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. A# c0 m7 M5 D+ Y0 v' W/ ~, ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# ~" l. s2 r3 Q2 {on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ O/ t( v: z0 J, W* ~' n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give6 }2 L' \) |: f6 X# m. X
answers to our pointed questions.
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3 m( d8 y6 k) ]+ A/ E$ l8 vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; E8 M& H7 p; e3 f" Q4 I, @( V45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; {1 c! C3 d$ R4 X+ _
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* M9 y/ f( R% D8 u1 O" mfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 G% V& @+ }$ C! m4 cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 Q+ Q2 f' @, T# C+ j% Y$ I5 y% [medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; E5 n7 y( D! b8 xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 _1 k! e- Q! k6 E4 ?- n
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 A; }: q8 t+ L2 O$ i$ ~. o2 A# L: Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! c2 y" G6 L$ s8 A- ]. O
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 A# @6 @* @5 i% I* E" z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, C: O4 `/ _1 ?+ c! Y2 W7 a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: f' [ {/ b6 I/ z" O. b' N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: l" j' Y' q7 l8 R% b3 Vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
7 \* r/ g( u# s: O) i+ _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# {0 d; }1 Z8 R4 Y1 C! ? w- sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 C( K& h6 U) usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ t, }$ J! o9 |6 ~/ X$ }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 y+ _. q2 @3 P4 f, ~1 G* E
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 e7 o. u7 ` @# I" wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ Y b: e) ?1 G& F. |7 M0 }divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: S1 u+ G- J2 S4 k/ u: ^
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 c$ s- W. b% k
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 [& r* }' b! O5 P& Q
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 S+ V w1 }0 s
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& P0 ?& @2 H% |$ i
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# Z$ x/ _/ y0 I
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% @7 f- ~" s! r) v. S0 I2 ]
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
( o: F; m/ U1 [6 w1 U$ E* w1 A' tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ L' T7 J/ q3 f! |1 {! K& Q Q s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
y2 M( \* h6 R* s' Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. Z6 b6 q- g: htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) h7 q6 s+ Z/ S1 |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 n9 `8 t; j: W D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: s3 I5 q4 u8 u0 R9 ?to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" h+ W5 Z/ Q3 S6 G# B1 g4 R
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 i! Q, Q$ r" L
are spaces.8 i) @4 D& V8 D1 a( C
# v, _ i/ w" N5 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! k+ F8 ~) L j0 Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ e% b9 z* |" ^9 v L( U* Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( p& i4 a" `9 ^& l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 c% O g' H2 ?( G C' Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 O! z, o7 D% o7 n! fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ B) g. _% T* j5 }) A5 ^
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' \: z6 ^7 k& P5 `
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
' Y. j: H, a+ ]% p d0 iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. ^6 O5 w. P$ S+ h# ^
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
