 |
| Classic cars, two on a bicycle built for one and a mototaxi cruise along Havana’s famous beach side Malecon. |
Havana’s American 50s and 60s classic cars are as iconic Hemingway, rum and cigars. They are undeniably awesome.
 |
| Just a few of the classic American cars we saw in Cuba, most in mint condition. |
Who can help but become enchanted by these curvaceous cars’ majesty and appreciate the irony of the loving care they get in a communist country where our very presence is illegal? Hearkening back to a bygone era, today 50-60+ years later, the mere fact they’re still running is a marvel of Cuban ingenuity.
 |
| Wish we knew the story of where this VW Beetle going. It was on a boat in Mariel Hemingway marina. |
There’s also an odd mix of cars from countries not averse to trade, often clunky Eastern European models, plus some Beetles, and a smattering of luxury cars like BMW’s we’re more familiar with.
Diesels, and gas guzzlers practically belch their way down stunning World Heritage architecture lined avenues. Havana exudes an oddly gritty beauty, akin to Venice’s stinking canals, exquisitely proud in their very decay.
 |
| Wrong bus from Santa Fe to Havana Viejo. |
 |
| As we got further from Havana, the bus got uncrowded enough to take this photo. P4 into Havana Viejo is a popular bus! |
Mass transit, including accordion buses are an integral part of getting around cheaply in Havana. Our hour and a quarter bus ride was less than $2 each, though every seat was filled and the aisles were 4 passengers deep the length of the bus. Click here for more about our (mis)adventures taking the bus to Havana. A classic car taxi ride would’ve been quicker, though the price was about $20-30 one way.
 |
| The touts for Havana’s horse-drawn carriages aggressively offered their services. |
More intriguing are Havana’s veritable kaleidoscope of transportation options…. pedicabs (click here to read about our New Year’s eve pedicab experience), moto taxis, and horse drawn carriages. I regret not capturing more pedicab photos — they were as individual as their owners, protecting their passengers with canopies upheld with re bar, festooned with lights, captions and various and s. As well, we saw families tooling along in motorcycles with a sidecar, and three and four astride bicycles. P4, the bus that runs from Mariel Hemingway terminates at Havana’s train station.
 |
| Moto taxis are small! They’re essentially a cross between a motorcycle and a car. |
Ironically, the photo I most regret not capturing is of a family of about a dozen who piled out of their vintage “van,” (no idea what their behemoth turquoise wonder was) asking to posed on our boat. We wondered, afterward, how many laws me might’ve unwittingly broken to honor their request. Most of the Cubans we met were terrified of boats, the concept of crossing crossing hundreds and thousands of miles on a boat in unfathomable for most Cubans we met. Maybe it’s too much publicity of overcrowded boats trying to flee Cuba….
 |
| These skaters zipped passed us on our long wait for the P4 bus to Havana’s old town district. |
Our single biggest Cuban transportation take-away?
If your time is short, unless (until?) Cuba-US policies change radically, sadly, the worst way to get around Cuba is by sailboat. Cruisers are primarily restricted to a few and not always that conveniently located marinas, not allowed to anchor, except in a few places. However, our time was too short to explore Cuba’s Western tip or enjoy the natural wonders of Cuba’s Southern coast. My opinion might be quite different. I can only hope to find out firsthand in the not too distant future. If you’re intrigued with cruising Cuba, track down a copy of Amaia Agirre and Frank Virgintino’s free “A Cruising Guide to Cuba.”
 |
| Map of Cuba’s marinas, pilfered from Amaia Agirre and Frank Virgintino’s “A Cruising Guide to Cuba.” |
Location Location
This blog post is a retrospective from when we stopped in Cuba. At the time, our boat was docked at Mariel Hemingway Marina, (N23.05.231 W82.29.972). We’re now in Panama’s historic backwater, Portobelo PANAMA (N09.21.872 W79.53.611), near Colon, Atlantic/Caribbean side entrance to the Panama canal. We’re on track for our canal transit, beginning February 13th, 2015.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Thanks for another wonderful post. Where else could anybody get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? Taxibedrijf Stadstaxi Rotterdam
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I think this is an informative post and it is very beneficial and knowledgeable. Therefore, I would like to thank you for the endeavors that you have made in writing this article. All the content is absolutely well-researched. Thanks… source
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
That is the excellent mindset, nonetheless is just not help to make every sence whatsoever preaching about that mather. Virtually any method many thanks in addition to i had endeavor to promote your own article in to delicius nevertheless it is apparently a dilemma using your information sites can you please recheck the idea. thanks once more. 안전놀이터
Really nice and interesting post. I was looking for this kind of information and enjoyed reading this one. 파워볼 하는법
Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article. Thank you for supplying this information.
온라인경마
Very interesting information and i really glad to getting this information. 슬롯머신
Nice to be visiting your blog once more, it has been months for me. Well this article that ive been waited for therefore long. i want this article to finish my assignment within the faculty, and it has same topic together with your article. Thanks, nice share. joker888
thanks for this usefull article, waiting for this article like this again. 팔팔카
Cool stuff you have got and you keep update all of us. 토토사이트
I found your this post while searching for some related information on blog search…Its a good post..keep posting and update the information. 안전놀이터
I simply want to tell you that I am new to weblog and definitely liked this blog site. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your blog . You absolutely have wonderful stories. Cheers for sharing with us your blog. 토토사이트
Wow i can say that this is another great article as expected of this blog.Bookmarked this site.. 토토사이트
This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!. 꽁머니 1만
This blog website is pretty cool! How was it made ! 먹튀검증
Great Information sharing .. I am very happy to read this article .. thanks for giving us go through info.Fantastic nice. I appreciate this post. 메이저사이트
Hi are using WordPress for your site platform?
I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started and set up my
own. Do you need any html coding expertise to make your own blog?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! 바카라사이트
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. 오피사이트
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
When you use a genuine service, you will be able to provide instructions, share materials and choose the formatting style. detectives privados en málaga
Thanks for sharing this valuable content. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before. https://www.jpost.com/promocontent/golden-revive-plus-reviews-urgent-update-do-not-spend-a-dime-until-you-read-this-703156