Havana city has its contrasts. Today I’m talking about one of the neighborhoods of the city that is not promoted in the tourist routes.
I refer to the settlement “El Fanguito” located on the margins of the Rio Almendares in the middle of the limits of El Vedado and Miramar. Both are residential districts.
El Fanguito began to be populated in 1935 by Cuban immigrants who left their provinces to settle in Havana.
With a lot of imagination and scarce resources, each one has built a space to live without the advice of an architect or engineer.
Small plank houses that kiss each other in visible disrepair, others constructed of, masonry or metal work. According to the economic possibilities of the families.
Bypassing holes we advance through its streets without numbers or names. We can hear sticky melodies, the drums of some hint of saint or stumble upon a rustic table where a lively game of dominoes is celebrated.
Its people are dedicated to the “day after day”. Leaving and back to the neighborhood aware that it is impossible to mix poverty with glamour.
El Fanguito hosts thousands of neighbors and does not stop the illegal landing of new settlers.
