dinner.

A 50-year blockade has created one of the most unique rolling museums in the world.

Diego Reyes helps his neighbor repair his 1953 Dodge.

On a 100 degree day in Matanzas, a “Frankenstein” fan, made from re-animated Chinese and Russian parts, is put to the test.

A woman tries to hail a “straight arrow cab” -- a cab going in only one direction, more like a bus, and less expensive than the cabs for tourists.

Gerardo Fernandez, 61, lost his leg to diabetes in 2013. He waited two years before he received his prosthetic from Germany.

Body mechanic Guillermo Wilson Chibas is in favor of President Obama’s initiatives, but wants Cuba to keep a socialist government.

The oceanfront Panorama Hotel gets a window wash.

Four-year-old Erianni Diaz has twice fallen through a hole in the floor of the condemned hotel where she and her grandmother live in the poor city of Matanzas.

Yunior Parra, a real estate agent, conducts business on a bench along the Prado, wearing a T-shirt featuring Che Guevara as he hands out leaflets.

Julie Narango, a waitress at a brand new Viñales restaurant has never met an American before. “All Cuban people are scared of the change.

Long defined by belligerence and trade barriers, the relationship between Cuba and the US is on the cusp of revolution. A journey across the island finds many Cubans wary of what is headed their way.