“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell
I lived in the Philippines until I was almost seven-years-old. When I went back to visit with my family 22 years later, I was surprised that I could navigate a few streets near where we used to live. It was like a pull that oriented me to where I spent the first years of my life.
So I related to Mario Cartaya’s phrase of letting the subconscious guide when he shared his emotional journey back to Cuba after 56 years on the How to Share podcast. Mario has written a touching and insightful memoir about that trip, Journey Back Into the Vault.
Mario tells us how his family’s rushed departure from Cuba as a nine-year-old left him with a vault of childhood memories that he couldn’t unlock. Mario shares stories from his 1-week journey back to Cuba that helped him unlock the memories in that vault. We talk about how so many magical moments unfolded as he visited the scenes of his childhood.
We talk about the close-knit sense of community in Cuba. Mario tells us about the Cuban diaspora and how the pain of separation affects families on both sides.
Mario tells us about his current project chronicling the historic friendship that the US and Cuba once shared.
Mario is a wonderful guest who delivers a strong sense of hope for whatever divides us and a reminder that we can all work to find our own inner peace and deliver it to this world. I know you’ll love this episode and his book, Journey Back Into the Vault!
Key Themes:
- Mario’s traumatic departure from Cuba in 1960
- The vault of childhood memories and their significance
- Revisiting childhood homes and places in Cuba
- The impact of family separation and diaspora
- The historic friendship between the US and Cuba from 1860-1960
- Mario’s current project on US-Cuba relations
Check out this short clip of Mario’s deep and insightful elevator pitch for Journey Back Into the Vault:
Here are some ways you can watch or listen to all of this fascinating and compelling episode:
- The podcast player embedded below
- Click this link to watch in a browser: How to Share a Return Home with Mario Cartaya
- Subscribe to How To Share on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Podcasts
- Subscribing to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@howtosharepodcast
Please listen, watch, provide feedback and subscribe.
How to Share a Return Home with Mario Cartaya – How To Share
Links for this episode:
How to Share a Return Home Transcript
Journey Back Into the Vault on Barnes and Noble and Amazon
From the host:
My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith
(featured photo from Pexels)
Surprised By Joy 
Really? You were here in the Philippines before? That’s interesting. This podcast surely bring back memories of your childhood, Wynne. His book sounds informative and intriguing.
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Mario’s story is fantastic. But I cannot think at Cuba without looking into the current political context. I went to Cuba at the end of 2022 and what I saw was a super beautiful island with very kind and welcoming people who were hopeless as after Obama, both Biden and Trump administration’s embargo has become harder and triggered a severe humanitarian and economic crisis there. This is the impact of the U.S. economic politics toward Cuba that’s been in place since 1962. Trump is just waiting for the island to collapse. He calls Cuba “the failed nation”. We should not forget it. We are all human, as Mario said, and we all have the same needs. Cuban people are missing even the basic needs. Sorry for this long comment, but I love Cuba and Cubans so much that I couldn’t refrain from pointing this out.
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