A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her ancestry to Cuba. Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. However, Miami, Florida stands out as the most prominent Cuban American community, in part because of its proximity to Cuba. It is followed by North Jersey, particularly Union City and West New York. More recently, there has been substantial growth of new Cuban-American communities in places like Hazleton, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Palm Desert, California.

Growing Up in Miami was a very interesting experience because for the most part you were surrounded by Cubans who exiled from Cuba. So you would eat Cuban food, dance to Cuban music, hear stories of how beautiful it was and how one day we would return to see for ourselves.

Living near Miami, it was bound to happen that one of my end-of-year parties implied the presence of a large number of Cuban-Americans. I shall not mention the exquisite food, the incessant laughter and the suggestive dancing, but only the clues that took me to solve the mystery of Atlantis...