Travel: Cuba In The Open

Castro's island is technically off limits to U.S. tourists, but thousands of travelers have found legitimate ways to get there

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...

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