The old American cars are reappearing in Havana

In a lukewarm but encouraging way, those gringo cars from the 40s and 50s are beginning to be seen on the streets of Havana. Some, with a very peculiar horn, which seems to announce to passers-by the arrival of strangers who, in one way or another, notice and film the joys and sorrows of the city.

As passengers, those people with obligatory bottles of water in hand, hats from here and there to protect themselves from the inclement sun, dark glasses, scarves around their necks, Hawaiian shirts and cell phone cameras doing their job.

A few relic vehicles, some factory convertibles; others, converted by force with the ingenuity of a careful sheet metal worker. It is that those open-air convertibles are the most coveted by the visitor who cares little or nothing at all if inside there is an original engine, or one from the Soviet or European era.

Here it is possible to deny that one swallow does not make a summer. Whoever dedicates himself to observing the behavior and presence of the almendrones as these old cars are called, will be able to verify that the business is beginning to be reborn. Amen, so be it.

And almost all of them do not lack for gasoline. An unknown better left without too much delving. “Well,” a driver told me, “things seem to work out,” a magic phrase that not even the most astute tourist will be able to understand in an hour’s journey.

And based on that, let me quit while we’re ahead.