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
, J, Z$ e# W# H* w: m: z6 nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 ]3 D3 S/ _' \+ p/ t' D
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 i& `. \" c) k3 [8 l' M8 J
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. }/ _3 I' k3 J4 g. }4 V
answers to our pointed questions.2 A: }6 o* M4 [6 U2 h: p$ f
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; y& T5 \' j2 Q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 ?4 a' E; D. K9 S6 n+ e9 ^out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ X; t+ b" h' pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( x- t0 h, B6 x3 c7 ~+ m) v' wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 M' T$ X5 Q9 f/ G: f j! Amedical schools.
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" M! L7 F, B! X2 V% l( |' C4 uEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. Q, h: E8 Y% d+ t, Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, E U V# w8 `, _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
s* t( s' K" H- |; zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 j6 ], J S* ^* W3 k9 C: Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. S% p' k9 m6 l3 ]5 N& K2 b5 [over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, F- w; ~ ~1 k. u$ x V3 }. ~
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( t, R( U# t/ m% Y% b; N6 v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ C- o/ P4 U# r( w+ |8 p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 w8 }) }/ W4 `- p* B, j6 Y1 V# v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 c( ?9 G5 S! Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' w7 C/ i" a! a" ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 T0 M c' ^/ s' `+ }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 p5 A0 X7 s/ Y3 o. F
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 y& `: ]3 M' \8 x. m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 D F2 L- k' s4 R( g: X
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 ?( O) w5 Q7 _. V. T; }9 Y2 u8 }
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# \6 V. e! W5 x) l( K+ qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 w: t5 g. I% A G4 u
charge the fee defined by the state.2 U; ~1 |! B3 v, U2 {8 h
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ M/ y0 C: R" X4 P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 S. M) r( c) h2 x
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big z, l7 r1 Z$ }3 ~- z' w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 _( ~0 I8 K# l$ h1 @" Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 z5 R8 |4 N5 W3 qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, q1 G& v" G& I: I' [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! G+ a6 {9 c6 O- l$ B# lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- M: s; _% I! v# _7 y$ ^2 p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# M& O) A* V8 g; Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 S; B% ^: [* E7 w9 {
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 |$ ]- P. [5 Oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 q% K* z* n7 E( }
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 R2 h" W' k& Q: C, ?are spaces." S# F* L$ d) g8 h8 I
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 ^' p. R; w/ e6 I/ B
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ V" @' [& G K% D9 e+ E r& Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 V3 v. F: u1 V3 ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: M% ~7 G( [. X9 p% Fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 P7 g9 L; D# ]best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ [2 a# N8 q ~3 M9 m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 D" G: \6 p2 V* u2 K* @/ O1 P
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) f; m2 b9 ?0 z! ` j ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
9 y1 {* c3 U1 L L8 h/ R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
