For years, Ben Squires dreamed about going to Cuba. His brother Mark had been stationed there in 1947 when he was in the Navy and "loved it," says Ben, 75, a retired health administrator in Chicago. "He raved about the music, the magnificent architecture, the people. It sounded terrific, and I always wanted to go. I figured I would, eventually."
It's taken a good 40 years, but last June, Ben and his wife Susan, 63, a nurse practitioner, spent eight days traveling around Havana and neighboring provinces, exploring the health-care and educational systems, visiting a pediatric hospital, a health-care clinic and...