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♪ [ speaking foreign language ]. cuba is not havana. it's a bigger country that you might imagine, and the road to santiago to cuba, the country's second largest city, takes you 12 hours on their less than modern highway system. along the way you see agrarian cuba, the country in which most cubans lived pre-revolution. ♪ >> santiago is a poor city. it's blacker.
This is a typical street of this neighborhood. houses of wood, houses of concrete. the street is not in good condition. here was the bus station. it's not a bus station anymore. now it's a building. it's a monument. of the past. >> montea is a suburb of havana, home to one of cuba's most celebrated writers. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> author of the internationally successful mario detective series, padura has been able to
[ speaking foreign language ]. >> 93-year-old juana is very much a part of that past. [ speaking foreign language ]. long before the revolution, she was a shining star at the east tropicana. singing for capone, luciano. you know the names. >> juana! juana! [ speaking foreign language ]. ♪ [ speaking foreign language ].
♪ [ speaking foreign language ]. >> my mom is asking me if you would like to taste the rice? >> oh, it's fantastic. like a lot of cubans, yosimi rodriguez lives in the same working-class neighborhood where she was born. >> i live with my mom, my sister, my niece. of course i would like to have my own bedroom, but there are people who don't even have a house. >> you were a translator, that's correct? you are now a journalist? >> i've been writing for "havana times" and also write for another independent website. >> she struggles to eke out a living in an industry where the state firmly contro...
Ruben is in the bar business. sergio rents rooms to the occasional tourist. everybody getting by making the adjustment to private enterprise cuba in their own way. until a few years ago you couldn't rent or sell, right? >> no. >> translator: a long time ago was allowed to rent house but no sell and buy. >> what kind of fish is this? >> dorado. >> it's huge. >> fresh-caught dorado and lobster is on the menu. do you think this is going to change? i mean, look, we've all been following the news. [ speaking foreign language ]. right. half an hour away. i mean, they can basically take a boat over f...