Old 1950s vintage American automobiles strung together with ingenuity and chewing gum dot the streets. The crowded lobby, infested with European businessmen and foreign tourists, is noisy with laughter, argument and the ubiquitous and annoying cell phone chimes. I go for a very early morning jog, passing street vendors peddling papayas the size of an NFL football. Mile after mile of architecture dating from the 16th century lies in a state of neglect and decay. Buildings that in the United States would appear on the registry of historic sites or be featured in Architectural Digest are devoid of paint and house multiple families with laundry strewn from balconies.
Electric wiring is strung willy-nilly and illegally like spilled spaghetti.
Young prostitutes returning from a hard night's work line up at government bakeries to receive the daily bread ration. Noxious fumes belch from car and bus exhausts, the result of leaded gas and a singular lack of catalytic converters. And everywhere the accumulated layers of grime and blackness. For 40 years, Castro ignored the cities, investing instead in building the agrarian economy and improving the lot of the rural peasant. The decades of neglect are clearly evident in the destruction of one of the world's great architectural showcases.