Rosa is unemployed. They live in a small apartment in an old building with a central courtyard. On their roof, a man keeps pet pigeons. As I look out over the city, he sets his birds free into the blue Caribbean sky. Along the famous seaside avenue called the Malecon, couples find a degree of intimacy difficult to get in the crowded buildings of the city.
Cuban families stroll next to tourists.
Young boys and old men cast their fishing lines into the Atlantic. Other people come just to gaze north along the flat ocean horizon, possibly imagining life 90 miles across the Florida Straits in the United States. Whenever a storm comes along, waves crash against the Malecon, soaking the walkway, the salt slowly eating away at the majestic buildings of Havana. With hundreds of crumbling architectural masterpieces, Havana is a huge city with a vibrant and colorful street life. Built for 700,000, the city now has 2.2 million residents.