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: A o4 ?. c! s; R0 M3 ~0 c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! n8 l9 R$ [1 X6 q$ @1 {
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 u% X( Y+ `2 R# s' b
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 c8 N( R5 r& j- R8 f5 Y
answers to our pointed questions.% l/ x) k$ x$ c; k$ M
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ k! L9 H9 V" O H6 A% c. J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% b, B1 F" \7 z/ M
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is b9 D/ K4 |' i1 m5 E
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams @' ^3 W7 M2 Q- d9 p$ P7 {- o
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 h; W, A B# I2 E& P8 ?0 q4 x
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! W$ C$ y; T6 W, x5 bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: K% ~0 c* k$ }# u
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ s c& l9 k8 M4 m c2 Jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 c% Q6 K# a w1 D$ R: n# W2 Gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! Z# G( _: s* _5 X4 O( L& ~over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. s9 w+ G, l" |3 D9 Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 T6 N" p+ C" h! a8 S
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( B0 k5 m [; Z0 i1 s% m) Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 p% j/ ?; V: U, w4 ^. o3 M! N3 S0 psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* o9 e# L; [% X0 }, Z
- P% N! Q/ F, Y! @" K& r Q, b# ]The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
& P0 t8 }0 A6 U8 R& W* O$ hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! e' c3 G# N% i& W* P# m( _
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. S$ a& q, w# T8 ?8 s% A9 X8 ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 q7 H* }( E( mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
: g+ T! u$ ^- J7 ~' Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. D5 |+ p! X0 N+ D4 W+ Gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( N' t- d# ?) t7 s# |' YDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 ~ N- l* a4 M. x' p1 i
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; d( c' Y! v- `5 r" qcharge the fee defined by the state./ V9 G1 @$ J* c# h4 s+ M' ~
* W5 t2 N6 b2 [. o2 W* X, Z, [# MThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ S' u+ z. r8 Y, X4 ~/ `8 ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- X/ N- n' `4 f% I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 ~; T$ r, C! n# w, C, x
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 K, p9 B. M" I' I
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& u4 W! E7 {+ B2 I# g) b6 P& v
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ ]2 f- @" b5 a) b* h) Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* G+ a2 Q: @; s. f) b/ e% _) Iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 e$ Y5 ?0 ?5 ?% Z4 R, M! _4 F; p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch Y) K' `9 P* Q' H, @5 ~0 @9 C' u B: M
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# u, m( d/ D: P7 Z# E4 Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
% K( |( V4 p9 I. C# k4 D9 f( m1 p# `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 A' A7 o3 l4 \' K2 q2 |8 G5 a/ `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 ?2 D6 V) p; L. H% Z/ k$ \are spaces.! V5 v2 U: s2 B
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 j2 \2 x6 j, E7 ^ {" J7 `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( g- [1 ~9 f4 S; c! d% Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" K2 y' l7 w- h/ V+ l4 W40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- N, W" l& _5 a8 {/ M* @- Bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 _% r u% D$ i% N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( w# q6 o/ x# Wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; I2 e; e! ~5 n- P. _8 bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) {6 G; e. Q* i) ]4 n0 Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
c) A9 D" N+ [+ I9 m$ o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
