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
E7 {& [7 A; s. L2 l1 x ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
6 B1 f) }1 t D/ Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 j/ v6 A, `0 M& H. M6 b% S) n/ l" J
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ J- C, f4 q2 e4 D2 q1 h
answers to our pointed questions.7 H2 |* Y5 D2 h+ _5 x( ]
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: c6 S! V7 O! B% A3 D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# _+ f, o: ^- j) W0 w4 v/ o9 yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 J3 x2 l, L( Y1 g. Y3 e3 H6 a6 q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ f- b5 @ W% b6 g
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are _0 {# y4 e- ^* E7 ?' S
medical schools.1 l! v9 b! d; o, O, `/ s, Q+ ~
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, g8 ~; L7 w1 W: k' ?+ A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% q5 c! o% x# L" K: O' wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* |+ S' W0 f+ T! V" D- G( \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 N! y/ k& ~6 p5 N/ Z: ? w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" v& x. Z5 m$ h U7 p9 k. U
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' b- B0 P, t# l% y& L* Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: {3 v, X, U F- J7 B$ | s# b5 J7 b, ?
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) _1 h* e. }6 F' D3 Z3 k+ ]shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 x+ H4 I. ~3 H" {% ^4 Msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ p( f0 {5 `2 ]# z* x, ]
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
2 r% m& W9 ]; P" b/ R5 `/ uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& S' B8 s a. v% Q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
4 F* T- I+ a( }; o# t7 X5 Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
4 W3 Z7 q; {* [ }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. m0 _) ^' c- H: V& L( `3 Y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ N8 M$ X* t! k# l9 Hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. o6 P7 r. y6 N% l
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 e5 V" e3 o4 M( y$ Y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 f" G9 s9 @/ ~ d/ s: l! |
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get @) n( E# X3 W* N+ G% u
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( s- u) z4 u/ N' ~# p+ Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 T7 `8 K* W3 x. R# o% N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
C; A7 G0 M8 I8 u6 u4 xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
Q( e# W8 v3 O: jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 }$ b5 S. P' V6 U0 {schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- p; J5 u& x$ ^
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ g# i' W. j( U" z+ utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 c6 |' G! E M. K: v1 S2 @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 b7 T( E( J( @% Y' g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
P1 G! I+ I6 V. i$ p1 J: T9 i* mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' I. s5 n0 o4 G' E2 O, H4 s& j! ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there" o6 ]5 c1 D4 d+ l+ e
are spaces.9 ~" @9 p& V8 g" z0 w1 e* U
; _* x' j: d1 [9 y5 jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 u- T3 r0 W% C8 ~( a+ I! Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 P, A7 x0 B* Z8 R3 Q2 W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# [; P! W) l' S+ }3 a" @7 \1 }40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 k4 F& g0 p7 v8 F Q9 v/ uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 T. p0 L/ @; @1 W5 t
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 _$ m* P9 Z& W5 y0 }! ~; c
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
+ x8 T7 L" [7 U- P& p* Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* g" w4 @) Y$ Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: e3 K: m5 L/ e5 S7 M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
