A Cuban resident in Galicia surprised her followers by revealing in a video posted on TikTok last Sunday that what she misses most about the island has nothing to do with its landscapes or its cuisine.
Liliana Shop, a Cuban content creator based in Galicia, posed a question that many emigrants silently ask themselves: what do you really miss when leaving the island behind?
His response was straightforward: "It's not the beaches, it's not the weather, not even the food. What I miss the most are the moments of arriving at someone's house unannounced, listening to music at any corner, the endless conversations with family."
That social spontaneity, that habit of showing up at someone else's home unannounced as a sign of trust and closeness, is precisely what hurts the most in the distance.
Liliana sums it up with a phrase that strikes a very familiar chord among the diaspora: "When you emigrate, you discover something very important: you miss places, but you miss people so much more."
But the video doesn't just dwell on nostalgia. The creator also shares an unexpected discovery in her new land: the Galician custom of "let's grab something to drink."
"I heard people say, 'let's grab a drink,' and I thought it would be a quick meeting, but they spent hours chatting without rushing, without checking the clock every five minutes," he recounts.
What initially seemed disconcerting eventually felt familiar, even comforting: "Here, often what matters is not what you drink, but who you share that moment with."
That way of understanding free time immediately reminded him of Cuba, and in that parallel, he found something valuable: "In a world where everything moves so fast, that way of enjoying time seemed beautiful to me and also reminded me a lot of Cuba."
Liliana's testimony resonates with a pattern that is common among Cubans who have emigrated to Spain. A Cuban woman confessed last Wednesday that "she was happier in Cuba," referring to the emotional support she left behind, rather than the material conditions of the island.
The paradox is well-known among those who have emigrated: life improves economically abroad, but memory clings more strongly to human connections, the music in the streets, and the gatherings without a fixed schedule.
Another Cuban in Galicia shared at the beginning of the year that she was struggling to adapt to the climate, meal times, and the Galician language, although she also acknowledged similarities in the region's hospitality.
The Cuban community in Spain numbered around 200,000 people at the beginning of 2023, with at least 27,000 new registrations recorded in 2025, making the country one of the main destinations for recent Cuban emigration.
Galicia, with its culture of social gatherings and its tradition of long after-meals, has become for many a place where Cuban roots unexpectedly find a familiar echo.
As Liliana concludes: "Even though our countries are different, there is something we share: we like to talk, we like to laugh, we like to be surrounded by the people we love. And those are the things that make one feel more and more at home."
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