我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living
* t$ {! U- A6 X9 g8 pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ z9 Z5 H: B0 }
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 u% P; I( J" a: x! I4 z) @
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 K, S/ M+ b0 {. L: ]! ^, U' P2 h
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) {6 w! W. Y0 R; G3 O- W; k
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- t+ t* ^/ ~$ [8 q7 Y( r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( b# ]+ P8 m+ s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 Y- `9 u7 t7 z% P- e
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 F) l, E# E3 _5 T5 W. w/ ^2 Y$ j
medical schools.# D/ h$ P+ B; _" s ~
% L t1 k4 t" h8 }: l: R) C" x3 hEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& J5 _! y1 F; I! ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
" o+ U6 M3 ]9 I0 _0 ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 y) T V$ }* v8 T& bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& }2 @0 s' z- [* E2 \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 | H& U2 \$ H! j: `6 Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: x, S# c2 v: c$ m. p2 y2 wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 W8 v8 s$ J: y4 }
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- I+ \6 ^2 T4 P, d4 ], \4 Hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ K! _4 E- g9 D' P: a
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. N1 L j& u, YThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 c' h4 R8 W$ y7 n2 {/ oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; F3 p# K3 I3 _8 o$ i, t! i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 G2 G8 B3 _" {
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ P5 E. y& R( `. m3 b6 @% C9 N; @0 kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 a. I L9 \2 y; H& k" j9 o; P# d
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- x: z/ }+ \; i& p- F; t8 ?divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' P8 E! Z: Y( B" L
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& v$ e" \# l( B; K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 B% Q/ J5 @3 H& U- ?% E6 o
charge the fee defined by the state., @$ k* S: u6 T3 P
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 f; q. ~2 |) Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. a# v5 {' D/ |! u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 `/ g# ]7 @$ C2 V
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% ~, |" M$ W. Q. i! s; n/ sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* w( S* ?% b4 q5 `* b& X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 E |9 U2 J0 n6 J; Y7 g1 `6 b
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 _, G) O: {7 X: I; L# gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- h6 j, B& n# l; ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
Z3 ~2 c0 X9 a' W" qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' c/ C' g9 C& S. p# @$ }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 M m+ n3 I" y* j) e; V4 B% Oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" [/ q) I7 Q% l0 j% Y& ^buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 [7 {, z. b4 y7 E* a0 T
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi f! g3 L1 ^; C2 N" {- o
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) ]8 v1 u& T* S9 Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the3 T. i& J, l' {6 e7 g5 D
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 j9 {) \" w( o" w1 }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 w' k1 }$ B5 p3 Gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 u- s, G6 r) r! M( W/ c* }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 V7 x, y9 i/ z* C) ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
' F$ l! A# n2 S3 Z) q% L7 Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' M8 Y J, a3 H" X/ }# Z+ J
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
