Hello from Alabama. Help On Cuban Culture Please.

Last activity 29 March 2014 by ElNorm

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ElNormNew member25 March 2014 22:27:18

Hi guys,

This is Norm in Alabama. I'm looking for someone fluent in Cuba willing to help me understand Cuban culture a bit better, especially country life. I warn you in advance that I will have many dumb questions.

I'm beginning work on a fiction book that has a Cuban component. I confess near total ignorance on Cuba.

I'm particularly interested in the culture away from the big city. Normal life. That sort of thing. That's what I need to make my work realistic.

I'm more than happy to share the details once we hook up. On the flip side, I'm always tickled to tell you how we do things here in Alabama if you'd be so curious. I'm not a writer of short mails, btw. Ha.

Making pen pals and sharing culture info is fun! If helping a poor writer understand things sounds interesting, I'd love to hear from you.

Norm

ElNormNew member26 March 2014 18:47:45

I can see I'm not breaking any records here. The post before mine has 58 replies on two pages. I have zip. Twiddling thumbs. Don't be shy. Jump in.
Norm

ElNormNew member27 March 2014 16:45:48

Now, while I'm completely and utterly ignorant about Cuba, I know a LOT about Brazil. (Brasil to the natives.) Unfortunately, the book I'm working on has a Cuban component...not a Brasilian component.

I did fly over Cuba once on the way back from Brazil. That was kinda strange. I was 7 about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, so while I don't claim much first hand knowledge, I do remember the strain of the times. Desi Arnaz on a black and white television was about as close as I ever got to those shores.

ElNormNew member29 March 2014 16:29:32

I did manage to find a couple of kids books about Cuba at the local liberry. I just finished one. Hmm. I'm a little further down the line. I also managed to find a strange little database nobody had ever heard of. Using Google Earf to pick out cities in Cuba, I just plug them in and most times the database spews out lots of photos. Not so much info, but even the pictures are a help. Other than this, all the well known places are pretty sparsely populated with info.

I'm somewhat amazed that I'm having so much trouble digging up information about a country just a pleasant shark filled boat ride away from Miami. Heck, Miami IS Cuba, for all intents and purposes, as I discovered during my plane changes way back when I was doing the Brasil runs.

I know that folks in Cuba have a bit of difficulty getting their writing out, other than in plastic bottles, but there are plenty of Cubans with the internet elsewhere... I'm just having trouble locating them. Dang.