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DRIVING AROUND THE ISLAND TODAY
THE FIRST TIME WE VISITED CUBA, WE HIRED BOTH A TOUR GUIDE AND A DRIVER WITH A VAN. THIS GAVE US THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE TOURISTS AND LOOK AT ALL THE OLD CARS INSTEAD OF WATCHING OUT FOR TRAFFIC. THE VAN WAS A PEUGEOT, AND IT HAD AIR CONDITIONING, SO IT WAS A PLEASANT RIDE FOR THE WEEK WE VISITED.
ON OUR MOST RECENT TRIP, WE RENTED A CAR—A CHINESE GEELY EMGRAND—FROM CUBACAR, ONE OF THE TWO GOVERNMENT-OWNED RENTAL AGENCIES. THE RENTAL EXPERIENCE WAS NOT IDEAL; WE SAT IN FRONT OF A RENTAL COUNTER IN A HOT, HUMID, AND CROWDED LOBBY ALONG WITH A DOZEN OR SO OTHER TOURISTS, WAITING FOR CARS TO BE RETURNED. EVEN THOUGH WE HAD RESERVATIONS, NOBODY COULD CONFIRM WHETHER WE WOULD BE ABLE TO SECURE A CAR WITHIN THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS. OR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.
An eclectic mixture of Soviet and American vehicles, this is the daily traffic jam that surrounds Havana’s city center. Fotografia Inc./Getty Images
Looking sparkling and clean from across the bay, the city’s sixty-year-old infrastructure is clearly in need of repairs and rebuilding when viewed up close.
Luckily, we were only there a short time before a friend of ours came and arranged for us to get the next available car. (Part of that underground economy.) We felt bad for the other folks in line, some of whom had been waiting for six hours! One recently married couple needed to rent their car so they could drive to their honeymoon resort, which was a couple hours down the coast.
The rental rate for the Geely was CUC$120 per day (about US$120), and with fuel our five-day stay cost about CUC$900. Our car was a smaller Toyota Corolla–sized model, as opposed to the larger Geely, which resembles a Cadillac ATS—right down to the logo on the grille. Ours was a front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder, five-speed, four-door sedan. It was fine and had good air conditioning, which was a blessing in July when temperatures hit a hundred degrees with high humidity.
Not much has changed in sixty years. Making their way through the center of Havana are this 1956 Chevy, 1957 Ford wagon, and 1955 Ford sedan.
Rarely do new cars, such as this snazzy Peugeot sport coupe, appear in Cuba. Obviously this belongs to a wealthy musician or athlete—who get large salaries and preferential treatment.
Youth at speed! No matter what continent or culture, young people love to live life in the fast lane.
The car felt tight when we picked it up because it was nearly new. It was not quite as tight when we returned it five days later; we had nailed a dozen major potholes, and metallic sounds were coming from the suspension.
In our defense, some of the potholes are so deep that a Baja racer or a Humvee would barely be able to navigate those streets without getting damaged. It makes you wonder how the half-century-old cars have lasted as long as this, having had to drive through these pitted streets day after day, year after year, decade after decade.
We wondered: would cars like our rental Geely still be on the road in fifty years, in 2065? We doubted it. These cars are “throwaways”—cars that are cheap to build and operate but have short lifespans. Nothing like the iron monsters that Detroit pumped out in the 1950s.
SPEEDING
Our friend Eduardo told us to watch our speed. The top speed limit in Havana’s city limits is 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). Speed limits in the country, though, can go as high as 120 kilometers per hour.
One day we took a drive along the coast to do a little sightseeing. The day was beautiful, and it was easy to forget the slow posted speed limit because of the beautiful scenery on all sides—ocean on the left, mountains on the right—and the roads were fairly smooth. Suddenly a police officer stepped out in front of our car and pointed us to the side of the road. He walked over to our car and pointed to his radar gun. We had been traveling at 73 kilometers per hour in a 60-kilometer-per-hour zone.
Not knowing any English, he told us we could go. Nice guy.
PUNTE CONTROLE
Punte controle are police checkpoints that are set up along most country roads. They can be radar traps or simply locations for police to check credentials.
Interestingly, there is no such thing as car insurance for citizens in Cuba. However, tourists who rent cars should purchase the optional insurance policy, which often costs more than the actual rental costs.
CAR PARKERS
One local custom that visitors must become comfortable with when motoring around Cuba is the regular interaction with “parkers.” Parkers are people who must be paid to “watch your car” and are stationed outside nearly every grocery store, hotel, and restaurant in the country. These red-vested people make their living by collecting money from motorists, usually CUC$1, to watch cars until the owners come out of the store or restaurant.
Besides being a highly boring job, there is no evidence that these parkers have ever actually prevented anything from happening to the cars they watch.
Most of the vehicles darting around Havana’s city center are hauling ass. This driver was content with simply hauling ice.
Murals by artist Salvador Gonzalez on Havana’s street of Callejón de Hamel. Kike Calvo/Getty Images
ABOVE AND BELOW: This public market offers local artwork and souvenirs of Cuba including, cigars, papier-mâché models, and locally made trinkets.
mbbirdy/Getty Images