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
) V$ d2 c% ~2 u; n3 C& O/ Ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' d7 `0 P/ _! u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
0 l+ ]' L( @! E) Z$ ~- t"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. l8 q' E8 T5 p& u
answers to our pointed questions.) W) f% s7 f4 n
" ^: i, n, n3 U% j9 U+ d6 `7 |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) W! s# O6 Q. s3 D+ [8 y+ R7 @
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
+ @3 J! _+ i9 n2 @out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 h( K/ w4 o+ }0 V J* i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: Z' i0 D8 h+ j2 Y( w* @
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 e" @, f- C7 v( X/ y+ s; }- zmedical schools.# F" h5 M- x' [; T- p$ w& R: O
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ Y/ @/ x ~* H( u k
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" n( _! T# E" Z$ w1 e8 c8 s* w% t. Z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- s/ v5 L- _; V- S4 P5 lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 ^7 M4 ?1 I \. d2 N4 F: B* `9 r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* {8 H: x D& M' q; R! g4 {$ Dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( p7 q& b4 J0 m! {$ R8 U, N* {& kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' u2 k& P U) ~' l Imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, n6 `, d# }% U& P1 k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* e- U/ g4 r X0 S( K/ h
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands." e8 K: [# G8 ~( N9 O9 T! p/ w
4 A: E, `# J! x5 o7 xThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- v' q% K% a5 [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 _1 f9 ~# V1 e8 t- U- r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 H9 S# N* F. O+ G) D" I' l
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' C2 |( ^) \& Z; x$ ~! [
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
+ g1 B7 B! k0 ]* T* }* Ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% B/ b! S- V* Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( d c3 V. |4 ^5 A
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. p9 h. E, O( Y; ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! U3 ^0 v% n G8 c$ m
charge the fee defined by the state.
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. @, {7 e( M0 `- {0 s% PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get Q) Y4 G5 Y" A7 P: B$ m, a6 V. u" ^
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 r: s+ E7 I% _* B' D% H f5 yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 P/ S9 e, _) { t5 \2 i' \5 @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: @8 ]+ s2 v9 y2 ]( H
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 o( N7 v- F9 L( ~
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 q. s: _0 N. _; ]: }5 O7 Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; ~2 Q+ N+ [+ z% v) }+ {3 yyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 l# m6 s& K" q# Ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 ]- f# E# x; a \. z* u) ~
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 [/ o. ^ D$ U, `& S% v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 d, ^6 p# c( c3 H& } J% s9 Z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 b! D1 L$ @1 S6 G5 t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ N6 e8 F7 a$ F" m/ X8 Iare spaces.' ]; K) I/ X$ W/ G
& \9 G$ z! y, t4 q9 e/ eThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ f6 f3 z' O7 Oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ X( F( a4 V' k. Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 v! X+ g4 E8 f5 F
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 ?7 |5 H! R6 H5 w1 U. [* qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 U: K0 ]6 S1 v0 B3 H
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 z* Z* i# k! c1 z7 d9 x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 B+ m. o- _9 q" ?# ?- jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* f" O1 }4 [& ^, sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! G6 N. O9 g( d7 d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
