A man reads a newspaper atop a truck in Havana. In Cuba it seems time has stood still since the 1960s. [Photo/Agencies]

Speeding up

Many artists have found inspiration in Cuban time.

"Coming to Cuba is like traveling back to the past. Time doesn't move here," says the artist Dagoberto Rodriguez.

He and a collaborator made waves in 2012 with a piece where a troupe danced backward up a Havana avenue, symbolizing Cubans' peculiar relationship with time.

But things have been evolving since President Raul Castro came to power in 2008.

Since he replaced his big brother Fidel, tourism has boomed, WiFi hotspots have flourished, and private restaurants and hotels have gone from banned to blossoming.

Besides the long-unthinkable rapprochement with Washington, Raul Castro has sought to modernize Cuba's Soviet-style economy by allowing small private businesses, the sale of cars and homes, and international travel.

"Time has accelerated in Cuba as a result of the economic reforms," says Arturo Lopez-Levy, a professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.