CubaPLUS Magazine

It is Bayamo, a southeastern Cuban city of beautiful history and traditions, considered the capital of horse-drawn carriage transportation, generally built in an artistic manner and in the old style, with models perhaps inspired by the sumptuous Duquesa and Milord vehicles that made an era long ago in that beautiful region.

However, traditions aside, which we will talk about first, certain contingencies of life have made vehicles moved by horse-drawn vehicles, less sophisticated than the classic ones from Bayamo, return to the public arena in Cuba since the early 1990s. And since then they have provided a
valuable service in the public transportation of many towns called inland, due to urgent economic needs. After clarifying that in Cuba only vehicles driven by animal traction are called “coches”, since motorized ones are cars, cars or machines, we will advance more clearly on the subject.

And we continue to praise the unconditional attachment that the Bayamo people always had for the old model of a car, very comfortable, black in color and format from colonial times, which put a cultural and root note when it circulated gracefully through its streets, transporting happy passengers, in the midst of other modern vehicles. Ah, that unmistakable sound of the horses' hooves rattling on the pavement and those bells... The inhabitants of that city have always prided themselves on having that beautiful tradition, so unique in the country when the 20th century had advanced and no one used that means of transport anymore. Not only in Cuba, but in other salsa-loving countries, a song by the famous sonero Adalberto Álvarez became famous in the 80s of the last century, called “ To Bayamo by carriage”, a very tasty dance that pays homage to custom.

Mixing the pure tradition of Bayamo with the ups and downs of the economy, since the end of the last century the repair and manufacture of cars has once again strengthened, through the birth in the eastern city of a specialized garage industry. The workers of that line are a kind of artists who always had their brotherhood first and then their union, to which they belong with their rights assured, in the Historic Center and other tourist enclaves on the Island.

They are greatly admired and useful there. The greatest satisfaction of these people is to be noticed as they arrive at their land of heroes, the cradle of founders and patricians, where the National Anthem and the Father of the Homeland Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, initiator of the first war of independence.

The sustained and beloved tradition of moving around the city in negotiations or during delicious walks is far from disappearing there, and its cultists make every effort so that it does not lose its beauty and elegance. always, according to the legends that survive there.