Journey Back Into the Vault : In Search of my Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints

Journey Back Into the Vault invites people to travel with author Mario Cartaya back to the land of his birth for the first time in fifty-six years as he seeks to reclaim his forgotten childhood memories, original identity, and once-promised destiny. 

Join Mario as he searches for the now faded footprints he once left behind in the homes, school, and playgrounds of the first nine years of his life in 1950s Cuba before Fidel Castro came into power and his family became political exiles. Help him honor the grandparents, uncles, and aunts he never saw again at their final resting place, and meet family members he never knew existed. 

Laugh, sigh, and cry during the many unforeseen experiences, astonishing events, and serendipitous moments that would forever change his life. Enjoy the improbable story of a courageous journey aimed at breaching a subconscious vault once built to store the difficult memories of a childhood usurped, destiny denied, and loving family forever separated by geopolitical events. 

Journey Back Into the Vault is the story of those psychological forces that help define humans, the power of enduring hope, and how by achieving purity of heart, reconciliation, and a soul at rest, people can evolve into better versions of themselves—a universal message of love and enlightenment that can only begin with each individual’s search for self-actualization and inner peace.