How Cubans get around

horse and buggy--common transportation

It’s not so easy to move from place to place in Cuba.  Public transportation is poor.  Years ago, buses replaced streetcars, but they don’t go everywhere, even within a city.  In the countryside, you see buses connecting villages and towns, but again, they don’t go everywhere.

oldest steam engine (from the U.S.) still in use

The resorts have large 45 passenger buses to transport their employees from their hometowns to the resorts, which are often 40 to 50 miles from where the workers live.  I haven’t looked inside those buses, but would guess, from seeing the crowds on other public transportation, that riders are packed inside.

All across Cuba, horses and buggies are a major source of transport.  Some of the buggies carry only 2 to 4 passengers while others have benches along both sides inside the covered buggy and can carry up to 8 people.  Even with this extra weight, only one poor animal pulls the load, trotting along and sweating in the heat.  Very few horses look sleek and well-fed, though there is lots of green grass.  I saw some donkeys in the mountains pulling loads of goods, not people.  The horses and buggies use the same roads as the cars, so it is very slow traveling behind them, waiting to pass.

starving horse in Rafael Freyres

One opportunity for a small business is a passenger truck.  These are cheaper than buses.  But, they’re also like cattle trucks, loaded to the outside edges with people, mostly standing.  A few have a couple of benches, which are quickly used up by tired travelers.  A driver marks his vehicle “private transportation” and will stop to pick up riders until the truck is full.  He disgorges them in like fashion, at numerous stops.

private truck full of people

People can also buy or rent cars or taxis for private transportation.  Most of the cars are the “vintage” cars, 1950’s U.S. autos in varying stages of decay.  Most of these have new or rebuilt engines and some are in beautiful condition.  These, obviously, command a higher price.  You can take a car or taxi anywhere on the island for a negotiated price.

Then, there are government-owned taxi companies, which is what employs our driver.  I described his situation in an earlier blog—he pays an average of $46 per day to rent the car and pay all the expenses, so must work very long hours to earn enough money to cover his costs and earn a small profit.  Our driver said that the best work was when Italians came to the resorts in large numbers and wanted a taxi to take them to Holguin at night for the discos and music.  They would return quite satiated about 3 in the morning, for which he could charge extra.  After the 2008 financial crisis, the direct flights from Europe to Holguin mostly stopped, so the flow of tourists slowed significantly also, cutting heavily into his ability to earn money.

pedicab in Holguin

spiffy vintage car

And, there’s hitchhiking, a common method of getting around.  As I also described earlier, our driver’s wife, a pediatrician, must hitchhike each way to her job at a distant hospital.  All along the roads are people waiting to hitchhike, flag down a truck or bus or hire a horse and buggy.  At major intersections, a couple of people dressed in yellow overalls (so they’re called Amarillos, Spanish for yellow) stand in the intersection, flagging down cars which are not yet full to take hitchhikers where they need to go.  Since most of the cars are government-owned, this becomes a service the government provides to help people move about the island.

coco taxi

There are also pedicabs, usually 2 passenger “cabs” attached to a bike and powered by a strong man.  Some lucky people have motorscooters.  What is really remarkable is how few cars are on the roads and on the streets of the cities.  They are just too expensive, even the old ones.   Some taxis in Havana are yellow shells, called cocos because they look like open coconuts, ferry people around for a lower price.

In rural areas, farmers use their 60 year old Russian tractors to travel to town, either on the tractor itself, or pulling a wagon full of people and goods.  Once again, Cubans have figured out how to get where they need to go despite the limited transportation infrastructure.  It is usually slow, often difficult, but they manage their transportation needs like their other personal and economic needs, with creativity and ingenuity.

old Russian tractor