2024-03-21: El Barrio China y La Necropolis
Author: Rob
During research for the trip we learned that Havana once had a thriving Barrio Chino, or Chinese neighborhood. Unfortunately most of the Cuban Chinese community left after the revolution, but the infrastructure remains and there are still restaurants that tout themselves as offering Comida China, despite the fact that most of them serve things like Hamburguesa Americana. Regardless, we were in the area and decided to check it out while we were there. It was pretty weird, like most of what we've seen and done in Havana. There obviously aren't many (or any, maybe) Chinese people left in Barrio Chino, but waitresses outside of Chinese themed restaurants apply eyeliner to try to make themselves look Asian. We didn't eat here, but did a quick walk through to see what there was to see.
From there we took a rickshaw type taxi to the Plaza de La Revolucion. This is a pretty brutalist looking concrete plaza surrounded by mid century office buildings that house various government operations. The main spectacle here is a huge tower and monument to Jose Marti. There were a number of buzzards circling around the tower, which we kind of got a kick out of. The primary reason we stopped here was that it was close to another attraction, La Necropolis de Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus Cemetery).
La Necropolis is a massive cemetery that features large and elaborate mausoleums as well as over a million interred remains. As a cemetery buff I was pretty excited about this and it lived up to it's expectations. The whole cemetery is about 150 acres large, and in addition to the captivating mausoleums and monuments it was full of shady spots to take a rest and birds singing in the trees. After the hot walk from the plaza it was a welcome interlude.
