我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 R: Z0 Q }1 T7 }! X; d5 f/ a
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 g6 X" \& g- V) J" Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 `* ^3 n5 G0 Y4 m
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" p: O# ~0 w( i+ r) Qanswers to our pointed questions.+ j3 u* ~6 N( l
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) ]2 ^' M1 L! Q" e) t4 Y" [, W d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 v$ q& J3 r- h( v7 k8 d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' a( X7 ^1 H! y5 q2 y. }+ Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 j( j5 C+ N8 h. E$ Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. f! v3 V3 e$ u5 P
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% Y6 e$ D7 c+ L' V5 j; N% Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* h3 Q$ @, E6 G/ m% {, Sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 e2 o' n5 L8 O- q+ }- tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: o' s% a; u+ F! n! x8 K* i
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! A; B$ G7 I6 S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 e% |( z8 F6 ]; _seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 [ w) H' ~' N1 \ n, s/ _
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 l7 x* L. \ H1 ]% {! Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ y% r: S4 K8 Y9 K% qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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4 z+ x6 E& B" j0 h, a& L; SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: g, o3 ~, Z4 Y" I5 a; oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, Q) G' H/ A: j% j2 }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. X3 X. M- s5 d- @% bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" x2 q: j& X! B6 A6 Fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
# C3 s5 u3 ]6 bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& |; x9 V% Y$ \/ I+ N% Q6 l: kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. C1 d f3 t, F2 i9 B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ }8 p" M/ d5 O! `( z( j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only) N. v1 u9 M0 g
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 F1 n+ a5 L6 fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
z$ w6 Z. p* Q, {% o, `- Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 u6 M% x# R7 }% Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ C! @8 ?$ }$ @9 M. Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# P1 L# n O+ o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ q# R4 L" r6 P( L$ X
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 `" i. _" W+ N7 E N3 l
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& }5 v' q2 p5 a/ R: u! X+ ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) O7 ^/ i5 f( L& whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! z- q2 Y/ w3 S" j6 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) P, j1 F0 M2 v; w, R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ m8 n6 y; G1 ~0 W1 C
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi) w* n8 I9 A- K5 c+ _2 u% a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they \: A* p7 Y, _# ~7 E
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, Q" b, t! _6 u/ D. W' t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 m- m9 g8 s- p9 U& ]- `* t# mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. d* P+ \* u) t+ a) D8 X! M0 f1 c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% E8 K5 p, q1 W" m5 k9 @1 J
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ z3 Q% S \7 k4 L" w% v8 `car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ I( ^ d/ r7 r$ C! w; q qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ h$ S7 H+ |1 a We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
