"Oh, my gawd....Look"
"Whut?!"
"!"
"Whut!!??"
"The taxi stand!! Look at the taxi stand..."
"Ah told ya so! See! Wow, man . . . look at them cars!"
"Oh, muh gawd . . ."
"Jeezz, George, there must be 25 cars sittin' in the parking lot - and every one of 'em from the '40s or '50s..."
And they were; a '53 Plymouth, '47 Skyliner, '57 chevy and more. It seemed that every car in Havana was a vintage American iron - all built before 1959, before the revolution and the U.S. embargo. There must have been eight taxis in front of the El Capitolio in Havana - all of them green. They stood out among the pod-shaped yellow taxis of the state. Over half of the old American vehicles on Cuba's streets hail from the 1950s - and more Chevy's than any other make. Throw in around 25 percent from the 1940s and the rest from the 1930s and you've got yourself a real collector car show.
"'ey, Thad, this 'er fella's tellin' me 'bout this 'ere place that used 'be a drive-in or somethin'- a place where's you can rent these old buggies and drive laps 'round the building or track or something. Wanna go?Are you kiddin! 'Course I wanna go!"
"" Thad said, excitement creeping into his voice. "Can we go now? Huh? We got time, ain't we?"
The place did look like an old American style drive-in. A small building sat in the middle of a gravel lot, a rutted track outlined in the dust ran around the outside. But the place did not have one thing the American drive-in had - space. The entire thing - building, track and selection of three or four old cars took up only about 3/4 of an acre - and that was mostly building.
"'ey Charlie, I'm gonna get me one of them there vehicles - you comin'?" Thad shouted as he jumped out of the taxi and went scooting toward the shade tree where the cars sat.
"In a minute." Charlie smile at his friend. "I wanna check out the old building first..."
The old building was in much better shape on the inside than it appeared from the street. Charlie was surprised to find candles lit and photos of a bearded man - Ernesto "Che" Guevara - posted everywhere. He had seen the images all over Cuba, but this place was special - it could have been a church or cathedral. He asked the old man wiping the brass railing why all of the images.
"Ah, but this place is special." the old man replied. "Do you know of the revolution...?" he asked. "From 1956 to 1959 there were many battles. It was the aim of the revolutionaries to free Cuba from oppression. Let me tell you a story . . ."
"It took seven months to complete these aims. The current regime of President Batista launched a huge offensive, 10,000 armed soldiers against the rebels 200 usable rifles. In two and a half months of heavy fighting, Batista lost 1,000 men, 450 of whom were taken prisoner and handed over to the Red Cross, leaving 600 weapons in the hands of the rebels. In July, at the battle of El Jigue, a decisive Rebel Army victory marked the beginning of the Rebel counteroffensive. At the end of August two columns leave the Sierra Maestra; Camilo Cienfuegos leads his troops towards Pinar del Rio in the western end of Cuba and "Che" Guevara moves towards Las Villas Province in Central Cuba. They go through terrible hardships and setbacks. Hunger, thirst, weariness take their toll and Guevara's men can hardly walk with the foot disease mazamorra, which makes every step intolerable. By December, however, the two Rebel columns have captured a number of towns in Las Villas province and the island is effectively cut in half. Guevara's column begins the battle of Santa Clara, the capital of the province and the centre of the island's transport system.
On January 1st 1959 at 2 am - Batista flees Cuba and a military junta takes over. Castro opposes the new junta and calls for the struggle to continue. Santa Clara falls to the rebels and the two columns advance on Havana. The next day Cuban workers respond to Castro's call for a general strike. The country is paralysed and Guevara's column enters Havana and occupies la Cabana fortress. On 8th January Castro arrives in Havana to be greeted by hundreds of thousands. On February 16th Castro becomes prime minister. There are many struggles ahead for the newly installed revolutionary government. Manuel Urrutia, the choice of the July 26th Movement had been installed as president on January 6th. Castro resigns as prime minister to become President."
The old man wiped his soiled hands on a rag he kept looped in his belt. He coughed and lit a cigaret, expelling blue smoke around the room and coughing again before continuing.
"Guevara slept here. Before that last entrance into Havana. Many believed that Che and Castro met here, right where we're standing, to discuss how best it should be done."
"To many, this is a holy place of a sort. We honor his memory and his accomplishments. And this place allows us to continue to remember Che Guevara . . ."
The old man's story was interrupted by the 'Blap-blap' sound of a big rig's diesel exhaust and the blast of an air-horn. Charlie was first out the door with the old man right on his heels. Sitting in the middle of a cloud of gray dust was a 1958 International DCO-405 unit with Brown double trailers, known as a "California Diesel Train" back then. Thad sat up in the drivers seat, a grin splitting his face.
''ey George, lookie what I went and found! I talked some guy into rentin' it to me for 'bout half-hour. Man, ain't she sweet! I always wanted to try'n drive one-o-these things..."
"Yep. Looks like quite a find there , ole boy. You be careful there ..." George nodded as Thad popped the clutch in the old truck, causing it to jerk and buck like an old bronco.
Thad pressed the gas pedal just a little more as he shifted through the gears - slowly building speed as the old truck bounced over the ruts in the yard. He let out a yelp as he turned the oversized steering wheel to the left, maneuvering the truck through the line of cars as if it were a bicycle instead of a double-length truck, then heading for the track around the far side of the building. Charlie and the old man watched the truck gain speed and disappear behind the building. "I wonder . . ." Charlie thought just before he he didn't have to wonder anymore.
The cab of the truck appeared around the rear of the building, it's air horn blasting into the heat of the the Havana day. Thad, not realizing that the double wide required a lot of room to turn, was more surprised than anyone else when the second trailer caught the corner of the block building and ripped it clear off it's foundation - tearing the building in half. The building creaked and groaned, timbers cracking and snapping, and in a huge cloud of dust, collapsed into a heap of rubble.
Thad slammed on the brakes and the old truck skidded to a halt, it's rear trailer sitting squarely where Che supposedly once slept. He hopped from the cab and ran over to where Charlie and the old man stood.
"It's ruined. Gone." the old man wept. He looked over at Thad and said "In 10 minutes you ruined what we kept alive for years..."
"Ten minutes . . .?"Is that all the time I was in the truck . . . ten minutes?" Thad looked at the old man blankly. "
"Perhaps even less." the old man replied through his tears.
Thad took off on a run toward the truck.
"'ey, where ya' going?" Charlie yelled out, thinking Thad was about to make a run for it.
"'e said ten minutes."That means I still have 20 minutes left."" Thad yelled back over his shoulder.
"My time ain't up yet!"
