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PHOTOS: A Peek at Crumbling Cuba

Photographer Liz Roll visited Cuba in January in search of one of her favorite subjects: abandoned buildings.

"I don't speak much Spanish, but I finally learned the phrase for abandoned building and a nice young man named Julio took me to several excellent sites. It was hard to tell what was or was not empty, as people leave their front doors open because of the extreme heat," Roll told weather.com.

The photographer found people living in some of the abandoned buildings, sometimes in shacks in empty lots, or parts of buildings that had not yet fallen down. In some cases, locals had to walk on steel beams or makeshift plywood walkways over abandoned foundations to get to their homes.

"It is said that three of these buildings fall down in Havana every day," she said.

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The reports are conflicting. Fortune.com reported four building collapses per day while the Havana Times reports more than 230 annual collapses. Either way, the situation is a dangerous one.

Old Havana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and buildings are being restored, but the process is slow and expensive.

Roll believes that Havana has a long way to go before it is ready for the influx of tourism that is expected after travel restrictions from the U.S. have eased. Cuba received a record 3.52 million visitors in 2015, according to Reuters. That is a 17.4 increase from 2014.

For a close look, click through the slideshow above. Fore more photos, visit Liz Roll's website.

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