Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Ann!

April 1, 2026

When Your Past Is Waiting For You

Send us Fan Mail A single trip back to Cuba turns into a confrontation with the one place Mario Cartaya never truly left: his own childhood. After 56 years away, he walks familiar streets, returns to his old school, and finds himself pulled toward a balcony where a long-buried scene suddenly plays in full color. What follows is as intimate as it is unsettling, a moment where he can almost see his eight-year-old self sitting beside him, and he finally understands what it means to reopen the va...

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Send us Fan Mail

A single trip back to Cuba turns into a confrontation with the one place Mario Cartaya never truly left: his own childhood. After 56 years away, he walks familiar streets, returns to his old school, and finds himself pulled toward a balcony where a long-buried scene suddenly plays in full color. What follows is as intimate as it is unsettling, a moment where he can almost see his eight-year-old self sitting beside him, and he finally understands what it means to reopen the vault of memory without being swallowed by it.

We talk about how the subconscious protects us, why certain places act like emotional keys, and what real closure looks like when the people you loved are gone. Mario shares the extraordinary chain of events that leads him through Havana’s Colón Cemetery, lost records, and a phone call that sounds impossible until it’s true, Fidel Castro’s son helps point him toward his family’s grave. Along the way we dig into grief rituals, identity repair, and the difference between forgiving and making peace with your destiny.

The conversation also widens into Cuban history, architecture, and Mario’s research on a forgotten century of US Cuba friendship using the Library of Congress. We end with the story of the pelican on the beach, a symbol that lands at the exact moment he needs permission to believe his father would be proud. If you care about immigrant identity, Cuban exile stories, healing the inner child, and the psychology of memory, you’ll want to hear this. Subscribe, share with someone who misses home, and leave a review telling us what part of your own story you’d go back to find.

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@Real Talk with Tina and Ann

Chapters

00:08 - Return To Cuba After Decades

01:22 - The Balcony Memory Reappears

06:02 - Inside The Vault Of Memory

11:27 - Finding The Family Graves

20:23 - Walking Into The Fourth Grade Room

22:50 - Turning The Book Into A Movie

25:54 - Researching A Century Of Friendship

29:50 - Identity As Cuban And American

34:03 - Reconciling Without Excusing Regimes

38:43 - The Pelican Sign From Dad

47:21 - Values Learned From The Greatest Generation

55:53 - Where To Find The Book

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.400
Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne.

00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.640
This is part two with Mario Cartea.

00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:16.480
What happens when you finally go back to the place that your life was split in two?

00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:26.239
In part two, Mario Cartea returns to Cuba for the first time in over five decades and comes face to face with a family that he was separated from as a child.

00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:37.439
He stands at the grave of his grandparents, the ones he never got to say goodbye to, the ones he carried in silence all those years, and in a moment that feels almost impossible to believe.

00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.600
But Fidel Castro's son helped him find them.

00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.759
But this isn't just about a return.

00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:52.880
It's about reopening the vault of memory, about sitting beside the eight-year-old boy he once was, and finally giving him the peace that he never had.

00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.600
And what makes this story even more powerful?

00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:07.680
This is a man who went on to be honored by the United States government, a highly recognized architect, and someone who has rubbed elbows with presidents, yet still carried a piece of his past that needed healing.

00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.159
How do you rebuild a life that was interrupted?

00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:13.519
And what happens when you finally go back to where it all began?

00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:21.920
This is part two where we talk about Mario's book, Journey Back into the Vault in Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints.

00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:33.519
But it was like also that your past and your now were coming together and your now was like welcoming your past and saying that to you, welcoming you.

00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:42.799
The biggest moment when that happened was in the same balcony where I saw my father ask for permission to leave.

00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:44.640
Okay.

00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:58.400
That was um that was right towards the end where I went to the previous house that I lived in uh right before we moved into the Apollo house, which is the house from where I left.

00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.480
We moved to a brand new development.

00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:01.760
They were all new homes.

00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:09.280
And when they began building, and my father who was doing very well in his accounting practice, said, okay, let's move there.

00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:09.759
Right?

00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.560
And so I'm back in that other home.

00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:33.759
Um and they let me in, and all the while that the guy that was there who remembered us, all the while that the guy is touring us through this house that I'm remembering step by step, something kept saying, go to the balcony.

00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:35.360
I didn't know why.

00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:37.680
I call it my siren song.

00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:45.280
I kept looking at the balcony and then continuing looking at it again.

00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:50.080
It's like I could not get myself over the balcony.

00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:53.759
I did not remember that moment yet.

00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:55.680
That moment came back.

00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:02.879
But I I asked Gahilberto, who was the son of the owner of the uh of the house.

00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.000
I said, Can I go out there alone?

00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:09.680
I think I need to experience something.

00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:11.280
I gotta go there.

00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:12.639
No, you can't.

00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:16.800
My mother is there, she's in a bad mood, she's got a bad headache.

00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:18.879
Don't go in the balcony.

00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:26.000
I said, okay, can at least go up as far as the last uh stair tread.

00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:30.479
She goes, okay, you can go to the landing, he said.

00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:34.479
You can be more comfortable, but don't go beyond that.

00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.000
Okay, okay, I won't.

00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:40.159
I don't want to deal with a woman that has a headache and isn't feeling well.

00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:41.840
No, no way.

00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:44.080
So I did.

00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:49.599
I went there and I sat right at the edge of the stairs and looked down.

00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:51.840
And that's when the whole scene played out.

00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:55.680
My father asked him for, and I remembered it.

00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.479
And it was extremely emotional.

00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:12.000
I'm remembering everything that happened, everything I felt when I was eight years old, sitting there, realizing the future that was in front of me.

00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:24.399
And then all of a sudden, I looked and I saw my eight-year-old self sitting right next to me, looking at me.

00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:26.480
And it was weird.

00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:31.120
Like, Mario, why are you seeing yourself when you're young?

00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.680
And then I realized, no, it's just a memory.

00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.399
So just a strong memory.

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But in my mind, first thing that I thought is, look at me.

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Look at how innocent I was.

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And then funny enough, my parental instincts kicked in.

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And it was like, I want to tell him that everything is going to be okay.

00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.040
I want to tell him, you know, all the things that are going to happen.

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Uh he always knows that it'll always be okay.

00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.800
But then it dawned on me.

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Um I don't have to.

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Because he's always been me.

00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:11.839
He's always been inside me.

00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:14.240
That's my past.

00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:16.720
That's what I kid you're looking for.

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And then he he just disappeared.

00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.000
And then I realized the importance of the moment.

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He had all the memories.

00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:34.079
Me when I was nine, eight, sitting there, had all the memories.

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We divided that day.

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He couldn't come with me.

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And so there he was in my subconscious.

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That's where he lived.

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Far enough away.

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And at that moment we teamed up again.

00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:53.839
He became me.

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And then it was just a matter of memories and memories and memories and memories and memories returning some beautiful.

00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:07.600
That was one that I remember going into the garage of that house.

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And my grandfather used to, for fun, uh, do carpentry.

00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:16.959
He would do beautiful sculptures and and also furniture.

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And one day I walked in there, the middle of a Havana summer, hot as can be, and he's sitting there sweating and planing some wood with the old planers, you know?

00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:27.600
Mm-hmm.

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And I remember looking at him and saying, Tata, that's what I used to call him, ta-ta.

00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:41.920
Um, I feel something funny in my heart seeing you work that hard and sweat the way you do.

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Am I gonna be okay?

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And my grandfather getting up from his chair, coming over to me, holding me up in the air, hugging me, and then saying, Marito, you just gave me a great gift.

00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.439
That feeling you have in your heart, that's because you love me, son.

00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:01.120
And I remember that.

00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:07.120
More than remember what happened, I remember how I felt.

00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:12.800
And I remember thinking, so this is what love is.

00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:24.879
Because not only did the memories come back, but the way that I felt when I was making that memory came back as well.

00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:26.480
I was that age.

00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:39.199
What I now know that I didn't know then, is that um every time you remember something, you're really remembering the last time you recalled it.

00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:45.680
And along the way, your brain keeps making bridges to fill in what is forgotten.

00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:51.519
Voices, colors, background, you know, all that.

00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:52.639
Right?

00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:00.560
But in my case, since I never remembered any of that, it was like it happened the day before.

00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.680
They weren't corrupted, not at all.

00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:13.680
So I didn't just remember my memories like reels, an entire conversation with the context inside the garage.

00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.720
The context he was planning a piece of wood.

00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:21.600
There weren't pictures, there were movies, videos.

00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:27.839
Because to my mind, to my conscious mind, that happened the day before.

00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.279
Because I had never thought of it for 56 years.

00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.120
Now I know that.

00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:34.399
I didn't know it then.

00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:41.919
I just knew that some wonderful things were happening to me and that there was a force greater than me at play.

00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.120
Wow.

00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.200
I you you painted that so visually, so beautiful.

00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:55.200
I mean, it was I just picture you sitting next to your eight-year-old self.

00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:56.080
Yeah.

00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.080
I mean, oh my gosh, that's just so touching.

00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:15.759
And and how you became one in that moment from who you were now in in that eight-year-old self, and letting yourself know that you're going to be okay, that you've always been you.

00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.080
I mean, oh my gosh, I'm I'm getting teary.

00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:26.639
You know, I mean, that that um that's that's really a beautiful visual.

00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:30.879
And I'm so glad that you were able to have that.

00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:34.159
And you had to go all the way to Cuba to get that.

00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:36.639
The stimulus.

00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:45.360
You probably would not have had that kind of closure if you would not have ever gone back.

00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:47.039
Well, absolutely.

00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:53.360
It it was now I know, I did know it then, but now I know uh that it was the stimulus.

00:09:53.519 --> 00:10:00.559
What happens, what they tell me that happened is that when I went back to my home, recognizing where I was, put me there.

00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:05.200
Once they put me there, I'm in my subconscious already.

00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:05.840
Right.

00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.960
So at that point, the subconscious says, let it go.

00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.039
He's here, he's inside the subconscious, let it go.

00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:26.960
So at every at every point of stimulus where I put myself in the subconscious memories, not conscious, but the subconscious memories, I'm there already.

00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:28.320
That's the vault.

00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:34.240
Every time that I went somewhere and they brought back the memories, I'm inside the vault.

00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.320
I was preaching the vault.

00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.000
The vault is the subconscious.

00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:38.480
Okay.

00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.519
So going journey back into the vault.

00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:43.759
The vault is two things.

00:10:43.919 --> 00:11:03.039
It's Cuba, which always has been a vault, but it's also that place in the subconscious where our memories that are quite not so good are kept away from us so we don't spend our times thinking backwards, but we concentrate in the future.

00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.600
It's a survival mechanism.

00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:06.720
Now I know.

00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:07.679
Right.

00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:09.759
And it's a giving permission.

00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.759
It's allowing yourself to go there.

00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:21.840
And when the memories are revealed, to allow them to be whatever they are.

00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.120
The good and the bad.

00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:26.960
The good and the bad, right?

00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:31.519
Because you you also visited the graves of your grandparents.

00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:32.559
Oh, yeah.

00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.480
That was Yeah.

00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:39.120
Uh people you love deeply and and you never got to see them again.

00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.919
I mean, I'm sure that that was incredibly emotional.

00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:45.759
What was that like for you?

00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:50.720
And did you get other did other memories come back because of that?

00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:51.600
Yeah.

00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:55.759
Um I I knew that they were buried in Cologne Cemetery.

00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:59.519
That's a huge cemetery with more than a million graves in it.

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.279
Um it's almost like like a city inside of Havana.

00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:04.480
Huge area.

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And nowhere.

00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:18.639
So we we drive there, we we go to the office, and I I'm talking to the lady in the records room, and I told her, I'm here to visit my um family's grave.

00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.480
Uh, do you have anything listed under Marcos Mateo?

00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:24.559
Because he was the first to go.

00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.600
So I figure, okay, if it's the first to go, it'll be under his name.

00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:28.159
You know?

00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:28.639
Mm-hmm.

00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:33.279
And she comes back from the old records, and there are no computers.

00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:37.919
She goes into this huge vault of her own to find all these documents.

00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.440
She comes back, paper.

00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.639
I can't find anything under Marcos Mateo.

00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:43.360
I'm sorry.

00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.360
I'm not my heart fell.

00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:51.039
I thought that's one, that's one of the biggest reasons why I went.

00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:53.200
I had to say goodbye.

00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:55.039
I need a closure.

00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:55.679
Yeah.

00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:15.120
And so then I remembered that someone told me that once that a person named Odio had buried us along with his family, because for a while you could not own your grave in Cuba.

00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:16.240
Communism, right?

00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:17.279
You can't own anything.

00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:18.240
That's private.

00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.000
So you can own your grave.

00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:25.600
So you have to be buried in a mass grave of people who died in your city that week.

00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:27.120
That kind of a thing.

00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:32.399
So, Mario, don't worry, there's a family called Odio who took care of you guys.

00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:33.759
Okay.

00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:37.279
So, do you have anything named for this guy named Odio?

00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:38.720
Let me check.

00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:42.480
So she goes back, comes back again.

00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.480
No, I'm sorry, I don't have anything for that either.

00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:48.720
I'm about ready to give up.

00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:53.519
And then she goes, but I do have a grave with a Marcos Mateo.

00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.279
That's listed under a different name.

00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:58.879
Well, can I have it?

00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:01.279
Come with me.

00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:12.879
So she made me go to a corner of the office where there was there was nobody around, and she says, Um, I'm gonna give you the men's name and phone number.

00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.159
Suffice it to know that this is Fidel Castro's son.

00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:19.679
What?

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:20.480
Exactly.

00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.480
That's what this is Fidel Castro's son.

00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:31.919
So I said, okay, look, I've spoken to American presidents, Argentinian presidents, Peruvian presidents.

00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:34.000
I can talk to Fidel Castro's son.

00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.200
No problem.

00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:36.879
Give me his number.

00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:38.320
So I called him up.

00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.840
Three rings later, he answers the phone in Spanish.

00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:44.000
So I said, hello, he goes, hello.

00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.440
I said, my name is Mario Cartalla Mateo.

00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:48.720
And he goes, Mayito?

00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:52.799
So I I stopped and I said, please.

00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:54.399
His name is Angel.

00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:56.639
Angel.

00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:01.279
I said, Angel, um, how do I know you?

00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:03.360
Don't you remember?

00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.200
I said, no, that's why I'm here.

00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:06.559
To remember.

00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.200
He goes, ah, we knew each other from school.

00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:12.159
When we were kids, we played together all the time.

00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:20.399
And then his mother had married my uncle after I left.

00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.759
And so there's a relationship there.

00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.480
And I knew this kid growing up in my school.

00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.399
Once he said it, but oh yeah, Angelito.

00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.480
Now I know who he was.

00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:36.399
But back then, you don't know.

00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:38.399
Angel, Angelito.

00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:42.240
I mean, how many angels have I met in my life?

00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.440
Other than the ones who seem to follow me everywhere, right?

00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:52.559
Um so I said, um, boy, yes, this is quite a surprise.

00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.440
He goes, Yeah, I kind of thought that it would be for you.

00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.120
I was hoping that you would you would call me someday.

00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.919
And so, you know, we went to the wedding together, right?

00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:08.559
And so um he said, Have you have you been over to your family's grave yet?

00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:10.960
And I said, No, Angel, I haven't.

00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:12.720
That's why I'm calling you.

00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:17.120
Uh, somehow your name is listed with uh my family's grave.

00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:21.759
I'd like to know where it is, so I can go there and pray.

00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:29.360
And he says, Look, I'm sorry, uh, I don't know where it is, but my ex-wife knows.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.039
So, well, can you call her and ask her to nominal Mario?

00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:34.159
I I can't call her.

00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.799
We haven't spoken to each other in 10 years.

00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:37.600
Oh my god.

00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:38.559
And I began laughing.

00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:44.720
Well, I can see the divorces in Havana are just as bad as those in the United States.

00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:46.399
He began to laugh.

00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:48.399
But I said, Don't worry, don't worry.

00:16:48.720 --> 00:17:00.240
Here's what he was gonna do call his daughter, who lives in Cologne, Germany, for her to then call back her mother, sitting in Havana, for her to call me.

00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:09.680
So I'm figuring, okay, six hours difference between here and Germany and back to call and Cuba's telephone system is not that good.

00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.640
Uh I'll never get anything back.

00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:14.400
So, okay, no problem.

00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:15.279
Thank you.

00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:16.400
I appreciate that.

00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:28.240
And so I told um the um guy that we hired to tour us through them and take us to the grave sites, okay, let's go see my other grandfather's name, uh uh, please.

00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:33.839
The Cartaya, who died when my father was only four years old.

00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:34.880
Okay.

00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.160
I had never met.

00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:42.160
So he he takes me there, and there I am in front of my grandfather that I never met.

00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:44.640
But it's still family.

00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:50.240
My grandmother is not buried with him because she eventually came to the U.S.

00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:58.079
But yet there it is a lot for two with only one part being open.

00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:02.480
So obviously, she intended to be buried next to her husband.

00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:09.359
She just died in Miami, and we buried her there about 20 years ago.

00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:16.720
While I'm there, I get my driver running at me with a cell phone.

00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:23.440
Mario, I have a lady that says she knows you, that she was married to Fudor Castro's son.

00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:28.319
I didn't tell anybody about that, but okay, now the secret is out in the open.

00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.920
So give me the phone.

00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.839
So I speak with her and she goes, Maito, do you remember me?

00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:35.200
And I said, No.

00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.039
And then she told me about her.

00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.960
She was my mother's student in the in the school, too.

00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:41.839
Oh, okay.

00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:46.160
And I went to her wedding with I and her son, all that.

00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.720
And so she gave me the address.

00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:54.480
I had to go through all that in order to then get the address.

00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:02.160
So then we were able to finally go find my family, and um, and I had my closure.

00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:09.920
I spoke with them, and I had brought from here photographs of my American family.

00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:17.039
And I had the pleasure of putting all those photographs on top of their graves.

00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:21.599
They have these things where you put letters or flowers or whatever.

00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:27.359
So I put all of the photographs of all of us that came here, including my parents.

00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:37.279
And at that point, I was able to re-reunify the family for the first time in 56 years.

00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.160
Now they weren't alive.

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.839
But you know what?

00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.279
That was good enough for me.

00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:49.440
I was able to somehow bring us all together, if only in a symbolic fashion.

00:19:50.079 --> 00:20:01.119
It is absolutely miracle after miracle after miracle that you found this person that led you to this, that led you to this.

00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:03.759
I mean, oh my gosh.

00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:07.039
And then, I mean, how long were you there?

00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.640
In Havana, I was there for six days.

00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.920
So all of this happened within that amount of time.

00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:14.799
And more.

00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.160
Um is there any other stories that you want to share before we move on?

00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:22.160
Because these are amazing.

00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:23.680
My school.

00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.759
I go to my school.

00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:30.160
Edison Institute is now just called the Edison School.

00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:30.880
Okay.

00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:33.440
They changed, but at least they allowed the name Edison.

00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.319
And like everything in Cuba, nothing has changed.

00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:39.440
You you it's like you go into a time capsule.

00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:53.680
And so I meet the headmaster, I'm able to talk talk to her into allowing me to go with a guide through the school just to see it again.

00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:04.799
Ten steps away from the the uh um superintendent's uh office, the guy gets a phone call from his girlfriend, he's gotta leave.

00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:07.680
Guys behave, don't get me in trouble.

00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:08.799
Good.

00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:14.400
So now I'm with George and we're walking around, and again, the siren song begins again.

00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:16.480
George, let's go to the second floor.

00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.200
So we climb up to the second floor.

00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.240
Kids changing classes, right?

00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:28.319
And so as I'm walking, I gotta open that door.

00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.680
Just a random door in the second floor.

00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:33.119
I opened the door.

00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:40.960
There's nobody inside, except for a sign that says, Welcome to the fourth grade.

00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:52.400
That was the classroom from which I left Cuba quietly one day, so as to not get beat up by people knowing that I was leaving for the U.S.

00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:58.559
And there I am, right back in my classroom that I left with the sun.

00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.759
Welcome to the fourth grade.

00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:08.559
And all of a sudden, it's like I could see all the other kids sitting around me, and I began to recognize some of them.

00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.839
That's where Pepito used to sit.

00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.039
You know, that's where Millie used to sit.

00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:16.960
And little memories came back.

00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:21.759
Almost expecting at any minute for the teacher to come in.

00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.480
Thank God she didn't.

00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:37.200
But that's amazing that you found the school even and then the room.

00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:43.119
The only room I went into happened to be the school from where I left.

00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:45.119
The classroom from where I left.

00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.799
I mean, you can't write this.

00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:49.920
I mean, this is a movie.

00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.960
It it needs to become a movie.

00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:58.000
I mean Well, um, there is um a group in Hollywood.

00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:03.279
I got up a phone call uh about two years ago from this lady called Cecilia Hall.

00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:07.920
Cecilia Hall is an Academy Award winner for Hunt for Red October.

00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:09.599
She's a sound editor.

00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:11.759
And she read the book.

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.000
And she gave me a call from Hollywood saying, Mario, um, I read your book.

00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.799
Have you ever considered making a movie?

00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:25.440
I'm thinking, okay, this is one of those spam type calls.

00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:26.079
All right.

00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.599
So I said, okay, how much money is it going to cost me?

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:31.119
She goes, nothing.

00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:33.759
Mario, I am Cecilia Hall.

00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:34.880
Look it up.

00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:36.400
Okay, I will.

00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:39.119
And I want to put together a team for you.

00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.640
Because as a matter of fact, what are you doing next week?

00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.920
You want to come to Hollywood so that you can meet us?

00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:48.079
I figured, why not?

00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.319
I haven't been to California in years.

00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:52.000
Little vacation with her.

00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.000
So I fly out to LA.

00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.279
I she takes me to this restaurant and she introduces me to this guy.

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:01.359
His name is Tibor Takax.

00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:05.599
Tibor Takax is a Hollywood um director.

00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.680
He's directed 70-something movies in Hollywood.

00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.400
Like her, they're both Hollywood royalty.

00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:14.079
They've been around a long time.

00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:14.640
Okay.

00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:28.240
And uh he Takax says, Mario, please allow me to be your director on this movie because uh I left Hungary just like you left Cuba and had been back for 35 years.

00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:30.880
Your book, your story, is my story.

00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:33.119
A lot of things in common.

00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:35.759
So I can't say no to that.

00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:37.119
So I said, sure.

00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:38.960
What's it gonna cost me?

00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:39.519
Nothing.

00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:43.920
We're gonna make a movie for the love of filmmaking.

00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:49.119
So now uh we're done with the movie script.

00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:53.599
Uh we have a filmmaker that needs to do it.

00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.599
We're ready to now get investors.

00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.920
We haven't really tried too hard to get investors in.

00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:10.960
I've been trying to finish my uh third book that should be finished today, tomorrow.

00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.359
I'm putting the final touches on it.

00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.599
Uh but then beginning next week, I'm gonna start looking at investors.

00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:21.920
Uh, we need three million dollars in order to make the movie happen.

00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.279
And we're all very optimistic that the timing is right.

00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:31.119
With everything happening in Cuba today, the timing of this is perfect.

00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:32.400
Returning.

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.200
Of course.

00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:34.880
Everything has been perfect.

00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.160
All the timing has been perfect with your story.

00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:41.039
Yeah, and so why not this one as well?

00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.759
So, yeah, it's funny you should mention a movie, but yeah, there's a movie that hopefully will be made sometime this year.

00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.400
And uh, we're now in the process of uh getting funds.

00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.240
What is your third book?

00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.559
Oh, the the third one you're gonna love.

00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:04.400
When I retired from architectural practice, you know, as you know, I had a 43-year business that did very well.

00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:09.039
Uh bringing all kinds of awards uh to the U.S.

00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.759
on all these buildings that I've done, airports and things of this sort.

00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:22.000
And um when I retired, uh, I was given the honor of having an American flag flown over the U.S.

00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.759
Capitol to honor me and everything that I've done.

00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:28.799
Along with that came a pass.

00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:48.160
I I have a card that allows me to have the same rights and privileges as any sitting senator or congressman to go in the library of Congress and look at anything up to a classified uh setting.

00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:49.839
So I used it.

00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:51.759
Two years ago I used it.

00:26:52.480 --> 00:27:14.319
And I got data, only data, uh, and letters and congressional acts, congressional votes, this kind of a thing, military records on what was the US and Cuba friendship cooperation between 1860 and 1960.

00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:54.640