Calle Obispo

This guide to Calle Obispo in Havana starts inside Farmacia Taquechel, counting the century-old hand-painted French porcelain jars still labeled for cures like camphor and cinnamon water, a pharmacy the pharmacist Francisco Taquechel Mirabal took over in 1898. It follows the street itself back to the two Roman Catholic bishops who once walked its length blessing passersby, and the forty-seven names it collected before Havana settled on Obispo for good in 1936. You'll hear how the same shelves now stock honey, calendula and shark cartilage for Cubans facing medicine shortages. Watch how carefully a customer reads a label before buying.