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
& V0 k1 C- {5 _. k" ]# ~: c% P& Estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 c6 D) B, K3 d( I3 c# v
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ A( ]) [! s9 a; V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 S+ A1 o, R6 S: uanswers to our pointed questions.# R5 ?; R4 m3 x. A, b: s
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; k. f: z$ s. ?! \' X( m' F7 a
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 u4 W+ l3 Y& N+ e& b- |
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 H- m8 { H" V2 S8 H
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 l% v( ]+ o6 }* n* K* N- N
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) {* L, s$ _* J$ w
medical schools.& r% u( u( d* ^! F* Z
& W0 x! l! B) k2 J8 H: @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& I; \3 L$ I: A1 g5 k: zgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( U( ^$ b! J6 B; w
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- ~' N/ G5 ^" ?; I3 `. X( ^% xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; h( |" M3 p% }8 P/ h; Uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
: ]9 |. {( b& |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! Z& x( L G3 i1 @# ^) S. J/ v# l" z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# n) G# s- Y5 t, S/ smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; D+ @$ C) c O( t( ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some/ a) @2 U1 y) n) W) o6 c
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 j9 `6 K! S" R' S4 `
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% E- \$ z) K* [9 E* Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- }' _; Y: f2 C/ m" e" M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" W9 L4 {1 X& T% Y) a
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: u3 Q' ]; o# ^/ r/ N
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 { b$ O7 `6 c, V7 Z+ Hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
q! h7 R/ Z( r/ R6 [5 o5 _divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." c7 x! m: @9 E' b( o3 h7 E
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' e7 a3 N' t2 u$ y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! P2 A k! A; s1 L* I
charge the fee defined by the state.6 } M. Q, r( s
) C% ?4 e4 W1 E- g0 n! pThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 [: `. S4 b# F( L' r# r- }5 j9 Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 h2 }# s. g4 P! Z5 }. _0 P- cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
2 b+ F# K6 F" S, R: K0 Itruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 i" g) A! R8 w$ B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 e* }: y+ r% p4 ]- Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 R: `* L. o) Y% g5 V
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- q. u( x8 I" F3 x$ @% E3 |0 `( r
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- l. ]0 Z' [2 R( u% Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) u8 n! b( r3 u- ^+ s( Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ D, u4 k# p0 |. P; Z! g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% y/ g, X( q0 D5 m) @ k. @( F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; U1 S& D: ]& G! p l) A! Q" }
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ {- A* w2 r5 ]are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
9 J$ n% i; v5 X' L- lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- a o, q) R$ V7 b0 z6 fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: g9 Y$ n9 w, ] F
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 j( G) r3 Y7 H9 a2 S9 Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
" y7 I- X& q: L+ v4 b" n: vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 t' u9 p6 z. t3 P& S' y% \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 [. {) o. z# i* p `car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- Z# Y) e' d2 I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# |+ f2 a h$ F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
