Mario Cartaya on Journey Back into the Vault: In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints: Nonfiction

Mario Cartaya is the founder and principal owner of Cartaya and Associates Architects. His work has been recognized in several magazine and newspaper articles and cover stories. Born in Havana in 1951, he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1959. In 2019, his life’s story and architectural designs were entered into the U.S. Library of Congress. In Journey Back into the Vault: In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints (Xlibris Us), Cartaya travels to his birthplace for the first time to reclaim his Cuban childhood memories, original identity, and a once-promised destiny. He searches for “the now faded footprints I once left behind in the homes, school, and playgrounds of the first nine years of my life,” honors relatives he never saw again, and meets family members he never knew. Cartaya aims at breaching “the subconscious vault [he] once built to store the difficult memories of a childhood usurped, destiny denied, and loving family forever separated by geopolitical events.” “By achieving purity of heart, reconciliation […],” he argues, “We can evolve into better versions of ourselves.”