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& ~) b$ ?0 P- s6 @& Z; X8 n
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: ^& F- F$ k! h6 W* Y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: U( }& ]' l# f: o% Z"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% X$ p: F* P- @3 X( fanswers to our pointed questions.
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& K/ n+ m K( _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; I* F% V/ b7 f9 A8 T4 [& E* d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! D; f1 n _4 r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 p) u' o3 v; @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; o5 D2 @. Z# n( a( Z* Lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( q7 ]8 D# E3 K M; jmedical schools.9 P- k* Y+ w( U5 m: ?3 X
* t; i, y# A- u3 q& hEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( h6 F7 L. w$ S, R( y, F3 {2 X1 A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 N$ c r0 Q; }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- s; @$ `' j' W( d% W: T0 f0 r* Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
R0 ~4 r* E- F8 b w; Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( k U/ g( Z: n: D5 O
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There F5 A- I! H1 W5 y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ [& f$ a$ |8 u, P
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- h4 j9 D1 d: G. R
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' |- }. ^7 f0 q/ s4 S# W! \, z5 b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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( q2 X9 p' i$ J( fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- c( C: m) L# c$ I+ S2 c5 fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 k! S2 v- p e2 P& ^5 i8 A# b1 n4 |/ zsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! @% w# m' e1 j
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 t3 H# y2 ]8 W9 R8 E0 S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- h' @9 W H( Jsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! f* U+ n2 ~9 ~: s } F. K- a mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' E- U9 E) \2 o* NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. b% o. g4 A, d: z" Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: i: d' T/ E% k% c
charge the fee defined by the state.$ v0 b2 ?+ T- h, J R* ?
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- X0 G) E! a; V1 |9 A/ C) d
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; w( h2 c2 L4 f; l) y1 K; wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
_3 j% u3 I; k0 ~. Z2 `( Ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 ~) I" j( Z2 `) x$ D# r4 p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
% o, T# P) m2 H: r. mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( ~/ H1 Z. [- e, g$ e" nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 w4 i0 {$ X) ? v1 k0 s) gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% Y8 I/ p1 Y0 c( C# K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* Y" s3 S* J Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# }9 Q3 F7 S; q7 W7 Y7 Y- a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' l4 C: _- C, v7 e, g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 f$ ?' b+ v( m, Q( H, e
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 `/ S/ y7 ^% r$ Lare spaces.
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; k5 `# [) C- I0 i/ t. ?2 o3 N2 oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# h2 p% Y0 Q$ hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' t2 U, X- E2 V5 s ^" A
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 q& H+ L: D0 Y. o4 j9 ?40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; e# V0 W5 N; V( f; \
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ b4 l& a; [ t: Q/ n$ Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! e% I& n. ^2 X4 S4 onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 _. W* L) q! N- ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. v$ c- g, d( I$ S7 r
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( N+ p$ w' {5 E" O8 E4 c We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
