HAVANA, Cuba — Despite a recent thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the New York Philharmonic was reminded last week that it’s still easier for an American orchestra to play in nuclear-armed North Korea than in the long-estranged Caribbean island next door.

HAVANA, Cuba — A vast system of workplace cafeterias doles out lunch on this island every week, serving rice, beans and maybe a little meat to some 3.5 million Cubans — a third of the country’s population. In a state-run economy where the average salary is about $20 a month, the meal can be an added incentive to show up for work.

HOLGUIN, Cuba — Former Cuban President Fidel Castro was famous for his marathon speeches and unflinching stamina, delivering grand, looping disquisitions that could last for hours in the broiling sun. But on Sunday, the national holiday marking the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, Castro’s successor and younger brother Raul was brief and direct in his state-of-the-union-style address — in keeping with his reputation as a practical man with little patience for the island’s plodding bureaucracy. His message was also a sobering one.