我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 Q0 e& ^ `% a1 j1 W
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' Y1 k6 E) ]0 I3 b8 C3 ]8 Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, v1 W+ r8 z+ U2 i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& h) |" E' E) aanswers to our pointed questions.- a/ u1 E7 x& H8 B6 R
. C9 a9 c2 W5 ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 `; z# I6 q% W" {. W4 b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 g+ Z( s% U1 D. b
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, `: q6 J9 w T8 K7 H! H1 vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. v* T; ~8 {' x& I" ^3 _! hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- b6 r1 g4 c7 g& o! w; l3 ~8 [
medical schools.
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" e% B: v5 _# R. R1 FEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* \+ O1 U; J% c0 vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 L7 }; R9 j5 \, b% Zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 @% h) T9 {! m& B( z6 ]/ }
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
. B5 _ ]2 R. h% O" M2 c: zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 G% B3 `+ K! j+ J. c3 ]! N) A" b% X4 xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 j \4 e8 S8 {; M6 H* F: B0 Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' ]7 j- ^3 l& `' e6 r. L* t" y1 ] ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 ?) ~# u9 T* w9 H
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 y1 f( \# g9 H/ {. A4 o f6 ]- x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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: q. F2 z- M; _7 k. C4 zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. U9 F8 n+ u- \: \, M6 M Gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) H6 g2 r) j% u" ]( T1 |0 u' v7 Y( B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ y4 I1 R/ @$ k5 f2 Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 M, M. L4 l+ r" ]/ N
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 m" b: p1 H) I! I
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; ?: h7 y" V+ _- u+ n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 z! C- v- ]5 S$ g) c
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ V! V$ C9 R/ R' }2 g* r q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 E/ p/ ?) i0 o; A# Vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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8 @( K8 _8 ~) `, |" DThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 H0 B0 @. U' D8 n6 ^on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 t+ l- {3 G) W
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! t( U' L! k' Q* g* l, f; t# G, c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% q1 Q! f3 n6 x) c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; d. E' d1 s- \8 Q* Eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# v1 x2 F& h3 t- ]2 y7 [7 G3 ^+ Nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if g. K! z0 m( ]( y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' f$ H5 {) J* Y& C2 W ]' ~9 Rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 h, }8 A5 s5 V" W+ x8 shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 n4 N# v' J( o3 y- Y& k% r9 ?
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* u( X: [- l# l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* g( T. }5 [0 @* U- Y4 ?buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 K/ t, n) j' J: u' c
are spaces.0 Q: d# B: ?4 d* \5 }9 K2 Y3 ]
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 ]( e Y- t% N3 I4 O# k3 m
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 X/ c0 Q, ?4 z6 Z: g- nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 a+ y" j T6 z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# s' w$ [* O" t' _# ~" sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
O, G& M5 `, \9 cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 P: b& }0 N; `/ A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 A, Y. e& ^, `, k5 lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 O* D5 H3 a2 \! T! H! m
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 d* |5 e4 x9 p
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
