Vintage cars and transport in Cuba
By Olivier Vin
7 May 2008
If there is something surprising while arriving in Cuba, it's to see all the old vehicles from the 40s and 50s! With the embargo and the fact that the majority of the Cubans are in rather poor economic conditions, the vehicles could not be changed as often as we are used to. Not to mention that there is of course a much lesser amount of cars than we have, yet pollution in Cuba is insane! Old cars are being repaired over and again where people are using the cheapest motor oil. The smoke coming out of the cars is really thick and greasy! Who said the air is pure in La Havana?
An interesting point is the effects the lack of newer cars has on a totalitarian society. Cubans learned how to fix their cars themselves using parts from vehicles around town. It wasn't as if they could get an order for a part in America, they had to use the resources they had nearby. They learned very quickly that repairing their vehicles with the few tools that they had was the only way to get around and survive. There is however a postitive side to this— there is little waste.
It is very typical to see Cubans on the roadside, or sitting on the pavement, repairing their vehicle with some iron wire and their small toolbox.
What about a tow truck? Absolutely not, it's just a little too expensive to have a tow truck service when the average wage a Cuban Citizen makes is about $15.00 a month. People are not well paid in Cuba, even considering cost of life there. Cubans in the military get the best wage with about $30.00 a month compared to a sugar cane worker who gets only $8.00 a month. Everyone with a car tries to create benefit from having one. You might find some Cubans picking up hitchhikers for a fare and transporting people all over the city. Some are doing this every weekend at night to avoid being arrested by the police.
The Cuban landscape holds cars like Chevrolet, Plymouth, some DeSoto, Cadillac and many more. You see some that are in good condition and others that are wrecks that can spit a volcano's worth of exhaust and smoke. There are not only American vintage cars there a you have also a fair share of Russian cars such as Lada and Moskoba, French and Korean cars, Chinese buses and old American or Canadian yellow school buses that still have English or French inscriptions written on them. You will also encounter "camellos" (camels), trucks where the trailers were redesigned to allow people to literally pile up! Beside that, there are Dutch buses or French garbage trucks with their original license plates.
Cuba also has many sidecars, motorbikes and this kind of yellowy egg shaped car called a "coco-taxi". Of course the people who can't quite afford a vehicle often use "bici-taxi", the Cuban version of the Asian rickshaw: a bicycle pulling a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons. They often have a loudspeaker and music playing loudly. The Cubans having quite kitsch tastes, they are really fond of turning theirs cars into the local equivalent of the vehicles appearing in the "Fast and furious" movie! Well, with a Chevvy, it's allright, but the result is sometimes surprising on a wrecked Moskoba! Shaded windows, groovy beeps when reverse gear is used, and a whole variety of musical horns which will put cell phone ringings to shame!
I saw this 1949 Plymouth; the owner had managed to install electric windows with just a simple glass cut by hand using some rough tools. I also was riding in another car where the road was directly under my feet. The floor of the car was completely rusted and extremely thin—think, the Flinstones!
Public transportation isn't as easily accessible in Cuba as it is in other countries like the United States, not because of the fare but because it is so loaded that you often have to be a contorsionist to get in. Hitchhiking quickly spread and became extremely popular, especially in La Havana whose population is around 3 million. It's easy to move around, kind of like the Taxi system- you just raise your hand and give the driver the address you want to travel to, and unlike "normal taxi" services in Cuba you get to negotiate your price. Cubans pay with national pesos, and for us, foreigners, it is often in convertible pesos... If you're not happy with the price, just ask for another car!
Most Cubans who want to go from one city to another for work or fun (not having much money doesn't mean not having fun!) often cannot afford paying for the bus. Hitchhiking has become the most economic way to travel. Hitchhikers can be found everywhere on the streets and even on the highways. As the temperature in Cuba can be really hot, they protect themselves from the sun by finding shelter under bridges, sometimes they just hang out in the middle of freeways.
In short, to travel in Cuba is an adventure and worth each moment! You never know when you'll arrive to your destination and what can happen.
Enjoy the adventure!
