Welcome to Cuba, and to my workshop in particular!
My name is Rolando, but everyone calls me "Carburo".
I'm going to show you my girl's engine.
I've customized it a fair bit.
It's a V8 engine, one of the most powerful engines ever made.
It is an original engine, a 283, restored with a lot of modern parts.
Modern Chevrolet parts made for this model.
They are not for another type of car.
I had to make this bit using purely stainless steel,
with my little hands - like almost the entire car: the fender, the doors...
The only original thing here is the hood.
But not this bit, because I also had to reconstruct that.
It's quite tricky for us to keep a car like this running.
Plenty of time and dedication, and lots of love to keep it this way.
Now let's go to the workshop where I'll show you
how are we going to fix the parking brake.
Here we are, this is my little workshop.
Lili, Lili! We have to do a little bit of everything here.
She is my co-worker.
I work and she listens to me.
The problem is that we can't buy spare parts and it's quite hard for us
because there aren't any parts here in Cuba for these old cars.
Many are lucky because they have relatives who can get them in the USA,
or like me, do 90% with my hands, in my workshop.
Like for example now the pins of the parking brake.
They wore out and I have to refurbish them because you can't get spares.
The part is finished.
Time to mount and test it in the car.
It's no good if it doesn't work in the car.
You have to treat it with a lot of affection.
These parts are already quite old.
This photo is 24 years old, the car with my father, my daughter and my niece.
This little one here is the beauty now standing next to me.
She is 26 years old already, so this car has been with me for a few years now.
32 years, to be precise.
I have a daughter, a son and my other girl, which is the car.
Let's fill up the gas tank.
This does six kilometers per liter and it holds 70 liters.
The fuel costs 25 pesos per liter.
I bought it 32 years ago. At first for the family, to go for a drive, to the beach or countryside.
Later, it became a business. Weddings, some movies, a commercial, a music video...
It stayed like that for many years until about ten years ago.
More tourism came to Cuba and I started to work as a taxi driver.
My job includes showing the city to tourists that want to explore it.
And those who are crazy about being in an old banger of a car, a rust bucket
or "almendrón", as people call it.
For me it's not a rust bucket, it is a beauty, it is part of my life.
It is something that is already part of my body and my character.
"Look, there goes Carburo's car!" "Carburo's car!"
It's not a '55 Chevrolet, or a convertible, it's "Carburo's car."
The car is already part of the family.
When the car has a problem or is broken, everyone gets worried.
"What happened? What happened to it? Can it be fixed? Can it be fixed?"
It can always be fixed, in one way or another.
Right now it's the main income for the househould.
My daughter is a doctor, my wife is an engineer, but we pay all our bills through the car.
If you don't know what to do, the car will fall apart in the garage.
So many cars were lost, because there are no spare parts
and many people don't know how to fix stuff.
The cars deteriorated so badly that many were lost.
I am actually an industrial mechanic, but hey, a mechanic who doesn't know how to weld,
and doesn't know how to make their own parts, that is an assembler, not a mechanic.
Driving through Havana is so beautiful and elegant. I love my Havana.
It's like time has stood still. That seems wonderful to me.
Nowadays, there are a lot of modern cars, but 20 years ago, all you saw here
were these vintage cars with their elegance, their size, their colors.
This is Revolution Square, where most tourists come becase of the history.
We have Che, this other one is Commander Camilo Cienfuegos.
In the beginning here it was Plaza Cívica.
In 1957 they finished the monument to our Apostle, our national hero José Martí.
Since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959,
it has been called Revolution Square.
This is where our Commander Fidel made his speeches.
He has a Guinness record for a six-hour speech, nonstop.
30 pesos an hour.
When I say 30 pesos it is $30 or €30, depending on the car and on the client as well.
The client always bargains to make it cheaper.
The taxi rank, or "piquera" is where the tourists come and we wait.
If any tourist turns up wanting a tour, we offer it to them.
Well, tourists choose their ride by its color or its shape, you know?
They usually decide on the one they want and go up to it.
But if I've already done two or three jobs, and my friend has done none,
I say that I am busy, so the tourists go in his car.
Now we are reaching the Malecón, Havana's most emblematic place,
where all tourists like to ride in a convertible.
This is what we call the sofa. One of the biggest sofas in the world.
In summer, in the afternoons, the Malecón fills up with people.
Everybody comes down to enjoy the evening breeze, the ocean.
It's practically the symbol of the city: The Malecón in Havana.
We are constantly exposed to saltpeter and salt is catastrophic to everything.
You have to wash it every day, maintain it, and protect the most essential parts with silicone.
The important thing when the Malecón is rough it trying not to pass too close to the boardwalk.
Though the saltpeter carries almost all the way to the city centre.
The advantage of being a taxi driver is that every day, you learn something new.
My life is new every day, there's always something different, nothing stays the same.
You can get attached to people, because you get to meet wonderful people.
This meeting between different cultures is very beautiful.
You learn a little from there and the other people learn a little from here,
and they always leave with a good opinion.