Holguín

Holguín, Cuba's fourth-largest city, has gotten worse in the four decades since Arenas lived here. The "low houses" of which he speaks have all been added onto illegally using whatever materials their owners could acquire. The result has been an aesthetic collapse, where piles of bricks and cinder blocks lie in the street and structures are bare of paint. Still, if you seek insight into a Cuban city that has been bypassed by tourism, Holguín is an interesting study. And it's also a good gateway to the beach resorts at Guardalavaca 50 km (31 mi) north.