"Viaje a la Habana" (Madrid: 1844) written by the Countess of Merlin, nee Maria de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, is one of the most seductive texts of Spanish American Romanticism, forerunner of the Caribbean "journey to the source," as it narrates the re-encounter with colonial society from which the author had parted soon after adolescence. Focused on colonial Havana, "Viaje a la Habana" traces the topography of the colonial city, considered the jewel of the overseas Spanish colonies, as the narrator wanders along childhood scenarios remembering relatives and long-lost family members....