It’s always nice to have a little familiarity when you’re travelling somewhere new. Something you can rely on to give you that creature comfort. Sometimes, weirdly perhaps, Chinatowns are that thing. But not so much the Chinatown in Havana, Cuba. This is episode two of Language Stories.

Why Cuba?

As we were planning our trip back home in the UK, I spent some time browsing Skyscanner and dreaming about all the places we could head next after our time in Quebec, Canada.

There were lots of cheap(ish) flights to one country in particular, a country we both had a curiosity for and a desire to visit for ourselves: Cuba.

But languagewise, Cuba didn’t seem to present itself with any obvious Language Stories episodes. Hmm…

It wasn’t until we were actually in Cuba and glancing through our guidebook (yup, no internet means going old school and travelling with guidebook in tow!) that we noticed something interesting.

Havana, the capital has a Chinatown…but with one thing missing…

The Video

The Podcast

Further Reading + Resources

There’s a surprising amount of info on this Wikipedia page about Chinese Cubans.

Spanish Wikipedia article about El Barrio Chino.

In Cuba, a Chinatown with No Chinese – an interesting article about El Barrio Chino.

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