CARISTAS

   MOTORCYCLES MAY BE the most common type of taxi in Santiago, but they aren't the only choice. For travellers seeking more comfort and security – not to mention room for more than one passenger – here are some alternatives. 1. Gladway three-wheeler Presence at the pumps would suggest that this trike is gas-powered, not electric.      At one time, it was safe to assume that any motorized trike in Cuba – flatbed, van, tuk tuk-style taxi – was an Ape (pronounced ah-pay, hand gestures optional) from well-known Italian manufacturer Piaggio. Even the homegrown coco taxis in Havana and Varadero ride on Ape underpinnings. Now, three-wheelers from China have joined the Chinese buses and cars already common on Cuban roads. The Gladway above is a product of the Shandong Mulan plant in Jinan, south of Beijing. Parent company Gladway Holdings Ltd. specializes in electric vehicles, but also offers gas-powered models. 2. Peugeot 404 Nearly 2.9 million Peugeo...

An operator collects his fare. The average ride is just 10 pesos.     ELSEWHERE IN  Cuba, the usual taxi is a Hyundai or a Lada for locals, a '56 Ford or similar classic for tourists.    In Santiago, the usual taxi – for locals, and for visitors brave enough to board – is a Soviet-era MZ or Jawa motorcycle. Hundreds of these bikes-for-hire race up and down the southern city's hilly streets, piloted by young men who typically rent the machines from taxi brokers.    The fare is just 10 pesos (50 cents Canadian), maybe 20 if the destination is farther than usual. But if you hail one, make sure to buckle the spare helmet the driver carries for passengers. And then hang on as he weaves casually through traffic, blue smoke from the bike's two-stroke engine mixing with diesel fumes from the trucks just inches away.    Unlike in Havana and other cities, there seems to be little police effort to maintain vehicular calm. It's one more way in w...

Mucho modificado based on what appears to be a General Motors heavy truck. Even with the reworked roof, seating is cramped in this '56 Plymouth wagon. The world's only 1951 DeSoto dualie. We're sure of it.

WDIV anchor and Havana 313 host Devin Scillian.    VOLUPTUOUS, PRE-1960 American cars are the obvious link between Detroit and Havana. One city built them, the other relies on them.    But the Michigan and Cuban capitals share more than pontoon fenders and Dagmar bumpers.    There's the architecture  –   classic, often crumbling, with flashes of contemporary.     The permeating music – different in genres, yet descending from the same African roots.    The vivid art – best represented, in the Motor City, by the product of two Mexico-born painters: Diego Rivera, whose working-man murals would be as at home in a Havana barrio as they are on the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Frida Kahlo, whose surreal folk-art images could command prime space in any Cuban gallery. Made in Detroit. Driven daily in Havana.    And beneath it all, murmuring like a Hemi-powered '55 Chrysler, the energy of a p...

The little Polish-built Fiat 126p will go a long way on a litre.     AN ASSOCIATED PRESS   report in the Washington Post suggests that the Polski Fiat 126p is enjoying a "revival" in Cuba. I don't recall the tiny, Polish-built Fiat ever falling out of favour.    Still, with Cuba's once-cheap black market diesel fuel shooting up in price because of Venezuelan cutbacks, it's not hard to see how the 126p, with frugal air-cooled two-cylinder engine, could gain added allure.    The Polski Fiat was produced from 1973 through 2000 in Bielsko-Biała in south Poland. Cuba has some 10,000 Polskis, according to the article. The 126p has long been an everyday sight in Cuba.

Public transportation in Santiago de Cuba.     IN A LETTER released on his 90th birthday this past Saturday, Fidel Castro paid tribute to the advances that let him continue to contemplate the ways of the world ... and beyond.    "Modern medical techniques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe," he wrote.    For passengers on this 1958 Mercury truck converted into a people-carrier in Santiago, the view is less extensive. Rebadged Ford pickups and medium-duty trucks were sold as Mercurys in Canada  –   and also shipped to Cuba. 

An International truck hauls passengers in Santiago de Cuba.       HAVANA ANCHORS  Cuba's northwest coast; Santiago, the island's next largest city, holds a similar status on the southeast shore. The two cities differ hugely – in terrain (one largely flat; one all hills), in climate (one temperate; one hot), in culture (Havana is hardly sedate, but Santiago, with its Afro-Caribbean roots, has a sensual sway).    In transportation, too. The standard municipal bus in Havana is a modern articulated Yutong from China. In Santiago – as in rural Cuba – converted American trucks from the 1950s are the primary people movers. Seating is tight on the makeshift bus. So is standing.