In Santiago de Cuba, there’s an old, nearly abandoned amusement park called El Mundo de la Fantasía. Photographer Hana Jarklova recently visited it, and it’s difficult to not be intrigued by her images of weathered, slightly creepy figures that gave me some Pee-wee’s Big Adventure flashbacks. CNN reports that the state-run park was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but they don’t know if it was ever a hot spot.
Jarklova wanted to find the real parts of Cuba, but El Mundo de la Fantasía was a happy surprise. “I found Park Fantasía completely by accident. … I didn’t have any specific plan for my Cuba trip, and I wanted to be surprised,” she said. “I am an art and documentary photographer, but somehow the trip to Cuba woke up the photojournalist in me – I was driven to capture the Cuban reality.”
Read more about Jarklova’s visit to the amusement park here.