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 T# o( Z: o6 { `0 @; X5 s3 M7 D7 I
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' Z- S7 p: c, E0 l, ]- won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ B; _7 w! H- ]
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. [, y: c! g9 w. Q0 l3 I" Uanswers to our pointed questions.5 z* f% ~+ E4 U
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! c* B1 W8 L+ b* z j% @7 i6 p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 F9 W Y! Z' W2 M" U0 m8 t* @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is p4 X1 m* r) U5 j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 H0 X% C- X! e( y. l# v! ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) n) n- Y+ r. X. ^& @
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 n& I/ D8 d" R q$ T5 g$ A! Z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 @' U, N/ A1 G4 Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' U! A' F# M& f F% }2 hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" r2 \9 e7 Y2 f8 x% M4 m$ D" _is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' h* w7 ^) X' s( Mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 \6 l" a- s3 L: [. O
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 m: N! U( A9 |5 }7 B
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; ]3 E" }! X. K! d- x1 J" N
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 v# P8 Q+ n% L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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+ g: w" |6 @( p2 C. n/ NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* R3 d; \+ o" J
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 Z: y" N& t* Y2 `0 ~- y5 g# A. I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* `) M& I* U' ?2 T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% s5 O, R8 y* X! M; v b! q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& I. P; I4 I4 z; c; n2 \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; l$ l1 g2 y6 R: `& r7 k6 l# q+ n& g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 f, @" U8 V7 d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# P9 f2 T3 p; r* L/ e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! |- z9 \* j; U4 J1 r
charge the fee defined by the state.
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& B5 B8 E! Y0 Z# @% @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' j' P o8 f( K3 Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; @# [5 w- |! d6 f& }$ @9 pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 Z2 ~( s# s5 T! p( ] L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 x9 \: @3 V6 U% k; Z2 B8 x& eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, s9 |% }6 [) j; rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ h9 o( y* l' n3 q! @( @' {
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' q8 y2 Z; t6 m9 W
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' {9 I+ A" M6 c3 D, i a2 vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 N1 p0 }- C( Z" }3 w! d
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 P d9 e/ A" \ l5 y3 Z7 t4 Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, C) A3 h/ E# B/ h* d" Y7 d" O oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ |1 |9 s2 r* e% {$ sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; N8 M2 o3 g2 e% n5 uare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi. P2 n4 S& k5 H3 a7 k) B
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 j3 p# ~5 _' ?- jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, [1 J( l( y9 A. [3 W2 V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different4 F8 `$ ~: z- y+ `% q! ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) ]: Q( T- L8 f6 Q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! O# y. y" \- b' Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) m$ P* B7 z4 H. V4 O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" D, U/ Y8 R3 G, o
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ ^9 c% h' J1 f! C3 G* t/ t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
