“It’s beautiful to see the amount and quality of food here, the choices, the possibilities. Meanwhile, people are hungry in Cuba, scraping to get by, obsessing about where they’ll find dinner. I have to be careful with all this great food. If I keep eating, I won’t be able to run anymore and I’ll get out of shape.”

–Reinier Alcántara, a Cuban soccer player who defected last week while his team was in Washington, DC., recounts his emotional first visit to a grocery store in the U.S.