The other North African Arab Spring states of Tunisia and Egypt, unlike Libya, were significantly connected to the global economy and open to foreign visitors, and they saw greater international movement of their own citizens beyond persons fleeing political repression and visits to border states.

A hermetic dictatorship since 1969, Libya's recent opening is a unique occasion.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, few countries have opened up after decades of isolation. Considering Libya's location, where three continents meet, it has the potential to become a hotbed for cultural diffusion.

Comparing Libya to other Arab states I have visited, the culture is remarkably conservative, and not just religiously. It is no doubt connected to years of isolation and officially sponsored suspicion of outsiders.

Feeling the gaze of distrustful eyes when I took pictures at Tripoli's Martyrs' Square and walked around Benghazi's central neighborhoods, I was reminded of time I spent in Cuba. (Qaddafi and Fidel Castro were, at least politically, friends.)

Libyans were insulated from outsiders. Qaddafi established a system in which tourists had to stay in the presence of licensed tour guides -- no wandering or mingling with the locals. The Cuban government, before recent economic restructuring, also sought to keep foreigners, with their radical ideas about personal freedoms, away from locals. In Libya, official xenophobic rhetoric went beyond a disdain for the West and in 2004 manifested itself as death sentences for a Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses for allegedly infecting over 400 Libyan children with HIV. (The accused, who maintained their innocence, were allowed to leave Libya three years later.)

Qaddafi also fomented a culture of distrust among Libyans with his al-lijan al-thawriya, similar to Cuba's neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Libyans didn't know if they could express a political opinion in the presence of a neighbor, lest that neighbor report the utterance to authorities that had zero tolerance for dissent.

The conservative nature of the society means that although Libyans are extremely hospitable and generous, I was never able to meet a Libyan mother or wife to thank her for preparing a delectable meal for me. Common areas of homes become the domain of men when there is a male visitor in town.

Qaddafi did not prepare Libyans to interact with the world in either English, the de facto language of international communication, or in any other tongue besides Arabic, so even hotel staff are monolingual. One hotel receptionist, Ahmed AlShareef, 26, proudly showed me his English workbook, from which he learned his favorite phrase: "Let's go!"

With Qaddafi gone, there is a cultural opening evidenced by small signs throughout the country.