He had my number


   The vendors offered the usual schlock: stringed-shell necklaces; assembly-line abstract paintings; those elongated African figurines you see back home in thrift shops and garage sales.
   A couple, though, were displaying something different: papier-mâché reproductions of Cuba licence plates. These replicas were nice, but reminded me that I wanted an example of the real thing.
   I mentioned this interest to the Cuban fellow I was with, even as I wondered to myself how difficult it might be to find a plate for sale in a country where the state owns even your donkey. Not difficult at all, it turned out.
   Within minutes a vendor was gesturing for me to sit beside him in his stall. From a cardboard box under the table he drew out a plastic bag, which he held low and opened enough for me to see a yellow “particular” (private vehicle) plate within.
   How much? I wondered. He took a pen and wrote “14” on his palm. At the time 14 convertible pesos was the equivalent of maybe $17 Canadian. Too much. I borrowed his pen and wrote “6” on my palm. He shook his head and I smiled, stood and walked off.
   Of course he knew I would be back. Again seated side by side, we wrote various numbers on our hands until we finally agreed on 9. Or maybe it was 11. I paid and strolled away with my find, still in its concealing plastic wrap. It breezed home in my suitcase.
   Later, I saw I could get a Cuba licence plate on eBay from someone in Florida for $6.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovered in Cuba, a rare Mercedes bird

Image
(December 2012 note: See update link, below.)     GUESS I'LL have to set aside my search for the younger Batista’s 1956 Corvette. An even tastier trophy has emerged – a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, better known as the Gullwing.    Even on the Island of Surprises, I’d be astounded to come across one of these rare beauties. But in a brief section on Cuba in Automobiles Lost & Found (Haynes Publishing, 2008), I see a photo of a battered 300SL observed by author Michael E. Ware outside a private garage near Havana.    The Gullwing, unmistakable lift-up doors in place, is dented and rusting and missing its engine, yet still would be prized by collectors the world over . . . if only they could extract it from Cuba. Restored, the Silver Metallic example with Lipstick Red interior might be worth more than $700,000 U.S.    Reached in England, Mr. Ware tells me he was holidaying in Cuba when an acquaintance brought him to an unnamed communit...
Read more

The Cuba Gullwing chronology

Image
How the 300SL would have looked new. Wikipedia photo.     IN SIX YEARS , no topic here has drawn more attention than the story of Cuba's rotting Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Visitors from around the world seem endlessly appalled and fascinated by the sad fate of such a rare and beautiful car.      The same analytics program that tells me the home nations of these visitors tells me where on this blog they land – and it's apparent that many are missing the full story (or as full as anyone has been able to make it). The world's largest Internet indexer – you know who I'm talking about – insists on routing the curious to a five-year post and refuses to make note of subsequent entries.    Why? Who knows?     To provide a more complete picture, here's a list of CARISTAS entries on the Gullwing, which, to be clear, was first brought to the world's attention by British auto historian Michael E. Ware in Automobiles Lost & Foun...
Read more