A New Look at Havana’s Malecon Seawall
Photo Feature by Caridad
HAVANA TIMES – I know it. There must already be more than a hundred reports that have been made about and from the Malecon seawall in Havana.
But it’s unavoidable when in Cuba to not visit the Malecon and once there it’s impossible not to take out one’s camera.
I don’t like this wall like I did before. The disappointment came after the first time I left Cuba. After a year away I went out one night to the long-awaited encounter with the wall and the sea.
What I found was darkness along most of where I walked. Not even five minutes of tranquility among so many vendors and any kind of funny or boring people killing time, beggars and hustlers looking for sex or to come upon an unattended bag.
On this trip, last December, after four years without visiting, it was a little better. I just walked without stopping anywhere, without expecting anything.
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I remember when all the new street lights went up several years ago. It was a revelation!
When all the holes in the Malecon were finally repaired that was ground breaking too… and everyone in the neighbourhood loved the cheap under-the-table concrete that was in abundance…
Exactly . It’s been 23 years since I first saw the Malecon. I would walk it from Vedado to Habana Viejo several times a day. There were no lights, no traffic, and men standing all along it in the street holding up big fish they were trying to sell. It has changed immensely.
Actually, the exact opposite is true. The Malecon has undergone major renovations, as have countless buildings along that route. There are new restaurants, clubs, galleries, etc. galore.
If you want to see deterioration then you have to move a block or two inland.
It is about nine years since I first walked the complete Malecon from the tunnel at the end of 5th Avenue in Mirimar to the tunnel at the entrance to the harbour by El Morro. In that time, little has changed except further deterioration of many buildings.