Greenery pokes out between wrought-iron balconies overheated by the sun.
Power lines doubling as laundry lines crisscross overhead. Fewer than 20 percent of the buildings in Old Havana are considered to be in good repair. Yet what should be a depressing stage gives life to an almost joyful play, for the Cuban people's good nature and intelligence is evident in the flurry of animated exchanges, the thump of a street soccer game, the intensity of a cigar-drenched game of dominoes set up on a table in the middle of the street. In Plaza de San Francisco, near La Fuente de los Leones , or the Fountain of Lions, a white van slides open, releasing Cizek's Historic Preservation class onto the cobbled square. Of Old Havana's 3,500-plus buildings, more than 900 are of historical note, most of them built prior to the 20th century, some as early as the 16th century.