Havana?

I promised generous excerpts from Dalrymple's new book of essays, Our Culture, What's Left of It. I haven't delivered the goods, mostly because my typist hasn't gotten around to keying-in the passages (at eleven years old, she struggles with a lot of Dalrymple's big words, but I pay her well for her typing services so she ought not complain). I also haven't finished the book yet because a handful of other books (including David Scott's new one, The Catholic Passion--much more on it later) have distracted me.

Anyway, I ran across this passage a few minutes ago:

And old people in particular are inclined to murmur jabon (soap) as you pass, in the hope that you might have some of this rare and precious commodity to give away.

He was writing about Havana and its troubles. Based on that passage alone, however, you'd be excused for thinking he was writing about Paris.