Traffic in Cuba

Date: 09.03.2024
Nautical Position: 22°07‘661 N 80°27‘590 W (ship at anchor)
Geographic Position: Cuba (Havanna)
Etmal: 0nm
Total: 7526nm
Ship: Pelican of London

From another century

Today we travelled from Cienfuegos to Havanna by bus after we had a free shore leave in Cienfuegos. One of the things we noticed first were the old cars. We saw a lot of them, especially in the city centre. Most of them were built in the 70’s but there are some older ones as well. Of course we found some modern cars too but not that many because overall the people here are poor and modern cars are much more expensive than in Europe because the import costs are higher.

Traffic rules

After about three and a half hours of free shore leave in Cienfuegos we walked back to the berth and called the Pelican by radio to get water brought by the rib. When our bus arrived we started our three hour ride to Havanna. Most of the time we drove on a big road, similar to a highway but with almost no traffic.

About an hour later we made our first stop in a small shop directly next to the highway. Because the shop was on the other side of the road our bus made a U-turn and crossed the sandy bit between both sides of the road. This was absolutely no problem because here in Cuba the traffic seems to be very chilly.

Cars at night

When we arrived in Havanna the bus stopped directly in front of our hostel and we brought our bags inside. Because we couldn’t eat during the ride, our teachers organised two restaurants where we got dinner. The first restaurant hadn’t enough space for all of us so we split in two groups.

While the teachers were arguing with the restaurant we waited next to a big street and saw a lot of cool cars as well. Some of them manipulated their lights so their backlights were flashing or they had red and blue LED strips in their cooler which flashed like on a police car. Just before we went to the second restaurant we saw a truck which was lit like a Christmas tree in various different colours.

P.S.:

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Jakob! Lass‘ Dich feiern, hab‘ einen wundervollen Tag und lass‘ Dich nicht so sehr von der Schule nerven. Grüße gehen auch raus an Jago, Theo, Valle, Joni, Emil, Elo und meine Familie. Kuba ist super! ~ Julius