Along the Malecón

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Cuba was to experience the Malecón, a five-mile stretch of seawall fronting the central part of Havana.  I expected it to be a vibrant area full of people strolling along and bands playing music. Not sure where I got this idea from, perhaps from old movies or feelings generated by the music of the Buena Vista Social Club. What we found was quite different from what I had thought.

The first time we took a walk there we started at the old lighthouse and headed west. The sun had set and the light was lovely.  And there were some people lining the wall, many of them with fishing rods. Apparently it's a popular place for people to go to get their dinner.



As the light faded we walked along the wide sidewalk beside the waves, passing a few people walking and groups of teenagers sitting on the wall. There were a few tourists but most of the people seemed to have just drifted out of their homes for an after-dinner walk.  I'm told this is an area where there is a fair bit of prostitution happening as well although we didn't notice anything.

Here are Paul and Wendy walking along the Malecón. You can see the buildings facing the ocean looking quite nice as the sun sets.  And below a building glowing in the dusky light.

But a couple of days later we walked the same stretch in the middle of the afternoon and saw it in quite a different light.You can see that these buildings were once ornate and elegant but most of them are now crumbling and ruined. 

I'm hoping that the rubble in some areas means that there's some remediation happening but it may not be the case.  Obviously they've suffered from decades of neglect and are being damaged by winter storms and hurricanes.

I only hope that some of them can be saved before they crumble away.