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
. X, S6 t- Z+ g/ h/ Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 Z: U$ ?4 O1 h: k: uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- h( Z9 F3 K2 l( B
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( c, h: z1 S) _+ d7 q9 m+ p+ S
answers to our pointed questions.3 f/ x0 m4 K& R
8 |) }# T+ i, p% e' \. K- h: R& q. K
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! d; K+ R! q2 e! A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- Y$ g; V3 ~2 r' z6 k- sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( K9 q6 V( N5 D/ lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 R! T4 B9 m9 }! `* Y7 l/ ^
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* f$ Z. ~. g* ?9 d( s9 E4 b
medical schools. c7 s5 e5 L* n/ f
$ B9 T3 n2 N; g/ N6 F6 ]+ L( G
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( Y& X# _# L% C$ f+ p
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' L, T9 T& r- a: I+ b3 x: D/ Nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% W" k9 I Y, w3 b6 v- X4 Eassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ x( n: [, L" T2 \* i3 W' l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& d" \" z. g. Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* ^& T$ m" h; E- X
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, D" N- q/ C& w1 m7 smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, C1 |8 V% z; ?& ~8 ]+ d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 N. A: R# C6 L2 w& [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) n d2 X, _" ` }- \0 T) B
# W' ^2 Q1 y; o+ `8 b$ Y# a8 w8 w
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% [+ f8 \) x& G. d7 Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and b- V8 [5 v+ T! }' F0 w! r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; d" b( S& x+ g, N |. C! ]+ I4 Y! {
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 X9 X+ v: V8 F( V# k
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 L- B1 L9 o( J* s4 ]/ a" [) D
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high |5 G; E1 \7 m: f; v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ I* t! T, t9 Y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- }' U1 W E3 s. o6 i, `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 f$ ]& A/ k' C; A! mcharge the fee defined by the state.
9 R8 @( T5 w0 L/ M v8 u4 R6 v& n
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 y- w5 K2 `' X) [2 q! Ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 [# e) F+ U, j' o# H% ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 e- u8 R$ }' _! \/ D- t9 n1 Ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 _7 i% A- I5 I. p' {, sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- S# d, ] b3 }6 W/ S1 v
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on S1 ^& |4 @, {$ x4 ^! h
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 ~& h" l" f$ ^1 v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. A: I: b' t7 o* E$ M* d! V0 R
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 _0 k8 W: H! `/ ~* c/ h: X: Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 Q/ n4 d c( U/ n) g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- q) ^ G/ {$ t& }1 C; y7 Ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
f. q) s' E2 Q7 N! S. }$ q+ qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% ^2 j1 O0 a6 h& Uare spaces.: @; x- L x. I' d' [* c8 U$ J
' e3 \+ z$ e6 kThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( h& r: D2 c2 Y3 c% y$ U) _' R. tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 d) J7 K- N* Z8 O
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the \4 V. f v4 [- |0 T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
x) S- h5 A9 [* k6 U) _0 gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; r3 G- Z, q8 ^best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" C5 _! \7 \2 L1 Y. e, s; n1 Q5 L( o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ \# [ A1 W# t2 ?car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" t1 ?5 H4 J& P9 ]: |7 x( `is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
- d( ]* L/ r6 `1 n; x) m- V) C5 G We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
