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
4 f! |; g% g6 C- }% y4 ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& N W0 V4 o3 T2 q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 s. R7 F5 K0 S; \4 } A# l9 D9 B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# n' F4 \9 r8 ]' E5 I/ C4 l4 Lanswers to our pointed questions.) |. x" @3 L5 a% |& M
% P; N" _) P) sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 U! L* j. p8 u3 X1 _! h
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# m. P6 }. X: t: m% u E
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 }: D: E, e- ~) pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 q8 B/ @' b; L# k- D; K
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 u: w* S; k' j6 V: i8 k( G( Vmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; k' e% ^3 _; G! p; R* L1 `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& [! N/ X" a; _1 d# { Zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( _" n3 \+ N$ P- D; B( t( n$ @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 c3 V$ d0 {$ V0 z4 U3 Z, B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to' H/ E' k! B0 E& J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 z C; h8 P5 Q2 R* qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& c3 N2 K& o) g5 Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; O. c H: p5 |0 Z# I- Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some( q! Q2 [- U8 V8 R7 g4 O! E( d
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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# z9 R* r( U8 lThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ p( f8 N1 P8 }1 ?+ r1 w
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 s8 d( k' q! N I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ v2 \ W$ O3 Z( ?- f" v2 ^have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* F" c4 [& o8 L1 b6 kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" r/ ]. V4 B7 J7 s3 @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 N+ B1 f* w2 R) wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 P# l) @4 Z: k% D, R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 T* e) T. Y" M+ v! `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 M9 A* D! g) E; B0 ~7 Lcharge the fee defined by the state.. ]1 b7 N; y' M1 w, A7 `
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* x$ y8 A) c* X3 T9 i, T
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 l1 Q" S$ K- l3 |3 qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( P% y' N; U |: O
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( r5 i9 z$ l/ ]% S8 @seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 x7 ^# ~3 L* [3 e4 @$ q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. _$ t# {% F" D. s3 I/ j g0 [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 Z6 P( h5 y; o! H
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 [$ O2 U3 m7 Xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 w9 `: a8 D1 m- L8 j2 Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! f% w: r7 l3 u+ r( c# B. I
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( ~' z! m0 D d0 vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, T. l6 d/ O2 r' V% C7 O
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
. t0 W7 G& g3 l0 L8 Eare spaces.$ ]* W/ O- S- ]. F! l+ J
6 Q1 V! s* U) ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* G4 K. a; A! k2 v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 D2 v4 F2 w- I
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 i! o: I& b2 n; O0 N/ @" b2 A3 t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- b! _; r* X4 a7 l& t3 f# Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& `" A; I6 V o, L0 K, K2 T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& R8 s1 `2 ^4 I, Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 U3 `& e2 Y! Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ l# e# x- q$ \7 @0 v' p0 g* m+ Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# h }$ S" s/ U# v3 b2 ?2 Y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
