Renowned Cuban doctor and content creator, known as Luisi, recently unveiled the extreme challenges of keeping a motorcycle or bicycle running in Cuba through a video documenting his daily life in Havana.
In a YouTube video, Luisi highlights everything from the scarcity of basic parts to the significant economic and time burdens involved in the relentless hunt for a simple replacement part in the capital's markets.
Entitled “The Problem of Maintaining a Vehicle in Havana, Cuba,” the video chronicles Luisi's weeks-long journey across various city locations in search of an aluminum manifold for his motorcycle.
To ensure accuracy, he always carries a rubber sleeve as a sample, hoping to find a matching metal piece with the same design, holes, and diameter.
Despite his efforts, he admits that he often finds himself retracing steps from previous days unsuccessfully, resigned to the fact that he must continue searching "until it’s found."
The search primarily unfolds in packed markets and workshops where recording is often impossible due to nervousness among people present.
Luisi shares how a “facilitator”—whom he calls Andrés—will craft a custom piece if given the correct model, underscoring how vehicle repairs in Cuba frequently rely on makeshift solutions and the goodwill of others, rather than a stable supply of parts.
The Urban and Climatic Battle
The struggle for parts is compounded by urban and climatic conditions that undermine any attempt to maintain transportation in good condition.
With a touch of irony, Luisi recounts how a thorough cleaning of his bicycle lasted only 20 hours before a light drizzle soiled it again.
In contrast, he appreciates a component that shields his motorcycle battery, allowing him to ride in the rain without damage, as "it's easier to clean than the bicycle and protects the battery," demonstrating how each technical detail becomes crucial when frequent repairs or replacements are unattainable.
Juggling Professional and Personal Life
The video intertwines this daily battle with his professional life. Between trips around Havana for the manifold, Luisi prepares for his emergency room shift.
He confesses to barely making it to the hospital on time, still fatigued from a recent bout of chikungunya, and notes that the recent cold has slightly reduced fever cases, promising a potentially calmer shift.
Yet, the physical toll of maintaining the vehicle, navigating the city, and working long hours eventually takes its toll.
His daily routine reveals a constant clash between time constraints, illness, and scarcity. To keep moving, he meticulously plans each outing: waiting for a break in the rain, coordinating with a friend—Yuri—to revisit the same markets, seizing any fleeting offers, all while continuing his hospital duties.
In a humorous anecdote, he shares how, despite achieving "virtually nothing" with the motorcycle, he enjoyed stopping traffic to film, injecting humor into a structural problem beyond his control.
Home Challenges Reflect Broader Struggles
His domestic life also mirrors this precariousness. Luisi shows how his dog destroys seats and furniture at home, acknowledging that repairs are pointless until the dog turns three—following a relative's advice—when he’ll consider investing in new seats.
The same logic applies to his motorcycle and bicycle: there’s no room for repeated fixes, so every maintenance decision is carefully calculated.
In essence, the video is a vivid portrayal of what it means to maintain a vehicle in Cuba today: weeks spent hunting for a simple part, reliance on informal markets and facilitators, improvisations to safeguard investments from rain, all while enduring grueling workdays in healthcare and recovering from illnesses like chikungunya.
More than just a personal blog, Luisi’s testimony serves as a daily snapshot of the transport and parts supply crisis affecting countless Cubans who, like him, depend on a motorcycle or bicycle to reach their workplace.
Understanding the Vehicle Maintenance Crisis in Cuba
What are the main challenges of maintaining a motorcycle in Havana?
The main challenges include scarcity of basic parts, significant time and economic investment in finding replacements, reliance on informal markets and makeshift solutions, and the impact of urban and climatic conditions.
How do climatic conditions affect vehicle maintenance in Cuba?
Climatic conditions, like frequent rain, complicate maintenance efforts by quickly undoing cleaning and protective measures, making it harder to keep vehicles in good condition.
Why do vehicle repairs in Cuba depend on informal markets?
Due to a lack of a stable supply of parts, repairs often rely on informal markets and the ingenuity of facilitators who can craft custom parts or provide makeshift solutions.