A visit to the Cementerio Santa Ifigenia at Santiago de Cuba will change your perspective on death and cemeteries. Graveyards are often grey, sad and a little creepy. Not the perfect place to hang out. But the Cementerio Santa Ifigenia at Santiago de Cuba is totally different. The graves are clean, white and have stunning gravestones, statues or decorations,… They are surrounded by palm trees and tropical flowers. Walking between the different tombs, crypts and catacombs, which are all neatly placed, makes you calm and serene. When the wind blows softly through the trees it’s as if you hear the content spirits of the ones that rest here. Instead of the sad feeling that I normally get at a cemetery I felt peace and happiness. Death here isn’t a bad or a sad thing. It’s just the beginning of a wonderful afterlife. Or at least that’s the feeling I got when walking here; hope. The Cementerio Santa Ifigenia is the last resting place of many historic Cuban figures. To name a few: Emilio Bacardí y Moreau of the famous rum dynasty, Compay Segundo of the Buena Vista Social Club and national hero José Marti. 
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