Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón - 1876

(Havana Cemetery) The Necropolis Cristobel Colon is a huge, beautiful cemetery with tons of monuments on nearly 1 million graves. and what do they do there? right next to the grave site, if you bother walking 20 meters to a hill, you will be walking on bones. theres a huge hole in the ground where they've thrown tons of them. a graveyard employee showed this to me. normally the casket is removed from the grave 2 years after burial and either relatives or the staff cleans the bones off anything left of the corpse and clothes, and the bones are put in a box, which (despite what locals insisted telling me) are not permanently closed in any way, its simply a box made of cement or similar, with a board on top. the boxes are piled up in buildings in the cemetery area, and relatives go there, sometimes move the cover and put flowers inside. even saw lizards making visits to one. the employee said that the 'massgrave' of bones is for people with no money to pay for the box. and the locals told me the box is so cheap, practically free, that anyone can afford it. and knowing Fidel's ideas, im sure this is the case. anyhow i dont think its according to catholic standards to treat the skeletons like that, i dont personally care, but i know they do, and hence im saddened that this would happen. our hosts were surpised over the photos, showing them to friends coming by and all, everyone was shocked. ironically, the b&b is right next to the cemetery...so you never know what is going on right under your nose. anyhow im sure its not according to policy in any way to have sceneries like that in highly religious countries like Cuba, u go to a cemetery and suddenly your walking on bones...i couldve taken that female/teenager rib by my foot easy and taken home. anyone could. maybe they do. i threw it in the pit, which i think they should do to all the rest thats out there on the grass...not sure if its any better in the pit than under my sandals, it just feels weird to step on someones dentures...



a journal that featured me, should be able to understand it now that i just got a crash reminder in Cuba... but i doubt i bother


i didnt get much done today, finally got my new visa and replied some emails and notes... called mom and discussed work atuff with Arttu... thats about it.