Enigmatic Cuba fascinated me with its many layers of history. What many Cubans lack in technology and material items, they make up for in with a rich and resilient human connection, perhaps a side-effect of a long and adverse history.

We mainly hear stories of the Cubans who come over on home-made rafts seeking refuge, but we rarely hear stories of the Cubans who stay on the island, who simply live there. There are 11 million of them.

A wash room in the 1893 Colonial House which houses foreign travelers in downtown Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

A woman walks down a crumbled street under construction for a walking path in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

Locals and foreigners visit Gran Piedra after climbing over 45 stairs to stand atop the 70,000-ton rock with views of the Sierra Maestra mountains in Cuba. The lights of Jamaica can be seen from this spot on clear evenings.

School is held inside a former mansion in Santiago de Cuba, where the wealthy were forced out years ago under the hand of Castro.

A little girl waits for her mother to walk her to into class in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

Cuban memorabilia, including the face of Che Guevara, is sold by local vendors at Gran Piedra in the National Park of Baconao in Cuba.

'I Am Watching You' is spray painted on the side of a building near a cobble stoned foot path in downtown Santiago de Cuba.

A street vendor pulls a fruit cart up a pedestrian walking street in downtown Santiago de Cuba.

A man sends a kiss, working near the food ration distribution near the port of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

Antonio Hernandez drives a vintage car using a special permit allowing him to leave the city, and bring foreigners through small towns in the Sierra Maestra mountain region of Cuba.

A man rides horse back near the small village towns in the Sierra Maestra mountain region outside of Santiago de Cuba. Many still ride horse carriages in the city to work.

Paint chips on a vintage car parked in downtown Santiago de Cuba.

A man transports food rations of rice by bike shipped in from Vietnam for the local people near the port of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.

An artist with the university donates his time overseeing an installation near the port of Santiago de Cuba.

"In no other culture that I can think of, is everyone equal and poor, yet lively, and colorful; where people make music in the streets," a fellow traveler said before tucking herself into bed in an old colonial house built in 1893, in downtown Santiago de Cuba down a beautiful cobblestoned street.

If only those walls could speak.