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/ m5 Y5 m9 y; l+ J. p8 u; G. H
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 `/ G& x0 i* M! [. g7 w2 d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% g; X8 \" M4 g/ ^ a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 T" R9 ~" J! J; w0 s; L
answers to our pointed questions.8 M: D0 C/ P7 S- u! `& q* S9 i+ r
5 M$ A) t1 D1 R. d0 U- XThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 O @1 J9 z. g6 }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# v! J( q- g; d8 cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
# z: @- T! }& \! Y/ ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ u$ H& c. k- o8 ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 G8 z- d: U) }& C, f/ p! _+ k
medical schools.
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* }) v" | V0 s6 G, C ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! ^. n/ ?( |1 ?, o# m
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( D& t+ s3 S. i1 q; V* M
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 }) z, _) ?: e* y- [1 }7 @
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# ?( P# y* x1 T, ^6 k7 l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% @& P5 u' S& Z- C: v( aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 C9 n0 D6 p& U: l- U; R& W6 Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( I" q8 E0 z$ ]0 a9 e# B7 H; { s6 O
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ d/ v! a' p2 L4 |) Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' F. g! T, p" c# x7 K# xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. l' {' |, q" c& q- h+ G6 iprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 v4 f+ x; h- N2 f. \( F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) [7 |5 t1 u; U) N
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ F/ S5 v2 d3 n2 i" p8 @6 E9 lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 \& ~9 ?5 @1 _" o+ c/ C+ csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 t- p8 _& t8 z4 U1 h: z7 Gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
, Z1 l$ c! w% ~* v4 lDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 b; u4 q- G) x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 d1 T& r: }/ n! Scharge the fee defined by the state. A: D& I; [9 h7 X
5 G& [+ A$ F- q. ?, f8 t0 d* \# IThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 A5 @- l# {1 P: L, Y, W) a
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! e, @; B( w* N1 z1 ^- T, N' `+ r4 }
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 `7 e( R) g; h m9 p q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- ?* P7 `/ [$ R4 Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 V+ t4 ^# w9 U& C# w& _
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ N$ L8 H/ C/ Jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- y3 @ S3 M* Y9 fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( p: [* R3 w$ h, r' Ptrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" E W( Z3 K ]" Y9 H0 Rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that y/ U5 a9 Z7 t
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ q' W: P4 a$ ^" C4 p j, Q; X
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ d Q# M# a! k9 W7 |8 s* j6 t4 N
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 J' @7 A% q: R |$ E
are spaces.! r1 | T! H/ x( z
4 o2 c+ k7 h" `8 e: mThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ P2 a4 n; V! T7 Y9 y5 C6 i3 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; ?$ v, V6 A, R: R$ e; A F5 Oown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, Y7 h; ?' X3 N B' J( `6 U40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& L/ X7 J5 F. ^" y- C
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" L& V- [* f" q9 T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" W+ B7 [7 E; r7 `+ Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 m! Q `- u7 X ^& ~car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; R. f. q: s) l; i" G4 N3 e W) ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
5 o; a: N% M. c! l, Z$ D We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
