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
, w6 A. s* P, n* O7 E8 I% |; Cstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
& Y- _5 z+ c% k/ h( `, N) Pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ [8 H. m3 x; Y+ @8 D
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; G) F# D3 M+ ~* p" {, O$ Kanswers to our pointed questions.8 x, n/ y# J; i
5 b* d/ r! e, B& H# u4 AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," D5 `; F2 @* @8 O
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 Q2 S8 ]9 q1 H8 _' t& t q: wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: m# ]* E* \+ k0 Y/ I# P8 B
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: d- q( ^: o- l6 [( W5 P* W; w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 P7 A! d2 Y9 @$ z& A
medical schools. W; y& s2 E) F/ u2 P D+ A
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; p' }" J- a; |
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' g3 F; k/ ` P8 n+ N. L, |; x# l
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 z7 D$ Y; }3 s. c& Q1 O1 p3 o ^) tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 y2 P0 M$ D; N' i
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: t( a7 |- P4 @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 ~5 a8 }7 V% S# Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% Q0 ~+ a V7 R! {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* z1 J; _# K; V
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. w4 O! |9 J- r+ K2 [: t/ \' jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 {8 I2 j Q$ X( H) v( V
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 j% b1 e6 e2 F5 _% d2 Y1 b" F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 x4 |% n+ }/ Z) d0 i3 `$ W3 @
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 Q5 i$ H: ~! u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" {6 Q; \ ~; m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' x1 U% ?+ w0 w$ H) {0 Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ ?% I7 t5 Z2 DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 q6 @* W2 M$ z
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( t3 c: i$ C& g7 D! C
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ t' ~0 [6 A6 Q |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ q! H7 l: z- K: n) m% p4 j
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 A/ v& g) v$ Z( ?. }4 M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 v8 @ B, z+ u( Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 U8 C4 a2 W L4 n
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& g+ e* f, x6 Y; C* q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: o) |, I- l1 }/ k9 w* L x! Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 c* g9 F3 c0 d) C
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 b* ?9 v! [/ T7 A# F! Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: L+ M7 Y# x) G0 t5 A, j# M7 K- R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 u) j, @6 x, `' R3 ?" ?
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* \% q/ b3 {% z W" m& ?5 o9 @% `. tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 o: V" m- V' q5 c* E: W8 |: Oare spaces.
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! t; ~- D$ p3 p' K5 p/ T. {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" [" Y1 G1 ^5 Y' u! nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ w4 v; v/ i6 a. A$ Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 e- e2 Q" D6 k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; U: V* `- J5 M/ dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
/ P: Q/ ] b/ `$ j/ \" s$ [7 obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 b0 M" O! r0 u7 {nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) [7 T5 W5 P' Y6 {1 i' W ~
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 o1 j3 H8 y e4 Q3 `# S, n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( T, W8 W5 Q4 P2 l) J7 W# C* V We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
