On June 4, 2019, The New York Times reported about Trump administration constraints on American travel to Cuba. They ban group educational and cultural trips not booked by June 5, 2019, and prohibit visits by cruise ships, private yachts and fishing vessels. The restrictions reverse President Obama’s procedures from 2011, which approved “people-to-people” travel with a licensed tour operator.

These group “people to people” trips were the most common way Americans traveled to Cuba and how I revisited Havana in April 2015. As a teen on a Caribbean cruise, I toured the city on a day-long shore excursion that lasted late, after the extravagant La Tropicana nightclub revue. That experience was so memorable I jumped at the chance to travel with 20 media professionals. SmarTours customized our five-day tour, booked through Cuba Travel Services, which holds a special license as a Travel Service Provider with Havanatur, the official Cuban government-sponsored inbound tour operator. It’s worth adding that in a recent conversation with SmarTours, they confirmed the tours are still functioning.

My recollections from the trip are vivid. Our adventure began with an overnight in Miami, before the short, early morning flight. Immediately after landing in Havana, we met our local guide, boarded a bus and headed to Revolution Square, with its 300-foot memorial and statue dedicated to Cuba’s national hero, the poet José Martí. Revolutionary heroes Che Guevarra and Fidel’s confident Camilo Cienfuegos are depicted on large iron sculptures fronting two of the adjacent government buildings.

The shiny shells of 1950s Ford and Chevy convertibles, known as “Yank Tanks,” (most are propelled with newer Russian or Mitsubishi engines) encircle the plaza and are for hire. As we approached the brightly colored, classic cars, which look fabulous from afar, I noticed rusted exteriors, peeled paint and cracked leather. We overlooked those details in the glee of sightseeing with horns blaring enthusiastically and took silly iPhone images of each other.

Cuba is famed for its Castros, cafés and cars. Let me add: contrasts. The gleaming exteriors and blemished interiors of the automobiles were emblematic of the many dramatic juxtapositions we witnessed, mostly between what has been meticulously restored and what has remained deplorably unheeded.

Buildings in La Habana Vieja, established in 1519, illustrate the point and can be seen walking the maze of cobblestone streets that pass squares and churches from Plaza de Armas, with its 16th-century Baroque castle. Within the historic square-mile UNESCO World Heritage site, there are about 300 remarkably reconstructed, 19th-century edifices. Eusebio Leal Spengler, friend of Fidel and historian of the city, is chief administrator of Habaguanex, the company that preserves and redevelops the historic colonial center, with funds supplied by 45 percent of each tourist dollar. The Fine Arts Museum, which showcases 300 years of Cuban masterpieces, and the Great Theatre of Havana — with its impressive exterior restoration are some of the loveliest. Restoration progresses slowly and there are countless blighted blocks with windowless buildings yet to be transformed throughout the city.

Our tour guide introduced us to some impressive places. We were taken to an apartment on El Callejón de los Peluqueros (Barber Street) in Old Havana, enhanced as a barber shop museum; the resident, we were told, also launched a free barber school nearby, and was transforming the street by adding a café and children’s park, and by hiring gardeners to enhance its appeal. And we were driven outside the city to Jaimanitas, where artist Jose Fuster transformed his modest home, Casa Fuster, into a phantasmagorical, colorfully mosaic-studded, Gaudiesque, Park Guell-like, home studio and boutique, where his disciples create and sell brightly colored ceramics.

This story was written for Wherever Family