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
2 C; r, ~8 [ H l7 k5 vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) e% B% m6 w1 n! C; u3 ^on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( S i' V: |, o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 N5 ` X9 f/ l2 P
answers to our pointed questions.
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+ W( E8 Z5 Y& i- G- R! K3 w5 T5 XThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. R: e# q: D$ G: p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" ~1 ?' O- w9 d1 B" K" }9 f
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, D' g4 r4 f U' W1 i& Y
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* I$ j! c' i9 a E- d* N$ W& Dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 V- X- K; [5 {2 H4 Hmedical schools.9 i# c. R s+ |' G
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ V. X5 N h- D" C7 X7 ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ V0 R3 O8 ?/ M2 D J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! Y6 L, ?# Z3 y+ M' D) K) iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* \+ B( H/ q' X: J, V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' H/ @! \- c; \5 y9 T% ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( M5 l0 l( Q q! f/ zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' Q) n5 r: r/ A5 ]3 u8 t9 Qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* x7 ^* ~; a" A
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some/ f$ R& R5 x5 ~ d
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 s) b# Z& D2 h$ `9 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 Q8 \4 j$ b( z, t" h& C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, C5 A t* N- Y" X. R: w) y+ _
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 R1 H+ X7 K4 k
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& u/ Q+ y Q; w% y" B9 B9 k' Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
8 m9 _$ U6 L1 v: Vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ @7 J0 S W$ P6 Y/ gDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( X( {5 r! Q2 U: Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; n {8 x4 g X' D- F
charge the fee defined by the state.
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/ K0 q- g- i- D! b TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 M2 q: ]+ h/ v& @- `7 S% h, don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ f/ |) `3 X1 c$ y3 p6 G- K
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 X2 E N# \3 M* m; n; e% f# {4 `
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# K { a& ]7 w6 t/ Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
% @8 g& k- Z7 d7 Q6 Y5 `9 Wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: e, j4 G6 J- U; e
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
2 p: Z0 |) o2 O6 S: xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( C* T* ^1 A2 u6 j' qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: R7 L7 Y$ T6 n/ x( B$ E, Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 X5 J. _! N5 z$ r+ _6 V; O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 Y" c3 d/ |7 H3 }6 d/ J
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) M9 d0 {$ F/ o" x. u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ k7 \9 ]0 D4 rare spaces.. ^: R! _ R+ n3 w( S6 N" \: Q
3 p$ A8 G: P2 W% R; UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 R1 z7 I$ [8 A! W8 D0 Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; L" A2 {$ `. v$ `3 P# \: D
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" s; _" g: v: o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! J7 Q2 U) C- S K3 vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% _5 T4 T9 W% `! @best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 V% L* C$ g% T+ h3 jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! o/ F, S7 ?# l( Q; ^+ c0 scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) c \0 _7 L4 f4 B* t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) p, {. E' q; g, d$ l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
