Old Havana

I spent a week in Havana in early June 2015.  As I walked around the city with my camera, I kept trying to answer the question “What is Havana?”  I’m not sure I found an answer.  It’s a complicated city and I’m sure that as a tourist I only scratched the surface.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - yellow buildings on calle trejadillo

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a bourgainvillea vine in the foreground with buildings including a church in the background

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - tall skinny doors at number 1104, colourful oil drums outside the door and laundry hanging from an upper window

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a small indoor shooting range with 4 air rifles and targets of plastic drink bottles against the far wall.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - street scene. People walking in a narrow street with buildings close to the edge of the street on both sides.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - two tall skinny doors at number 1106, also a window with metal bars over it.

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - graffiti on a wall. A man with curly black hair and a blue face is holding a skateboard.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a building on a corner, metal bars over window, bananas in the window for sale. Door open

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - weathered building with a street sign on it, calle inquisidor, an air conditioner in the window, and a lot of electrical cables running up the side of the building

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a woman is sitting in a doorway with a small table beside her and a bowl in her hand. She appears to be scowling at the camera

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - delivering mattresses. A truck with seven mattresses is parked in front a building. Men are talking on the sidewalk.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a small courtyard with a stone fence, no grass growing in the yard, just dirt. There is a tree with bright orange blossoms, the building in the background has a turquoise wall

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - an old cart with fruit on it, a street vendor's wagon, sits on a cobblestone street with a man in a doorway in the background

A school girl walks down a sidewalk with ice cream in her hand. A young man lounges in a doorway in the background.

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a woman is preparing to open an art gallery store. She is wearing a bright coloured horizontal striped skirt. One of the paintings on display is a black and white nude woman from the thighs up

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - colourful licence plates for sale in a shop for tourists

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba -

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - An upper storey window and small balcony. Someone has painted a small blue palm tree beside the window

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - the exterior walls and doorway of an artist's studio have been painted blue and pink, with large red, white and black, polka dots.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a chalk board on the doorway of a store with the prices of the merchandise that is for sale (food items)

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a view from a rooftop of other lower rooftops including one with a lot of air conditioners on it

An old run down brown building. A woman in high heels and a pink shirt is leaning against the building, you can see her in profile. picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba -

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - old colonial style three storey buildings that are empty and abandoned. Two old American cars are driving past them.

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a woman in a white blouse and white skirt and multicoloured apron leans agains the corner of the exterior of a building. A weathered old building is behind her.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - the Cafeteria el Polo with it's red sign is across the street. An old car is driving past, a bici (two passenger bicycle taxi) is also in the picture

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a bust of Santiago Ramon y Cajal on a pedestal in a park

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - an old dilapidated two storey building that is starting to look like it is going to fall down. A woman is walking down the street past it

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - photo taken on an angle and looking up at the tops of two windows with ornate white window frames against a bright red wall.

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - street scene. Old buildings, old cars

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - the upper part of a statue in a park, a man's head and arms are poking out of a square rock like structure

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - A doorway of a rather empty store. Three bowls are on an orange cloth on a table. The sign by the bowls says se limpian ollas (we wash bowls).

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a plain one storey structure is sandwiched between two larger more ornate buildings.

picture taken inthe old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a street scene. A man is rumaging through garbage bins, a couple of men are sitting in doorways, some people are walking. Old run down buildings.

picture taken in the old part of the city of Havana Cuba - a main street, cars on the road, an old building, and some modern colour coded traffic signs in purple and green.