Leave the driving to them


   WE'RE HEADING to Cuba soon. And for the first time in a long time, we haven't booked a rental car.
   It's not that I fear to drive there, though I'd certainly want to be cautious, given the experiences of Cody LeCompte, the young Canadian forced to remain on the island after a traffic accident until public and government pressure helped win his release (see Driving In Cuba Reconsidered).
  It's more about the money. Last year we paid nearly $400 for a subcompact for three days. (I see the rates have dropped a bit since, probably because of the strength of the Canadian dollar).
  Following the advice of the Cuba hands on TripAdvisor and the more prickly types at the (well named) Thorn Tree travel forum, we'll probably hire someone with a car — not an official taxi — to take us where we want to go. It should be cheaper than a rental, and will certainly be interesting.
  In fact, we did just this — hired a car and driver — on our first visit, years ago. He brought us to an overpriced restaurant and other places that, we realized later, no doubt gave him kickbacks. We bought him lunch, too. Es Cuba.
 Or maybe we'll just rent a car when we get there.

Road-ready, if not quite reassembled.

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 community to see the car.    “I never asked whe
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 & Found (Haynes Publishing, 20
Read more