Tales of my city

Photographs taken with my mobile phone, Xiaomi Redmi 10 C, model 220333QL. 🙆

When I stepped out around midday, I had two things in mind: first, to visit someone who’d been recommended to me to repair the inner tube of my bicycle, which had split in rather dramatic fashion. The place was in a neighbourhood called ‘El Fanguito’, roughly 10 kilometres from home—perched on the fringe between the Playa and Vedado boroughs. The second task was to return quickly to tackle a few household chores. What wishful thinking! Return quickly… of course, as if. I didn’t even pack my camera in the rucksack to avoid temptation, but I had my phone. Change of plans. 😂

When I was less than two blocks from my destination, I came across a man of about sixty, utterly exhausted, dragging a flat-tyred bicycle. He said he'd walked all the way from Línea Street and that the repairman wasn’t working that day. Luckily, he was close to 26th Street and had been told of another place in that area. I had no way of helping… so I offered him some encouragement and asked further ahead to confirm the location—they said it was at 26th and 17th.

26th and 17th. Vedado.

While I was waiting for that disaster to be fixed (wait, I’ll show you in a minute), a man passed by selling cremitas de leche. My mouth watered, but I held back. Another man from Camagüey—or I’m not quite sure where he was from—told me the story of his life in under fifteen minutes, family drama and all. I told the repairman he had lovely eyes… Then an elderly gentleman turned up joking and said that he avoided getting flats on his bike by using the straps from travel bags, he tucked them inside the tyre. The man who’d been telling me his life story asked me, quite excitedly, if I’d ever seen those Kevlar anti-puncture strips that go inside the wheels… All in all, very entertaining. And I took this photo.

It turned out a bit rough, but it looks fine—just like a friend told me that evening when I showed him how the job had come out.

😯 I just hope it’ll come in handy when things get tight, at least.

😅 Round here we patch things up here until there’s no fabric left for another fix.

Right then, I headed off for lunch. The place, which just days ago had been piled high with rubbish, was decent today. I liked seeing it that way. It was the view from where I’d decided to fuel up the body a little.

Hijos del Maltrato (Children of Mistreatment)

It’s written there on the wall. I don’t know the address, though I’ve got the exact location saved on my phone. Hang on.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2bwKKKHvL5hkrJVP9

Pizza, malt, and a little dessert with fruit inside, 🤤 so tasty… ended up being my lunch. I also picked up a can of condensed milk to make flan at home. Might feel inspired to show you the process one of these days, but no promises.

The photos that follow were taken at an industrial-style spot on Línea and 18th, where fairs are held and some members of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets set up their tables and stands. It wasn’t crowded at all, but I wandered over to a few out of curiosity—and even picked up a few little things.

I bought some handmade soap and this balm for my lips—they get terribly dry in the sun.

I was near the Malecón—so, by the sea—and pedalled along it for a bit, heading toward 23rd and O, where I was supposed to meet a friend, Azrael. He was stuck in an endless queue at an ATM trying to withdraw some cash. Ahhh… but I was feeling so artistic, taking photos, that time simply dissolved… and Azrael ended up going off to get his shoes without me. He wanted the money for some MTB trainers. Cyclists are like that—they love collecting cycling gear… hahaha…

Riviera Hotel. Malecón and Paseo.
I filmed a silly little video here, but I've already left that behind in the Spanish digital realms. 🤣

Hotel Grand Aston
Malecón Avenue, between 1st and D Street.

I had to stop again... the scene was so full of colour. I took several shots, but this one’s my favourite.

A little further on, after passing Avenida G—or the Avenue of Presidents—I stopped again while cycling along the Malecón. The sky looked so strange... and a few wood pigeons were pecking at the grass in this abandoned children's park.

Nené Traviesa Children's Park.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QtCwCyxdwfyPF8jZ7

The white walls, the painted figures, the silence, the sea breeze… it was a whole cluster of sensations I felt there. That’s why I sometimes lose all sense of time…

These days, my intuition speaks with striking clarity and force… it’s as though I’ve come close to touching something that belongs to another world, somewhere distant. As if there were no time, no space, as if I were about to draw back a curtain that’s been there all along, concealing my deepest longing.

It’s a sense of peace settling inside me… a thought so clear, so soothing. It leaves no room for anguish, it fills me with confidence, makes me feel strong, whole. And so I smile. I look up at the sky, at the sea, and I give thanks. There’s comfort in walking, in watching the great skein of thread unravel—guiding me through this labyrinth towards one outcome only: safety.

https://goo.gl/maps/4Ueuc7ZMTMkjL9AX8

I swear that after taking this photo, I climbed the slope of 23rd Street brimming with inspiration—yet didn't take another shot. It was time to head home.