One thing is for sure, the certainty to use your smartphone to catch up with latest news, gets put to the test during a holiday in Cuba.
Instead, take your time to let the colors, radiant smiles, the fragrant air and the breathtaking landscape, the sea and the colonial cities work its magic. A trip to Cuba is literally like a "forced de-digitalization", which can be a welcome change from the constant information overload in times of digital abundance. If you have the privilege of visiting Cuba as a guest and are not dependent on the precarious infrastructure every day, you can take advantage of it and use a Cuba trip as a "digital detox" to recharge your "creative batteries" to the fullest.
From the multifaceted Havana with its gorgeous historic old town, through tropical rainforests to the deep blue Caribbean beaches, Cuba offers everything that makes our stress-ridden minds blossom again. It is important to take a sketchbook and pencil with you and switch back to "analog media" for the duration of this actual "journey through time". Write a travel diary with impressions and stories from the many lives outside of global society. This suddenly leads to new approaches, unsolvable problems are viewed from a different perspective and our mind eventually overflows with fresh ideas. You will nourish on this baggage of inspiration long after you return. This article also came to me only a year after my trip to Cuba in 2019, the impressions have literally burned into my subconscious mind along with the countless murals and graffiti.
If, like me, you have a weakness for the Spanish language, there are countless ways to speak to the locals and learn incredible stories that testify to the high art of living. Do not believe everything you are told, but share the "joie de vivre" and enthusiasm of the local population that overcomes any adversity.
So if you get an "Internet credit" in the form of a small "scratch card" at one of the government-provided locations and in one of the few public places where there is a WiFi connection, you will try in vain to log in for 30 minutes just to use up your whole credit, then just let go of the inner "Internet Demon"; instead use the opportunity to get in touch with the local people. Since the public WiFi zones are mostly in parks, you will find people from all social classes and paths of life. You can get into conversation after almost everyone experiences a mostly short and "bumpy Internet session" and chat about the weather, the next supply bottleneck, politics or colorful life stories in general.
Only in Cuba you might get to know a writer by chance, who gives you his postal address for the exchange of ideas, since he still does not have an email. Therefore, put on your hiking backpack as soon as possible, open your eyes, heart and sketchbook and immerse yourself in this mosaic of rhythm, colors and shapes before global society takes it's course even here. Use your trip to influence tourism development in this "time capsule" as sustainably as possible, leave your thanks and your travel budget with the ordinary people and exchange joy and creativity for many months to come at your desk at home.
Simon Margesin