When I read that we could speak of any place my mind went crazy. I have been to so many places that are just filled emotions and bring back vivid memories. I went through a list: the market place in Morocco, the palace in Granada, Club space in Miami, the amazing plaza in the art district in France, My father’s house in Fehmarn, Germany, the pink lake in Senegal – best “poulet yassa” ever, the place we stop and get Bachalaito near my aunt’s in Puerto Rico, so many places but one stood out to me Santa Maria beach just outside Havana, Cuba.

When I lived in Cuba we had a lot of restriction and we could only travel a radius of around 55 kilometer. Playa Santa Maria was as far as we could away from the city. It wasn’t exactly secluded; it was a in little town but during the 25 minute drive around 3 of them were just green, no buildings. All of the houses on the hill on the way down to the beach were relatively small and made out of concrete it was a known fact that some of the more privileged Cubans had little vacation homes down here somewhere exclusive and some were sort of a time share. The water was the most beautiful turquoise and the sand just the right shade of beige. This beach is not an enclosed area reserved for tourist or featured in a magazine, but everyone was there; the tourist, the privileged, the white, the black the mixed, the young and the old. There is a bit of leftover racism in many Hispanic Caribbean countries but when you’re at the beach it is almost nonexistent.

This beach is not comparable to the St Augustine beach. Santa Maria was a place to really enjoy your day. Families would cook delicious pork on the accessible bbq pits; there would be music everywhere from the boom boxes and cars and of course a lot of rum. It was a party of all ages, where people could laugh, dance and swim under the bright sun forgetting their family, work and political problems. No one could forget that we were in a socialist country however with the guards monitoring the beach and water. They were there for the general safety as well as to make sure no one was making a raft out of blow up mattresses.
This beach was welcoming and exiting sending the message of freedom. This was a s free as you could be in Havana.