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
' f: E* W; |% `1 istandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: y" Z3 a6 L' {! Z* t* w% B
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 }) K8 f4 g; R1 A
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 a! V. s! p9 danswers to our pointed questions.
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; V+ V8 J. I* S; ?# r% w1 FThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 e; o( b: x+ J; u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" C' Z2 C& ]0 B N5 wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* b1 E# B1 d, Q! K- ^( E) ?free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# i ]" `8 t0 O* c3 p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
L. m* o2 b! o( m5 zmedical schools.
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9 r! G, p* p; t8 y6 {9 h5 `* `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 j8 }/ I3 m2 Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; Q9 p& u) H. Q0 x7 J6 T
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
I M: N4 @9 p+ aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. }/ x! f% G8 t0 Q |- H
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 u# `# E. e# q2 t3 T( K( bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. }; G% P: @8 |& E: b( M# u! w
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 D: |1 I* o+ j' Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ P: i0 a2 {" k0 }; H d4 Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some( w' t. z; }9 f& V0 B6 |
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 k7 |( C/ d1 y. F
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- U0 I/ ?2 f9 x, d( R9 Y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ [( m: K! N; P+ P% [. _7 y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. V9 X, n4 R: Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* H6 q1 F+ t" K- m
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ c% g% O- i* N/ W9 O9 K
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# R8 a o' a/ @: p9 K1 ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ ~; r6 \1 Q! t$ X9 Z) {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
3 h0 N' }( t! s- d4 T7 ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
* ]0 J5 C* ?4 ~. }$ {: c. K6 x8 icharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' x i" M$ b8 w8 o5 k# d
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 \, r5 r0 {4 k* x3 Nof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, S$ c% ?) g; U5 a9 ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ C8 K4 t# d$ Y) M( I7 v( c# ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) B8 O+ e. i( @, R7 zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 ~9 p) D$ R9 q$ c- B' L$ s. b: @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 D! h, V1 ?$ t c0 u( d9 b5 B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ J7 o! N. {- o5 U, G; i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: n( _, \0 B9 G3 b" y
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 X+ ~6 M2 Y+ }& h5 x$ {# P% c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want g$ s" |; B$ h7 B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 y' A4 L% u) E5 |
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ \6 [+ H E6 U4 y& _* i
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 U0 ~/ [: S4 f$ v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 R7 k+ G) a- \: v& V0 n) {; `own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* J2 k5 ?/ g# ~! p* ]- f4 g* J- r( c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( h; `, _* Q* G/ l1 [) E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the F& R2 y: s3 v4 A2 A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 K4 _+ @; C' Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ K9 V& {9 H2 Z- J% a3 Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% n3 M- \+ y' K. {# ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' ]% t% @" P' I, L6 l& a# s: I
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
