Santuario de San Lázaro

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You can make your own journey to the site of Cuba's biggest annual pilgrimage, tucked away in the village-like Havana suburb of Rincón. The saint inside the church is San Lázaro (represented by the orisha Babalú Ayé in the Santería religion), the patron saint of healing and the sick. Hundreds come to light candles and lay flowers daily. Thousands come on December 17 to pray for respite from illness or to give thanks for cures.

There's a small museum displaying a raft of previous offerings to San Lázaro in a chapel next door.

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