As the daughter of Cuban-American parents on her first trip to Cuba, Cortes knew the experience would be eye opening. She grew up listening to how her mother Annette had spent a childhood in a large house in Santiago where her father owned a shoe store and a gym.
“They were very popular on Corona Street where they lived,” she says. But her mother left the island along with her parents once the Cuban government appropriated her father’s business.
For Cortes, the trip proved to be much more surprising than she envisioned. Santiago was poorer than she imagined and many of the buildings were extremely dilapidated, including her mother’s former house. She saw beggars on the streets and many of the restaurants lacked half of the items listed on the menu.
“I was blown away by the deterioration,” says Cortes. “When I told my mother she was very sad.”
Cortes says that the entire trip was special to her but she most treasured the time she spent with Greta, her mother’s childhood friend. “She told me stories that my mother had also told me,” she says. “They had not seen each other since they were both 11 but she remembered everything.”
“I offered to show her a picture of my mother,” Cortes says. “But she declined to see the picture saying she preferred to remember her as she was when she last saw her.”
- BARBARA GUTIERREZ / UM News
