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In this Aug. 28, 2015 photo, a train that departed Santiago de Cuba arrives at sunrise to Havana, Cuba. Cubans pay a little more than $1 to shuttle goods or visit faraway family between the capital and Santiago. Visiting foreigners are charged $30 for the same trip. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__3_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a street vendor sells homemade sweets to travelers at a train station in the Ciego de Avila province in Cuba. At their peak, Cuban trains featured dining cars and other high-end services. Today, refreshment comes from the vendors who board at many stations offering cold sandwiches and soft drinks. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![APTOPIX_Cuba_Trains_P_Garc__2_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a man looks at a tank being transported on a paused cargo train, as he travels by train through the province of Holguin, Cuba. The train system suffered along with much of the countrys infrastructure when the Soviet Unions collapse cut Cuba off from the subsidies that Moscow had pumped into its economy. Currently, a longstanding U.S. trade embargo makes it hard to get parts. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![APTOPIX_Cuba_Trains_P_Garc__4_]()
In this Oct. 11, 2015 photo, a train wagon made to look like a bus, moves along the tracks on the outskirts of Trinidad, Cuba. This train, known as a "train auto motor," moves passengers to and from the outskirts of the city. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__7_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a commuter puts his feet up in a train traveling from Santiago de Cuba to Santa Clara, in the province of Holguin, Cuba. The trip from Havana to Santiago, 475 miles (765 kilometers) to the east, takes an average of 15 hours, if the train doesnt break down. A slightly more reliable train with air conditioning currently is not running while it undergoes repairs. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__2_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a girl sleeps on a moving train with her family as they travel from Santiago de Cuba, to Santa Clara, in the Holguin province of Cuba. While the island is slowly modernizing its rail system, it remains the slowest way to get around already slow-moving Cuba. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__4_]()
In this Aug. 26, 2015 photo, a young man boards the electric Hershey train with two live goats at the Hershey train station in Cuba. He's traveling to Casablanca, a municipality in Havana where he'll sell his livestock. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__11_]()
In this Aug. 26, 2015 photo, antique American cars wait for an electric Hershey train to pass through the Casablanca municipality of Havana, Cuba. The train connects Casablanca to the city of Matanzas. In 1916 the Corporation of Pennsylvania Hershey built a network of electric railways to transport their products and workers to the Hershey sugar factory, just east of the capital. Two of the electric train lines are still running, between the former town of Hershey that connects with Matanzas and Casablanca. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__1_]()
In this Aug. 26, 2015 photo, a boy rides next to the engineer of an electric Hershey train in the Casablanca municipality of Havana, Cuba. The conductor slowed the train down to avoid hitting a shepherd's flock of goats grazing along the tracks. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![APTOPIX_Cuba_Trains_P_Garc__3_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a working cowboy travels by train to Santa Clara to participate in a rodeo, as the train moves through the province of Holguin, Cuba. From east to the west, trains offer a fine-grained, slow-moving view of Cuba that few foreigners ever see. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__6_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, tools that belong to a train maintenance worker sit alongside the tracks before the start of his work day in San Luis, near Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. From east to the west, trains offer a fine-grained, slow-moving view of Cuba that few foreigners ever see. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![APTOPIX_Cuba_Trains_P_Garc__1_]()
In this Oct. 12, 2015 photo, a family on a horse-drawn carriage crosses the train tracks that connect Trinidad with the "Valle de los Ingenios," or Valley of the Sugar Mills, in Cuba. After decades of neglect due to the fall of the sugar industry, dozens of empty mills remain standing in this valley that was once part of the booming sugar industry in the 19th century, when plantation owners used slave labor. In 1988 the area became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, an off-duty police officer travels with his family to Santa Clara during a long trip through the province of Holguin in Cuba. From east to the west, trains offer a fine-grained, slow-moving view of Cuba that few foreigners ever see. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)![Cuba_Trains_Photo_Gal_Garc__10_]()
In this March 23, 2015 photo, a cowboy wearing a U.S.A. belt buckle smokes on the landing of a train car as he travels to a rodeo in the province of Holguin, Cuba. From east to the west, trains offer a fine-grained, slow-moving view of Cuba that few foreigners ever see. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)For slowest, most authentic look at Cuba, ride the rails
From east to the west, trains offer a fine-grained, slow-moving view of Cuba that few foreigners ever see. The trip from Havana to Santiago, 475 miles to the east, takes an average of 15 hours – if the train doesn't break down.
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- For slowest, most authentic look at Cuba, ride the rails
