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" ]4 Z& A6 R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" n5 }: u! ]/ Won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; a. u; e% l, c" q/ k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
e, {6 J# J1 w) a3 {) M, Ianswers to our pointed questions.
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% r: g; F3 m2 q+ Z* qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 F3 d6 P9 j& y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; B1 S% p# |; Fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 |- @7 F7 T8 [3 ~
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) y1 `: @( f% H% k
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 Z# F" c* J+ G; z8 z* A5 B* S$ omedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" K" D \5 n4 l; n+ N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 T4 D* l& Z4 t+ E V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 H. B9 B/ E7 z5 G2 Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 J& d/ A% P7 O! {+ U; J4 f7 A
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, X2 T" w8 a3 `
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) s: g/ P' r: f& D* a, @1 h& V1 H
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 M* x- K! x" I# fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 }- x: I! k; L7 f, X/ b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ l/ M1 F( y+ V4 a
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: E, |# w4 t5 j+ |) V: r
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; F1 `( K* w B' e
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! h. M( \2 E6 a5 M2 g! I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ b. t) f8 n$ ]6 Ahave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- |3 Y; F* {! l" s1 P( G7 [( g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. W o; q9 x& ^' m6 F) E& ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 X' }7 i& ~, u0 K
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( u5 @4 V3 m1 x' D. t- L1 g: [Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 X6 R' I; O* f$ J- f% n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 w, r& I, ^8 f. d2 pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get/ k1 _9 e. Y9 H& a: h, t2 l" V \2 j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( |9 m0 u& G* f7 L! fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 m: K( B% m1 g5 T) ~0 }4 P) g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" N8 t# l2 \9 j% Y& X3 i2 U+ Oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 ]7 R3 r/ ]; Y) r% x( [9 z; {6 {
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 c6 d P3 U; X4 x1 O; V6 R# _" A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 t; Y8 ~' J+ a- @
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 ~& f2 w2 c. s0 a }4 T6 [, n- e utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' g l2 D* q1 ?; F( U+ |hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! ]4 A8 k$ ]2 M7 C! ?
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. C- @9 z- Y( k. F# d( ]3 \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 }6 i9 E! _- Bbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' P) B6 Y7 i8 }are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 M' x1 f5 P7 X# T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ n5 J5 E4 @$ S# t- [, `( a6 nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 d" T! C0 `: p5 e" b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
3 A2 F) _% P$ v6 c" |4 ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: k$ E" l( b7 Q t& ~" k/ b2 D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- |6 {% M5 u; M6 r E- C3 ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 w# ^2 g% Z1 i9 vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: M$ p6 b2 x2 C) ~5 _is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 x& m9 _+ d& C3 g7 z: w9 t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
