At the moment of the Cuban revolution, in 1959, there were 600.000 American cars. The majority of them are still in use, you can see them everywhere. The Cuban mecanics are famous for their inventivity. They can put a Moskwich engine in a Cadillac, and change the gear with one from Lada. I am not saying that the Russian cars are better, they were just imported later, in the 80’s.
Look carefully on the inscription near the soldier’s elbow.
The oil is an issue, it cost 1$ a liter. These old big cars consume more than 15 liters/100 km, and the average salary is 25$.
From Vinales we went to Maria La Gorda. With a bus for tourist it costs 35$ for each. We manage to get their for 3$ ! How ? By using local transports: we took 3 ‘collectivos’ (8 people in a car). And then, we had to wait for our last connection from 1:30 to 8:30.
School bus. People come and go in our station
The guy with the red cap is the only one who declared ‘ I am Castrista !’. For me it was the first time when I’ve seen all the stages of drunkness, because normally I am involved in the process so I cannot analyse too much. But here, waiting for a car, at noon, in the heat, I wouldn’t have even a beer. But this guy, during 5 hours of wait, he finished his whole bottle of Cuban Ron:
1st step: very talkative, especially to me, the stranger
2nd step: very friendly and started to speak a mix of french-lingala-english
3rd step: he asked for money to drink. I told him that I don’t drink at that hour any alcohol, but that I would be glad to buy him any kind of soda drink.
4th step: he rejected proudly my offer and became aggressive
5th step: his name is Taliban, because he drinks until the last shot and then he sleeps
Finally the truck transformed in a bus comes. It is such a good atmosphere: a old lady shares mangos with everyone, including us; everyone smiles and laughs. There is even someone lying on the floor, I look if he’s still alive, yes. Good lord that he is drunk! Another guy with red cap…
At 10 PM, after 2 hours, we make the last 37 km of our journey.