©Shawna Scherbarth 2001-05. All rights reserved.
Brown Bike
Viñales, Cuba
December 9, 2003
After the fall of the Soviet Union and other eastern bloc countries, Cuba was left without many friends in the world. During this “Special Period,” without their previous trading partners, they soon ran short on many necessities of life, fuel being one of the greater hardships. Cubans were forced to rely on many alternate forms of transportation, and the government imported a million of these sturdy Chinese bicycles to try to keep the population mobile.
Cuba is now finally emerging from the special period, but transportation still presents a great difficulty for many Cubans. Hitchhiking is not only common – it is actually required for individuals driving state owned cars (which represents a very large portion of all cars on the road) to stop at underpasses and pick up people hitching rides to the next town.
