Hi. I've been away from the forum for a while, honeymooning in Cuba. I took some photos for you... behold:
There are a quarter of a million classic American cars in Cuba, so you see them everywhere. What you see more of, however, is Ladas. They were imported on a masssive scale from the sixties through the eighties. Your average Lada Riva would cost around 12,000 Cuban pesos (about £8,300-ish), while you'd pay similar money for, say, a fifties Chevy in usable condition. Fuel is so pricey in Cuba that pretty much every Yank tank you see has a diesel engine, and the only ones you see in reasonably original spec are owned by taxi companies in towns.
In a country where the average monthly salary is around £16, buying a car at all is beyond the reach of most Cubans - you need your lump sum in cash, along with an official government permission letter, proving that the money is all yours and that you earned it legally. So owning a car in Cuba is a tremendously important thing, a much bigger deal than most of us can possibly imagine - hitch-hiking is the way most Cubans get about (indeed, there are official hitch-hiking co-ordinators in yellow jerseys, for whom government cars are obliged to stop), so drivers will never journey alone - there'll always be someone to pick up en route. When's the last time you picked up a hitcher...?
Just for fun, here's a little Fiat for you too. There are loads of these in Havana, always with their engine covers propped open when moving to keep them cool.
There are a quarter of a million classic American cars in Cuba, so you see them everywhere. What you see more of, however, is Ladas. They were imported on a masssive scale from the sixties through the eighties. Your average Lada Riva would cost around 12,000 Cuban pesos (about £8,300-ish), while you'd pay similar money for, say, a fifties Chevy in usable condition. Fuel is so pricey in Cuba that pretty much every Yank tank you see has a diesel engine, and the only ones you see in reasonably original spec are owned by taxi companies in towns.
In a country where the average monthly salary is around £16, buying a car at all is beyond the reach of most Cubans - you need your lump sum in cash, along with an official government permission letter, proving that the money is all yours and that you earned it legally. So owning a car in Cuba is a tremendously important thing, a much bigger deal than most of us can possibly imagine - hitch-hiking is the way most Cubans get about (indeed, there are official hitch-hiking co-ordinators in yellow jerseys, for whom government cars are obliged to stop), so drivers will never journey alone - there'll always be someone to pick up en route. When's the last time you picked up a hitcher...?
Just for fun, here's a little Fiat for you too. There are loads of these in Havana, always with their engine covers propped open when moving to keep them cool.
