First of a three-part series. Part II can be found here. Part III can be found here. HAVANA, Cuba -- Arriving in Cuba this time felt different straight away. The airport, where I arrived on a flight from Cancún crammed with Cubans and their purchases, was hassle-free. No tour operators solicited me; no cabbies assailed me. It was the same in touristy Old Havana. Ten years before, on my last visit, I couldn't walk a few steps without having cigars or a lobster dinner pressed on me. This time, whether in the leafy, mansion-studded Vedado section, the shopping arcades near the Capitol, or the curving malecón (Havana's historic seawall), Cubans seemed less eager to shake my money loose than they had once been.
Cuba Poised Between Past and Future: Part I
