Camagüey: The Jarred City

Camagüey is the province where I was born, although not in the city itself. Even so, I grew up knowing the tinajones: enormous clay jars that look almost too big to belong inside a home.

They had a practical job. Families used them to collect and store water.

Camagüey grew in a way that produced winding streets, unexpected corners and houses built around courtyards. The tinajón became part of that domestic landscape. It was useful before it became picturesque.

Today, people often see these jars as a symbol of the city. Tourists take pictures beside them. Restaurants put them in patios. They look decorative now, but the original idea was simple: when water is precious, you keep a lot of it close.

That detail tells you more about old Cuban life than a perfect colonial façade does. Architecture is not only about beauty. It is also about what people had to inventar when daily life refused to be easy.

And yes, Camagüeyanos will happily explain why our city has the best tinajones in Cuba.

We are very modest people.