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( c8 z* b7 P, Y" l$ S) h
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 u' W, p- }1 j7 ?on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# o! }* x& }* o; E* N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; Q8 M" X5 a: b2 o: Nanswers to our pointed questions.
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# _2 |9 O% {; b8 {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 O4 G0 E( w4 w" O: h' t, N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% ~! |$ m& [. R1 a8 v0 B
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% N9 K; E( }) y) V; b+ L2 K9 c
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# G( b/ @/ A- @- \5 H! fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. R3 N; V& E% `' ?" h! Z6 dmedical schools.
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$ y: f [: |! p1 DEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 G5 J! Z* Y- f8 Y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% _8 U5 ^- o* u7 F* W2 Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ i% Q) R; v; O9 g2 \* Oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
% H8 O! o. h* K5 J( Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" t7 ?. l1 u, u: t+ z5 d* A: {
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! g$ T' k4 w4 p+ U( d4 W/ q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" X3 r* N1 v. n) G+ P3 r/ S- I- gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" N6 j: ~ I$ `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& \) a4 J7 P- e- H
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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S2 M) j/ ~8 J% b5 ]! ]+ SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; Z) ]( K$ V7 O+ T% |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) @+ S0 E' T; M( ^# Y4 @6 b, r/ U
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
, ^7 Z/ E" V _8 P, a l7 rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* q9 w7 V: S; A& j n
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 d& Y0 N5 v& ]( R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 D4 T9 n, i6 X2 R _1 j/ [/ l( i, jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 F1 j3 i! S7 X: Q; h% S
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 W& x; C) q# d" p4 Xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only) y9 x$ c" r9 E7 X2 ?4 b& Q) G/ g
charge the fee defined by the state.
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; i3 ^8 o+ T$ o5 `* x2 a0 W$ FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ u( \8 @) o0 A+ }/ E. non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ Q# K6 h+ q5 v& w) u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; a! i( J& K5 A) Q/ F) z4 l+ X( qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 L7 w& Y5 \$ [; G: }: d. N
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 L& V( s& E4 m. u+ p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 n8 M! \+ m( k( E1 m' D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ g# C1 v E6 m$ ^! Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% A6 [" u! s9 g2 b. k) M) x V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* k' O: x4 g. s* p( R0 ^! [" b8 ?1 Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# C) n- Y" ]" _1 E/ Z" ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' m- d7 P( A7 g4 v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 x; R5 z% ^3 x6 s& @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. B& |0 Z( \4 C3 o4 n$ M
are spaces.
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4 U) p, b4 R, aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
' x: B n, H: G4 w4 c. d; ^to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 j6 D: X) l: g$ f
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 l7 _) w: n' B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* e0 t7 L3 u s; F/ _; |8 u6 m0 i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
" R- U5 s+ ^+ Y4 L% l' u/ i# Mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% Z: }8 N0 G$ z! `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 N, o Z9 _, n3 [, c d/ }6 Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 H3 b0 S$ [& m# u5 w% ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. i; s0 { o9 |
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
