Havana 2024

In Cuba, I am a drab tourist amongst a sea of vivid blues, yellows, reds and every other colour in the rainbow.

In February 2024, Havana is wrapped in a hot, hazy blanket of thirty degree weather, sweat evaporating off us as we zig-zag through it, a speck in its veins. We contribute to the din silently as spectators, with little chance of becoming lost and blending in. Despite the heat, which may make its Canadian tourists a bit irritable at times, Havana’s citizens have a sense of calm.

In this month, Cuba started to experience regular blackout periods that have increased in frequency as the year has progressed. In mid-October, the entire nation experienced a days-long shutdown. Several factors influence the crisis that Cuba is currently facing - the weather, foreign influence, and corruption, to name a few. Canadians are, according to the news, continuing to visit the island despite the blackouts and whispers of wide-spread civil unrest.

Havana in February 2024 is a bright, boisterous community of calm, collected individuals. The calm before the pressure.