Havana, Hanging Out on Balconies

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Kris Cunningham

I spent some time on the balcony one late afternoon just watching the neighbors. These photos were probably taken in the space of 5-10 minutes, and as you can see a lot of living is done outdoors even if there is only a small balcony available.

I think these guys were raising pigeons. I saw some fly towards and away from this spot, and I think here the guys were looking for the pigeons in the air.
A street vendor makes a sale
and another sale. Sandwiches?
hanging out on balconies. The guy on the upper one was having a conversation with someone across the street.
a conversation between neighbors
another lady on a balcony
some friends come to visit
I’m very curious to know what is going on with the cardboard in the upper parts of the doorways. We were told that most old apartments have very high ceilings, even 18 feet. Is this the case here, and they are trying to block the elements from the upper parts?
a guy exercising on his roof
more conversations
this man and wife seemed to take turns on the balcony
apparently she keeps her water supply on the balcony
laundry time – the ladies came from the small building on the left. We were told that extra living space is often built on roofs
Isn’t that the guy from the balcony a little while ago? Now it looks like he’s sending something up to the neighbor lady.
Someone asked about trash. These blue trash bins are found everywhere.
Now a man came out and starting washing clothes in a bucket
such a pretty sunset
more colors in the sky

About the blue trash bins in one of the photos, they are found on every street and sometimes later in the day they are overflowing. We were told that trash trucks come around every night. And, the lady with the water on her balcony – no one drinks the tap water in Cuba. Our hostess boiled the water and then put it through a filter in a big jug on the counter. Any time we or anyone else needed water we would go there.

I also mentioned the extra living spaces on roofs. Our host pointed a number of places that had been built on roofs by people who needed living space, and it seemed that almost every roof had these places. He also said it’s common to build an extra floor in apartments that have very high ceilings. Living space can be very expensive for people on limited incomes so they have learned to be creative and use every resource they have.

I liked hanging out on the balcony, enjoying the warm breezes and sounds of the city. It reminded me a bit of New York City in my distant past, when spring would finally come and you could open your windows, and then the sounds of the city would flood in and you would feel so much a part of the energy of the city.

About Kris Cunningham

We live in David, Chiriqui Provence, Republic of Panama! This blog is about some of our experiences in our new country.
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8 Responses to Havana, Hanging Out on Balconies

  1. Jim VanZwol says:
    February 28, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Kris,

    You Cuba blog is incredible! How did you find your host?

    Thank you, Jim

    On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 11:20 AM, The Panama Adventure wrote:

    > Kris Cunningham posted: “I spent some time on the balcony one late > afternoon just watching the neighbors. These photos were probably taken in > the space of 5-10 minutes, and as you can see a lot of living is done > outdoors even if there is only a small balcony available. Abo” >

    Like

  2. peggyjoan42 says:
    February 28, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    This was a very interesting post. Those little balconies look like nice places to enjoy the day.. A good place to people watch.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Kevin says:
    March 2, 2017 at 8:18 am

    I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your series of blogs on Cuba. I thought you might find this BBC news article about the internet in Havana interesting. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39119873

    Like

  4. Barbara Schutt says:
    March 2, 2017 at 8:58 am

    Your photos are wonderful and depict life in the neighborhood. Spending time outdoors on the balcony so as not to be couped up inside. I love it!

    Like

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