我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living5 e$ Q8 L4 B# U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& n/ I6 b' N# c$ r8 _& i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: i+ K: N* t e, W4 L7 j. {. w6 y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 e0 |8 s6 s. V6 ^. V0 L% x3 u
answers to our pointed questions. H- r9 {" g7 V) A' U' m
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& L; n) g; y \2 R ]/ \6 S C& t& l% v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" M/ [2 L" j5 Q! a2 n7 B( V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; A$ ^! _9 W! }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& W6 I7 b' I& _: S) }, i7 y! d% fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 q8 M/ p$ L& K7 I4 zmedical schools.
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2 P% n& {" t+ `# {- @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; j# k5 C* @- P2 Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' G) X7 E0 ?* s7 B7 o5 v! Q, [+ rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ _6 r3 Q& M6 L" b; |( {- \assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' G! L! |* p$ r% ^is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 @. X/ k j! r7 V+ o% j5 z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# n2 |3 _9 X8 v
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& b8 Y& k% R2 P* E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! K0 T$ j0 w! |1 i% o) r; Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
E5 i& c. o* ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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0 S6 P6 g* d1 v) p! uThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 \. V3 J9 N9 T9 L8 Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& D/ n7 [$ o% B1 ]4 q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! T' ?$ R1 P" K9 zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 f9 f& X& [- l0 J1 V! J& \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; d+ d3 s) Q5 u7 U" T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! l0 H2 K; A$ r" I$ b$ R5 V7 p# edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- ^9 g9 b* S( D- I+ y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" n7 v4 {0 y, Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- q' K$ _- o* U4 D6 y6 @) pcharge the fee defined by the state.5 O) V0 ~; y) w) U4 i, \, Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( X/ F. I* y* P4 Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) U4 C/ o y$ zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ }( y! w6 G. ? }- e0 c+ I. I8 Htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ F Z4 m3 r6 y6 ?
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; y L m* b2 _" P6 z- U0 x; Gworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, D8 v; e$ A D) W d2 L/ E
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, i' j) M" m& ]& J7 u* o+ myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 A R; _4 O; z6 j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 b2 a& Y6 X4 m( e$ X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 c( g- G4 ?& t" {* V( J0 }' E% i
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' n5 c/ J3 T. b' B, B4 [& ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' j8 d$ G1 k7 _% }
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
1 d1 G- ?+ l6 g" p5 ^$ sare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 W9 Q7 g$ Q. Z# ~/ h8 a, c7 T& v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* m+ p. H" t$ D: Z2 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, \' ]! V9 } w) W- V" R6 E# v; E* g
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, I% b2 n& x9 i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; ?* X" z. O1 A+ y! X0 A! Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* n8 Z% _' x# j$ k6 \8 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 A$ v/ r1 F( y0 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
8 y9 x `3 U/ v) H3 A0 Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 ~; f6 W$ P) f* o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
