A House in Central Havana

A House in Central Havana

Let me describe for you a typical small home in Central Havana. The street in front is narrow, but two cars can pass each other with no problem. Narrow sidewalks help make this possible. It doesn’t happen often because there is little auto traffic on this street. The lot width is about 25 feet, and the house is built right on the lot lines so the houses on either side touch the next door neighbor. The only way to the small patio at the rear is through the house.

The living room is the largest room in the house, about twenty feet square, and it sits just behind the front wall. The front door and a large shuttered window open to the street. If the family is sitting in their living room and a neighbor walks by, they can carry on a conversation through the window without leaving their chairs. Like many places in Latin America, the window and door are fitted with iron bar grates—the one on the door is hinged and used much as we would use a screen door. But there are no screens and no air conditioning. Except in storms, the door and window shutters are swung inside to provide air circulation.

The living room has a tile floor and a beamed 16’ ceiling stained a dark wood color. Behind the living room along one side wall is a wide, open air hallway giving passage to the rear of the house where it ends at a small bathroom. As you go down the open passage, you pass two small bedrooms on the right. Doors between all the rooms allow you to move through the house without using the open air passage in the case of rain.

The largest room in the rear is the kitchen which has a small refrigerator, but its single most noticeable feature is a built in wood grille about six feet wide covered by a hood and chimney. Yes, cooking is over a wood or charcoal fire, but this family also has an electric hot plate next to the grille.

The back door opens onto a 20 by 25 foot open patio with vines on the walls and a large tropical fruit tree from which melon sized bright green fruits hang. The patio is completely enclosed by the walls of adjacent houses.

This home could be up to 200 years old, so the water, electricity and bathroom are all later additions. You can see all the wires and pipes which run from the roof down the inside walls to the faucets, switches, or receptacles at useable levels. A large plastic tank of very recent vintage on the roof is fed by the municipal water system.

This family loves animals and has a couple of dogs. If they’ve taken the precaution of neutering them, (which service can be had for free from Aniplant), they can be let out in front to relieve themselves. If not, their female dog soon would end up pregnant, and they’d soon have to find homes for or abandon the puppies. In this case, neutering has been done, and the worst that is likely to happen to their pets is to get into a fight or be hit by a car. But these dogs are wise to the dangers and come back to be let in after a while.

One other hazard is they can be mistaken for strays and rounded up by anti rabies teams. Too bad nearly no one uses collars and tags for their dogs. I suppose it is possible to tell strays from family dogs, but it isn’t easy. Family dogs, as a rule, look nourished and healthy and keep their fur looking good. But mistakes happen and they are sometimes are swept up and taken away by the municipal authorities. To read what a pet-loving family must do then, see my blog of June 4.

I’ve written this to help understand a little of the way our Cuban neighbors live. It’s quite different from our lifestyle here at home. The common element, a love for animals, is shared by many on both sides of the Florida Straits.

Les Inglis