Part One: Family  

The Key to the House  

Learning English with Shotaro  

El Beso  

A Shepardi Air  

The Book  

The Day I Cried at Starbucks on Lincoln Road  

A Tango for Gabriel  

A Degree in Hard Work  

La Silla  

Part Two: The Kindness of Strangers  

From Those Who Don't Forget You  

A Gift from the Women of Mexquitic  

The First World Summit of Behars  

Unexpected Happiness in Poland  

Part Three: Cuban Goodbyes  

The Freedom to Travel Anywhere in the World  

Cristy Always Prays for My Safe Return  

An Old Little Girl  

Acknowledgments  

“A heartfelt witness to the changing political and emotional landscape of the Cuban-American experience.”—Kirkus Reviews

“All those intrigued by their ancestral story will be moved by the personal quest and also by how—with the help of computers as well as the kindness of strangers—the lost can find their way home.”—Hazel Rochman, Booklist

“A moving story of finding oneself through a lifetime of travel, this will be a terrific addition to memoir and Judaica collections.”—Olga Wise, Library Journal

“So much of Ruth Behar’s life story resonates with me. My mother is Cuban, and to paraphrase Winston Churchill, I may be half Cuban and half American, but there are so many times I feel completely Cuban. When I finally went to Cuba last fall, it was like returning to a place to which I had never been. I am the Cubana that Ruth Behar describes in her fascinating new memoir, Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys,’ one that is part of an ‘intensely diasporic people.’”—Judy Bolton-Fasman, Boston Globe

“In writing, the distance between the world and the self collapses, and the latter becomes a medium through which the former can be understood; the world becomes a function of the self. Thus, writing becomes the solution to the search for identity. Like Kafka, Behar takes part in self-creation. Through the act of composing a memoir about her search, she writes the lost homeland and the lost self into existence.”—Jane Shmidt, Bookslut

“Traveling Heavy is a collection of pieces that weave together a story well worth reading for years to come.”—Jacquelyn Lazo, ForeWord Reviews

“A heartfelt witness to the changing political and emotional landscape of the Cuban-American experience.”—Kirkus Reviews

“All those intrigued by their ancestral story will be moved by the personal quest and also by how—with the help of computers as well as the kindness of strangers—the lost can find their way home.”—Hazel Rochman, Booklist

“A moving story of finding oneself through a lifetime of travel, this will be a terrific addition to memoir and Judaica collections.”—Olga Wise, Library Journal

“So much of Ruth Behar’s life story resonates with me. My mother is Cuban, and to paraphrase Winston Churchill, I may be half Cuban and half American, but there are so many times I feel completely Cuban. When I finally went to Cuba last fall, it was like returning to a place to which I had never been. I am the Cubana that Ruth Behar describes in her fascinating new memoir, Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys,’ one that is part of an ‘intensely diasporic people.’”—Judy Bolton-Fasman, Boston Globe

“In writing, the distance between the world and the self collapses, and the latter becomes a medium through which the former can be understood; the world becomes a function of the self. Thus, writing becomes the solution to the search for identity. Like Kafka, Behar takes part in self-creation. Through the act of composing a memoir about her search, she writes the lost homeland and the lost self into existence.”—Jane Shmidt, Bookslut

“Traveling Heavy is a collection of pieces that weave together a story well worth reading for years to come.”—Jacquelyn Lazo, ForeWord Reviews

"'Travelers are those who go elsewhere because they want to . . . Immigrants are those who go elsewhere because they have to.' Ruth Behar's own story is one of being both the reluctant immigrant and the enthusiastic traveler, and finally, perhaps to appease both legacies, 'an anthropologist who specializes in homesickness.' Behar admits Spanish is her mother tongue, and yet she is a master craftsperson in her father tongue, English. As always, her exquisite stories leave me astonished, amused, exhilarated, illuminated, and forever transformed."—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

"Ruth Behar takes us deep into geographies she has charted, transcending anthropological reportage and finding the poetry that is there not only in the places she has mapped but also in history. She has written an observant and surprisingly compassionate book, full of warmth. I enjoyed reading every page; it is full of wisdom and devastating sincerity."—Nilo Cruz, author of Anna in the Tropics, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

"Traveling Heavy speaks to issues—the impact of religion on social identity, the cultural and linguistic discomforts of immigration, the social tensions found in multicultural and multigenerational families, the texture of relations between parents and children—that define our humanity. What's more, Ruth Behar skillfully weaves these complex issues into a gripping story of personal challenge and growth. Her artful memoir is filled with grace."—Paul Stoller, author of The Power of the Between: An Anthropological Odyssey

"Ruth Behar graces us with her provocative and enchanting memoir of travel and self discovery: as a mother, as a writer, as an anthropologist, and as a child of exile and homecomings. Traveling Heavy is a memoir of wonder from one of the leading Latina artists of the U.S.A."—Marjorie Agosin, author of At the Threshold of Memory: New & Selected Poems

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