我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living6 {$ \ R; g6 o. }6 a) _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" v6 M3 F# r+ l, oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, o$ g( I9 d& p
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 v0 [) s( D7 d
answers to our pointed questions.
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; q% v& s8 f [- [+ RThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 P& m g$ }% j, h6 A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 l8 E& B0 L2 s! \) }% I% w ?
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 m, e9 a$ ^+ g+ U# S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams c }0 C+ j% w4 b
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 b6 p9 E& F @, d6 B' g
medical schools.- v0 M o8 B7 n- M" W
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% }' J* x3 |* ?+ o6 Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) E8 O. d, R/ k8 N8 Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 I! `7 `) h' n4 C% t$ g" passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ l/ J/ R( y* U' M3 X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% j1 g) \8 K1 {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! C ]9 {/ G! {1 Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 J1 E4 p0 J9 s( x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 h' f# G. T6 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
& v2 g$ `1 Z8 csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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, D* l+ N& J2 p% ~2 F# d0 K- yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 T# D _4 }6 \- x3 w1 Q; Oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ x: ^/ i, P8 D; p m: [! Z5 M6 R+ x
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 M4 ` d7 i/ @/ J7 b/ Nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 d# y* x* G8 H/ P0 pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: P$ Q% B" x3 z4 F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 P! h7 i# |6 R( x+ V$ Y" D& @divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 B U( v/ U* M
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% N& Q v5 L# I* |3 `2 `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& r- W" K( B, B" q/ x- u- t4 I. Ucharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( x7 L6 a& }7 m2 j& Z8 yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. V. G. j) u9 Wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ Z) K) Q" K$ @# z( w* X' r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! X4 ]3 n! Y% u3 Z. d6 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# D. e7 n0 E6 x! k/ q) Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& C8 S4 \6 j t' Q0 x( Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* f$ T; R k3 Y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ B: M6 }% L! p0 I# e9 c4 b# x% e1 etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# F2 c! u& Y7 U+ q4 G; G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% b/ R4 n& K4 [& K: `3 e7 N+ A
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
d: ^, i( Q. x8 i5 x/ sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
6 ~, c& J0 D" P9 @0 N' Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ U. f' L1 @8 W
are spaces.4 f+ Q% k7 v5 k) _' o
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 i" }/ c% N, b+ a' I# I. i- y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! O# s1 y" |0 i5 Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
+ {# \$ G" }; c6 I6 r( _: \# J+ J! g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 q& f( L! Q: s' Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: q4 n3 _3 Y9 h* u* ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) K! R+ W. Q3 V" J% h9 b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 X5 A, _1 K$ p" e& I) n& J( F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# D3 B7 \( y- Y( |! u
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" @/ r5 t/ ^% U. N, \$ N We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
