A Cuban originally from Camagüey shared a video on TikTok in which he portrays his life in the United States and compares it, point by point, to what it would have been like on the island: chickens, doves, fruit trees, plants on the porch, and his children bathing in the rain.
«When I tell people that I live in the United States as if I were living in Cuba, I literally take a shower in the downpour with my children,» says the man, identified on the platform as @elnegro.com87. The video, published on June 2, has garnered over 53,000 views and nearly 200 comments.
The resident of Camagüey walks through his property showing two avocado trees, a coconut tree, bushes of ají cachucha, lemon, pumpkin, tomato, peppers, red plums, Cuban cherries, and oregano. "Oregano just like the one from Cuba, for cooking and for making remedies," he notes, as a rainbow appears in the background.
His wife has the porch filled with plants, a custom that the author directly associates with Cuba. His children bathe in the rain, and his daughter washes her hair with rainwater, scenes that the man describes as exact replicas of life on the island.
"The climate, the trees, the vegetation, the customs, everything, gentlemen, that's how it is," he asserts. Southern Florida, with its tropical and subtropical climate, allows many Cuban emigrants to cultivate exactly the plants that characterize the island and maintain habits that would be impossible in other states.
The author acknowledges that not all emigrant Cubans live the same way. "I know that there are people who may live in an apartment in a state where it's cold, where the climate is different," he admits. But he emphasizes that his case is different: he achieved in the U.S. what he could never have in Cuba.
"Happiness, the joy with which I live, cannot be explained, because I have everything I could have wished for in Cuba: a house with space, with land, with animals, with trees," he concludes.
This type of content is part of a well-established trend among emigrated Cubans who document how they preserve their cultural identity in the U.S. From household habits inherited from scarcity in Cuba —saving bags, reusing containers, handwashing clothes— to practices more connected to the countryside, such as gardening in the yard and raising animals.
Camagüey, a province in the central-eastern region of Cuba known for its cattle ranching and agricultural tradition, strengthens the author's emotional connection to the rural life he depicts in the United States. The narrative stands in stark contrast to the everyday reality on the island, characterized by blackouts, food shortages, and the deterioration of housing.
It is not the first time that the attachment of Cubans to their plants has led to viral moments. In October 2024, a Cuban woman went viral due to her concern over Hurricane Milton and the fate of her avocado plant. In September 2025, another case documented the theft of mango and avocado plants from a Cuban in Lehigh Acres, Florida, illustrating how much these plants represent more than just food for the emigrant community.
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