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
; i2 r: u. C1 Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 h# B$ o/ b( s
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# q, F3 I: C: W% |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) Z8 k& b: |- p5 Zanswers to our pointed questions.
7 d' q. W% y( c ?1 N. r& Y J y+ ^
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' a5 E% F7 c- J# A% A7 F) _- k' a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ }8 q* Z; {7 ^9 c6 ?, f
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# x M% F2 S/ |5 v8 F$ G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 M& v2 o5 v# s5 Mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ a% Y" ], y0 q! [" B Kmedical schools.2 \+ A# `' e8 c6 E$ F6 }
3 k+ B( g* F4 ?- W; A# S6 v. `
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 C- ?% T$ ]& H- r5 h- ^government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% P: s: ^8 o" T; E1 s4 [8 F( Y2 k+ qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! v! n5 e2 K0 N9 tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! r9 b( S$ G* q* z! j7 [6 L
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! Z* [$ [5 Y5 _3 Z2 lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 c0 [- `9 w8 o+ U2 `4 Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 q+ v+ S/ L# g$ z* S
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! x' ?" Z0 B. tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some( H% O4 f9 E- Q/ ~- a7 C% b r
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
2 ]; {1 |8 U* r& @1 f2 o9 }! j9 O( d9 C: B! \2 [
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
5 k4 s1 ^; g3 h- m0 A% G; Z7 gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
8 k' F1 C0 u' L5 E9 D1 bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 K" n; F4 c- {. A9 Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! M2 I: [) K i6 o( e! [
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 Z; g) ?2 @( z% g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% e! m& t$ p1 U2 h4 @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. Q9 k& i" K6 R4 d) X8 U' O
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
U0 z; A/ q+ B/ @; F2 ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" O9 {: y. q4 o5 F$ N
charge the fee defined by the state.
) ?# I$ O1 J- U. D3 s0 ?' y5 c: w* Q; t
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# w/ z n- S* E% [( ]( F/ R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% Q* L: ]1 T" r: S4 q7 Q& E9 iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( U+ C5 ^" t* `$ r! ^1 J; Q$ _truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 c; e6 M& x- W
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. q ?& d; K6 _' s* Uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 D% W$ j: _2 D0 H, b- Z3 o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: u% s* m2 }' R# P6 [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( M6 ]) l# }7 o7 @- Z- F
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; J; v3 ]: t$ Z$ G3 D zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; t# l W# V7 A$ G0 s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. Y6 l: ?, y; Y* l F% Tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ \/ B m# h* P1 j; x, A
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
. @6 @! h8 x6 e( ^- l, h2 ]are spaces.4 K8 i# |( r2 p% ]3 I, o- m
' Q! W; Q/ E5 d5 I. nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: O4 ^7 E- v1 X! v* A4 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they9 S) B! g/ w8 o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, O) J S. y) p7 C7 q6 A- w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( h y/ v! u- G# qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% r' A& d' s) u5 @( A$ h) X* mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; k' x6 B$ v4 _+ @
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 b% R$ p/ o2 U* L' d4 b& c3 N4 W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 H. ?% ~/ g( E" s1 P: cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 f9 Y. |1 \, N. Y% K A
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
