HAVANA 500: Obispo Street as a picture of an old book

Obispo Street, in the Historic Center of colonial Havana, looks like a picture of a book of yesteryear and not only because of its old buildings, but also because of the curious characters that have emerged since tourism grew and the Cuban capital became one of the favorite poles of visitors.

As you walk along this city artery, where the coming and going of people is continuous, you can see the woman with black skin and abundant meat, dressed in white and with a handkerchief knotted on her forehead, who in the middle of puffs of tobacco smoke, reads the letters and gives her augurs, generally promising, to whom she drops some coins in her bag.

There are also those who in an improvised duet or trio play maracas, guitar, claves and shell with a well-pitched voice a Cuban son, especially when visitors approach wearing sandals, wearing shorts and t-shirts, who by their clothing, way of speaking and color of complexion, are known that they come from other countries.

The man with the sausage dogs, with hats, vests and glasses, mounted in the drawer of a bicycle does not take long to arrive in early hours to this part of colonial Havana, declared Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and maximum exponent of the epoch architecture in the insular Caribbean.

There is no lack of those who dance to the rhythm of the drum and the Chinese cornet with silky suits and bright colors, who from the additional stature provided by wooden stilts look like giants doing their striking parades.

Mulatto and black women dressed in the style of other centuries, with baskets full of flowers resting on their rounded and sensual hips or on their firm heads, stroll and tell tourists the best positioned Creole food restaurant.

It is a curious picture in a city that celebrates in November its 500 years and where now members of the theater group Giganteria bring to contemporary life characters from other eras such as La Palomera, El Arlequin and La Giraldilla. The curious thing is that they become living sculptures, with which many people take a photograph after tipping coins in a small tray.

Most passers-by, whether national or foreign, like to walk down this road and watch these ingenious men and women make up and look for the most attractive outfits, as if they left the page of a very old book when Havana shrouded them in its colonial charm.

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