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% M. |8 L/ u- p( X
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 }( Q, X" }' Q' f. }6 g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 m' [) ~- [" b- N" y8 E q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& C% r: u6 [7 b9 g
answers to our pointed questions.
8 q; b ^7 t2 L# R- z( D
5 p$ A; ]8 C" B c/ e7 p9 Y* PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ f6 {7 s; } h/ T
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" C8 K. H$ A6 B! @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& j2 Y" Z+ a- u8 b V% W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% a ?; f* e$ g% X6 S1 t! ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
* S; n7 M: ?. K8 l/ d; Umedical schools.
8 {# Z$ |9 F' Q3 z. t1 {2 Z3 B6 J7 P* X: ^* v- x* z- F! D
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 M+ K# Q& o6 @% `% X. l7 L: G* u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ s0 A6 L6 V" A! Dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* @& y& s t8 p0 ^, aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" t, `2 N. l+ R# w' q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& T3 B8 T, A0 s' k) `3 w4 W
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! g2 O6 r1 j: u" Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& a+ R& U: s' V% y! X, q) Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
v4 s0 [5 ` F+ hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some t' _ g: S% h& Z1 b2 y% T# L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
7 ~% ]1 c, z; a! ~6 ?/ p8 t! X% q) B3 z- B
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( T( \9 n3 y Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: l) _) d7 D, M0 G, L5 I& J% rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- X( {) L- q' I( R* n6 {1 W; X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 U0 Y: J# F; d- F7 Y5 b1 E
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( q2 A1 m7 w+ Z8 T: csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' t8 g2 ^ C) \5 I1 Edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. b9 E. F4 _) H6 g3 |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 v2 T; K& o5 `' G! e) L- Ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 N$ g7 [5 \' X# D0 O
charge the fee defined by the state.
8 A4 M: _) H+ R( T( V
6 b3 F/ C0 `" w: rThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 a' U; U& D0 j/ X" S. ]9 c1 A
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 ?8 p# N1 H7 l* n2 s4 pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" E$ `+ @8 ?/ B' l6 ]7 g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ P8 C# i* Z8 _% f* S. X
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 T4 X5 J, F' f& M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
3 c3 K% {. ]' F: {0 l X4 Xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ A5 V ^5 w+ R% l- {2 Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 L, Y+ W' E. y: O& u/ Q- e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 d1 ^3 t, }# C3 x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& g) l! n9 M- ^9 |6 ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& u* l# N7 o% b, A, l* r% fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 u+ \9 Z' l/ D3 f4 c/ h7 B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 L, C0 B) t5 z$ S6 J7 d
are spaces.8 P6 d5 N$ H f9 e! p) Y
, T- @1 j2 _: ^9 w) r. v# J% F
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 w8 {- c, I3 `# w
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 X: K! f" N5 U' R3 O' ?
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; q$ \3 q: M$ W- x2 k8 t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
D0 e: z. Z4 F2 |! n G1 Uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 i$ S! w+ y0 Q* Kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 _" h% ]8 o: f0 W: M1 h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( ]( e) z8 p; O' K( Wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
! d* ]( G' m- Qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 `- T7 h4 }- a0 k0 J We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
