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
. n, R! o9 {0 w, Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 W2 b( i0 g- T
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: U. j- Y1 N9 b% T+ `% H1 B
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 O, {2 R, a" Y3 k) N+ L
answers to our pointed questions.4 Y( g7 b9 f* `' j# l9 ]% w' y& k
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: o/ v0 p% O- S) k/ |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; C: H& e# {1 L# Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is- B3 L& ?3 H& d1 Y! \' \: p( R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 d) I2 R# ~! }/ ? Q6 @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 R1 L' q$ N4 r8 }( Y5 q* @" _
medical schools.% F. S; m$ \# m2 L
* w2 m& E9 E* b6 FEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ o/ s0 q- _: `# o6 Z5 O* ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- ?5 O" i* H: H: b5 S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( @6 y8 b2 y. F G8 G s2 Qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; }7 @1 f; H! O( Yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 D J: l9 s$ ~8 @! d+ C- u
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 p3 P" _" k6 f" ?: b) S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; H9 N' F5 |. Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" y! l: Q+ ^$ Q' R7 B+ mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; b b" q& ~/ M6 N O& nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 ~$ e% ~; R- Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! u; O7 Q9 [/ x _% z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
# s8 m' j; T, x: z% w$ A* Qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& }) i( r+ }3 b: d+ j5 N
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 r* ] @* N- J n. e0 w0 w: Wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ k1 \( z' s }" H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. Y' m" d; S- d" x
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ j( T1 ?& H1 n; d x* r7 ]1 J
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only U; ?1 a& o3 J! e
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- h; Z( N$ s' m5 m& G: L( d7 ~" |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 e, S: _5 C1 w1 v% _of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 j9 t. w' |- H7 utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 g- }5 w$ {$ _% T( K8 ?# ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 M8 N! X1 }/ m; S2 n$ c: N# R
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 n) l, {" p1 T7 n6 w/ U, Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ y# }4 U; S* p- I+ H7 L. Y# H4 N8 Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 X" Q. Y+ U- m& Mtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 X- N& N, Z' ?/ g1 O
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 `8 w' i/ f1 }# Zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, l5 y8 \8 K: y [1 f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 G2 n! w. B7 d# N
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 v/ n# s: y+ _0 V3 [
are spaces.2 p8 h/ V3 ~6 L
) a+ b% z# V3 E+ FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi% d6 W) }. R+ P. \& t0 M, ]1 c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ R# L% e3 ~: w$ T/ Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 T% j) `. H8 O" S1 d0 Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- K8 T! H; G" g: }+ S. Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) h5 N* l# B [3 Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( [: n2 T* i- y9 @; T, h8 a M
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 }: v2 j: }- M0 R" U( p
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
& ?: m/ Y1 h, E. B B( Sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 S: d$ L2 E* S( r, b6 m. V2 _
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
