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
6 n1 x7 J$ K& J- n! {( Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# Q! @; t' K& D% y# O4 Bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 h6 |$ w1 q& `0 Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- A4 J' N; [: C, J8 _$ B! ianswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% \0 H, e0 o: ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 m5 c. p) Q7 l* ~+ E; l! n' t( S
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is u9 \- w7 F- k1 x
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 q* N1 r2 P6 b4 \5 fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, v [+ {- e: R' M9 }1 v7 \/ U6 r
medical schools.
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4 G1 I, W, `9 T4 i7 iEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" C: ^ c. c4 S: D1 C9 w2 Sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 J7 W( z: R- U, c* w q, u0 vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' Q2 @7 P C$ h2 S# `) g, s/ Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 | W" G# _2 U2 S: h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 n5 B" s: @" }6 ] B, g5 q# S' nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: r$ i# d2 S# ]9 I0 {$ Kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) C+ J7 r' H( X! ` _
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 B( \4 ^3 O S/ _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* w+ ]" P, _: w8 r8 hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 h8 `. ^. `. R/ t& _
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* c6 L& s: L4 p* Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 a/ c4 I4 F; wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( l3 T3 H8 G* l* N, A5 H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. X c5 M/ _2 w3 b! o. M1 t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% D4 N5 J5 e* @2 r" t( [8 ^ c7 r$ ?
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* A+ D& g; E4 @$ X4 x: w/ N
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 @& q6 _0 c! g# HDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
l/ v& T$ Q, [0 x1 C- @& E6 ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& \3 F8 N8 w% i
charge the fee defined by the state.! M! n G: W* u6 }# o
2 N" B) b% F1 K4 y0 }There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( d/ A, F: J! ~; C* ], W" R) ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 A1 ~0 p- l; Uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. M! h5 b/ U# P# b& m3 K% A2 X, w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 c$ e; C+ I+ t/ K1 L1 r$ H t- x! m
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 G* Q8 m0 o k8 }- w, r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# \8 t2 j9 q+ ~, H) D$ A+ Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 v% j% i# k/ t( U5 ^+ W$ Z$ a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ E) j( k' Q2 d
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 u6 x) ^/ h; ^7 y6 J* uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 M* Y& B/ R& B `5 d1 H0 ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 ~) R: `/ Z4 c9 ]- |7 m" L
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or [7 I$ n) S6 U {
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 ?0 A6 s: F& Pare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# } A- J4 \4 ^3 p" {1 q7 O# yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" X. k' l! b& U$ r0 B
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 ^' R/ ]( {$ w( Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: Y/ f8 t% p5 p* S# _parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 v7 {& U) v) X' tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' q: J, X& i2 {! P+ t3 g( n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; S, `) |. o0 u+ O5 g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ X! Z4 c( k! H. V, N: n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* O! g* g: {2 Q' m5 G/ T
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
