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# x* c# B; ]0 ~/ t; H) ]0 m; E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; ]5 j$ h; D8 s3 n8 mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' {; g+ W; L1 }" ]6 z"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 m, [9 ]# j5 O8 P3 Danswers to our pointed questions.
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8 |. x3 h" b: xThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 `2 Q2 }' \7 @6 V0 |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ c% C; I& S- E- k/ K* |0 ]. ^out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: l3 n* Q5 C: Z" f. B
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 V' d7 t1 B" i
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ k# F. n: s- l) n
medical schools.
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* a5 b- `4 A6 O9 j* s! ?! T. P! iEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 B2 d3 R) R6 T- e2 Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! B! l# Q$ s9 n& fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; R# f% H" H+ C( Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 X3 `2 X+ a* d0 Q: _1 C7 His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" p& H2 V, I3 ^4 k
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" L% U' y& A5 A/ J( Z9 lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 |" ?" K' J! i2 [) C3 C( m
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. s7 E4 ^$ i# Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some% G+ G, L0 a( e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 B6 p, v. \( v0 o: z, X _
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) ` m( J/ L7 K [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' K8 r% J# `4 y8 ^supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) Z) d+ [2 F. M. m/ c9 m' u, C+ R* M3 D
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good$ V0 T9 w0 B' }# h" L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 f% V& ]6 [/ z: g& K
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 D! u+ N; f4 v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 g$ o. `5 [6 n. t F, NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ W+ J9 d# Q( o( b% V
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; a/ f0 l3 T1 d' n) v- ccharge the fee defined by the state.
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0 T, z* M7 E/ N- T% lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" A w I2 ]6 Non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& f+ _/ F0 w+ V; @$ A0 ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 U- u% _1 ]5 Y; N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# \5 c$ w. v7 }/ J5 `- F& q2 t L
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ D% N6 h9 N/ D4 Y4 A0 I: I5 nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 U2 \* \* h2 [, k& Y4 `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& P; L# @7 q; Z0 |2 |3 u6 p3 H+ [% Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 Z/ U" A9 f; F$ r$ i! k9 V# m+ p5 Y6 w, xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: S. |1 m6 W8 S# ]9 b1 _hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
8 t+ c" D& q. ^) v0 l5 @1 jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 h9 A+ O: o; P- b U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 A) f% P* s1 ?. Nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 u4 P& c6 H5 u. ?* Tare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, n: f, Y* Y. J- s2 Q( Vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# s1 [$ {: ]5 _4 ^/ M mown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; {) u" g& N+ Z1 S7 V5 |) f D40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) s# i. |% u. Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
5 y9 D8 e4 t: p" ibest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 R. K! ]' o6 Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 g9 q7 @ b- V
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; Y: j9 \7 x/ B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
L1 c6 @; l% m6 c5 f, n; f We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
