Made from a decommissioned shuttle that had once been used to take workers to a local factory in Soviet times, this open-air touring bus—whose roof was simply carved off—filled in to meet the normal requirements of the tourist industry. Not surprisingly, the metal seats, heated by the tropical sun, did not make for an appealing ride. Cubans remarked that, once again, state planners whose primary criteria for employment remained loyalty to the system rather than efficiency or talent showed how little had changed: what foreign tourists would pay good money to get their bottoms roasted on a metal seat in the hot sun? Havana, 2002.
