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
. d7 V! t3 D7 T6 f; B J% Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. @" W6 u( u9 V( e1 r! X
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! F5 [! w ?3 g
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 H4 H3 H/ Q; x# w1 ~3 t$ V4 c4 U
answers to our pointed questions.9 h3 k. N. F, i: H. R
1 m) V) G* \: o; ~) LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 R+ G4 j: ~4 e8 S5 D; D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 S& [6 H' h, h. w' C2 z# [- Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 u/ G6 c% T7 y; p/ F9 lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ y0 b- W g, E" ^; Cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# b( m8 a& N9 L* Omedical schools.
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% W8 o% ?) P0 Q# Z' @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ k- N) j: V, W# a- ~0 r# X/ X
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ W |6 Y) q) }! h/ A9 b n
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ T% m8 P" K5 C& h k- k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" ^+ B" y5 o. U! lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 ~% X a8 U( d) U2 p; Y# u+ h( tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. {9 n' g) F" C, t7 }! a5 X g8 h) useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; o- i. I* d% A6 s8 Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 ^% K7 `# l3 k3 B5 y# g% d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 b- Z! s9 l5 X$ o2 y3 a7 R9 w) p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: V' t b1 q% b7 q3 Q# ?
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 o. K U5 Y( \, W' f1 A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, I4 n: A! }' M! d+ v& q' g6 R- usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& J" @# H# W& m: [0 _
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! h* [6 m7 D8 \2 R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' l! p+ p j% |7 G" p1 L9 E
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 T6 K: `2 h! N( m1 L& ^3 `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 S2 U# Q* E- T( m7 L6 NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 |% x: a! u @9 M( b3 |a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) ?# T) Z; m. F lcharge the fee defined by the state.
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: h" l3 O/ @3 Z ?/ f, i/ FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 m2 X- o" \5 j% o1 Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 R. y/ c3 J8 {0 l7 A" bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% ?6 m* Y" O0 h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
: k* o5 [, B( P4 n+ i9 h9 v7 Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) A5 k% Y1 y6 s7 q6 b
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 ~, |5 m6 D3 q/ a9 e1 T
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ S# d8 N, z0 T! Z2 Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( H- ]* @1 {& f( K6 w5 Ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. B8 v/ |* Q) U9 Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 R( Z1 O' z4 B. x0 r
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- M% k8 ^# {/ u' \& s& C! p1 W
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- \/ K1 ?) B9 b B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
Q4 `1 i6 Y4 f8 vare spaces.0 U% `, e5 s: o2 w, ~6 |2 y
+ H3 z4 R C- {2 {' lThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 ~8 `; I1 R- G: ]2 o) g6 Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ {5 }( T" u, i" M2 F. ?
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& b- a0 R1 _! l& `8 e( J. [' L0 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 E0 N+ S) v5 g- Y4 e& _1 w: C
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( B6 g4 B% }- Y" T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! V2 W! c5 P+ D+ J. @" P _; L( x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 D3 t+ t: N6 V* N" u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it t7 ~0 w" U6 C1 F' U
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% @* _0 N Q0 ^! {. S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
