Havana’s Kholy Park
Photo Feature by Irina Pino
HAVANA TIMES – When the Kholy neighborhood was built last century, it was planned to integrate the architecture into the environment, since it is a high place, where the vegetation dominates. It is adjacent to the Almendares River, the Havana Forest, and belongs to Marianao Municipality.
Mansions were built there for wealthy people. Spacious residences with car garages and other amenities. Some even have swimming pools. Nearby is the Kholy Hotel, and a private clinic.
Part of this area is guarded 24 hours a day. Since those rich people left the country after 1959, other people were given their houses, although not to ordinary people. Everyone knows that.
There is a park nearby, called Kholy, too. It occupies a huge area, starting on Avenida 41 and connecting with the street behind. The trees and vegetation that is embedded in the stone survive. You can see some homes on one side of the park. I imagine that its occupants, from up there, observe the visitors, and even listen to their conversations.
It is also interesting for its multiple stairs and different levels. In a side space, it has a small square, I don’t know if it was perhaps a reflecting pool, but it is quite dirty.
A small playground is inserted in that place. A row of bricks surrounds it, and you enter through a small, half-hidden street. The other day, while I was taking photos, I walked in and saw the devices for the kids. Of course, I got on one of the swings; I loved remembering how much I enjoyed in my childhood swinging with my legs outstretched and the wind hitting my face.
I confess that it doesn’t look pretty today, the abandonment is noticeable. Most of the park devices lack paint, others are half rusted. There’s not even gravel on the ground. So, when it rains, mud prevails. Inside, there is also a disused kiosk.
It is a real shame that a place like this does not have the life it deserves, where children could have options to enjoy with friends and their parents.
The entire park is as if buried, it is very quiet, isolated. It hurts to see it and not be able to do anything. I only think of the possibilities that it has not yet lost, of its muted beauty.
