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
0 B' u$ T; [! i! \1 ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& x q* n0 D3 @* d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 l; n2 b& V/ p- A5 H"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* {/ B' M- m, _) q2 a7 W+ y% J& q5 F& B- r
answers to our pointed questions.. T- q* ]6 t8 x8 T7 |% H
5 `9 V0 C" t" m8 t' aThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. f- g5 C( `5 A; r$ Q) s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' J' Q8 @$ c/ k8 q) sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 ~) h. C \/ Z& S; o
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
% j/ I1 N5 h, l- I) Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( ~) X" g. ?" r) e" V
medical schools.9 s( ~: K- b7 W
: O! O% [0 t; x8 s5 `1 t5 LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 G* U! N0 U' R+ g4 T3 N& Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% Q+ h! n) ]7 \3 ~% g& ] Q" i
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& w3 M( D" }$ R% u3 \# nassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba I0 k, ]6 d$ ?4 M) k' g, S& |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- @3 ~# c0 Q" q; H0 ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' Z, y& P' S( x% j. {# [seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( Y* S" b8 F/ R/ hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: X- [- m$ P3 m. C# r2 w
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& j; {1 M G( J. P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 Z+ l# B( ~/ Q3 i
+ ~9 [* t6 V( u; v$ v; ^The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ u8 E( y" [6 M* s
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; l3 V" u. k6 n, V E% f# V& M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 e& Z5 |4 _# q, H2 _have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* E( y: X G. ~
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 d: \ ^4 D8 M1 }& N3 v( r% N/ F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ O% r4 j7 G( `" ]- l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% _ V$ W: O9 K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. t: m) L3 n2 d! u- U/ H( s6 H
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 K5 Z& I, u. Zcharge the fee defined by the state.* z2 @1 c: v; C+ m/ J- a
+ N& E, g) z$ j( m$ d/ T
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 b+ F3 p5 \! c9 w T, ^. h
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 n) W3 [+ l" {
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; t9 O& o' B$ [% R# F9 G0 t+ N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 E+ ^7 F# @9 \& a% b% a
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. ~8 _& c9 X1 i2 }4 M3 H( z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. `* N0 N+ w |/ L' }9 [$ [' qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: n/ s% q8 A3 \8 M* D5 ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. H' J& i+ g3 l& w& ]& d
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
+ P$ V- x) }. I5 ~! e) Y* ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ o, a7 G, i2 ^+ P4 Qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 y( B' L/ T/ t3 Ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 G/ |9 Z1 r7 K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* c9 h) ^* E2 W8 h) Y G$ eare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 _6 ?7 k, w% ]# K& u) {0 \to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( h7 t2 {- [. v2 {* {. w
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* L: n, A1 U$ Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, @7 M/ z, Y$ Z9 U
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' Q0 j( a9 M8 N: |- r% Zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 z$ p; B6 {% Y& w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 R g- n: p t& A$ c! ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 p. y4 z3 L; M* h8 C5 q: b. g0 lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# g' m$ V) v% @ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
