By TOMIE V. PARKS
Special to the Taylor Press
Summer's a great time to visit family —
if it's legal.
For Maria Newman of Taylor, it's not.
Her family lives in Cuba, and the December 2014 decision to lift the
travel embargo between there and the United States isn't fully
operational.
But it will be, says Newman's cousin
Pablo Arguelles Acosta of Cuba, once both sides catch up to the
agreement that was made.
"And when it is, the family will
be able to come together much easier," Acosta said.
That idea is what made Acosta's June
2015 trip to Taylor so special.
"We came (to America) for academic
reasons, but what it did was show us how travel will become,"
Acosta said. "It will be welcoming, easy and doable."
It was an academic conference for the
Latin Association of Scholars that enabled Acosta and his family to
travel to Florida. His wife Grisel, a historian of city libraries,
gave a presentation on bibliographic heritage.
The couple and their two daughters, Ana
Paula and Gabriela, spent two weeks in Florida and the third week at
Newman's house in Taylor.
"We spent the week touring
Austin," Newman said. "We went to Barton Springs, saw the
Capitol, the Blanton Museum of Art and went to the Bob Bullock Imax
Theater."
The family also had the chance to catch
a game of baseball at the Dell Diamond Round Rock Express.
"At the baseball game, we had our
first meal of hot dogs and pretzels," said Gabriela. "Very
American."
