Tag Archives: Marbles

The Way We Used To Play

Years ago, If you lived in the city, you played in the street.

In Havana, that’s exactly what children still do.

Get some wheels and find a hill.

Jump onto a pile of sand and roll down the side.

 

Play a card game and use old cigarette packs as currency.

 

Find something to climb on, run around, and hide behind.

Hopscotch

Basketball

 

And of course, there’s always futbol.

 

Playing Marbles:  https://wp.me/p4fUlX-11B

Kids still play marbles in Havana.

When it started to rain I ducked into the restaurant La Algarabia on the corner of Neptuno and Escobar.  I sat at a table on the Escobar side and had an open view of the boys in action. I photographed while enjoying a great plate of Arroz Frito.

Here they are using a manhole cover as a goal, with the concentric rings used to keep score.

One marble rolled into the outer ring earns one marble from the boy taking the action. One marble in the second ring earns two. One in the center earns three.

They take turns “taking the action”.

Of course there is always an argument about something.