The fact that President Obama is focusing on reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba is a significant development, but it also means that there is a good chance that things will begin to change there at a rapid pace. That’s why we decided it was time to visit Cuba and see the country as it is now.

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We are currently living in Chile, but our passports are from Brazil, which created an interesting story.

The consular officer typed a form—yes, you heard that correctly, with a typing machine—and asked me to check if my personal information was correct. When I told him that I was born in Brazil, not Chile, he looked at me like I had done something horrible and started typing everything again.

After I confirmed all the information was correct this second time, he went back to his desk, typed something I couldn’t see, attached it to the wrong form, and filed everything. That was something I was not expecting at all. It is a level of bureaucracy that I thought I would only see in a comedy movie.