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, }( y5 v5 ?) B9 f/ X1 E0 ?: E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 V' P9 u/ W! U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," \5 t9 u1 z0 Y# j: d2 |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 K+ |* _8 |( l' B, Manswers to our pointed questions.3 n% `" e9 w. Q1 o5 H9 ]
( f1 j; u- c; ]6 ~3 Q' o8 uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ L% f1 p; ?; \" s" z1 J$ ]1 f7 [
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* {$ P" H) M- E N" g4 _1 `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# n( `* m$ x& ~4 _7 c# W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! e3 |5 j) O7 h$ @
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. R- z0 z- B& W# D3 ~$ T" B% Wmedical schools.* p; l4 M0 W! R: M
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# ]& [0 j4 a& R, X7 X/ e7 e! [
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 S4 k: y# [6 T4 }4 n
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: q2 f8 i$ x; Tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 S6 B1 ~; |- C Z% b o* f7 ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 x- t y# B& S9 J$ t' g% P% ~over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% V* Z" u) p4 ~( f6 D7 l1 B. Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 E. H: `$ W. y" K$ r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 J, }4 m9 O, ?$ t* N3 j9 B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: X; G! N6 o# u8 Z4 V5 A& o3 A. V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
8 S: v; e7 j7 C* h, b* U: {& J/ Vprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 E, A3 R. u% Msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 Z* N: M0 Y, P: E- }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' ^( J- x4 t8 B9 x7 U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! G+ d9 p3 G7 G
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 `# F# z/ v4 M, B) T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
. h) v- S* N1 o: m- y$ }: ~2 XDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 w: b7 Y2 l5 P; n) ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 j8 a% s. H) R6 h wcharge the fee defined by the state.
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# o/ c' V2 G4 g1 V. a" lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& u% O: |! O8 x z) J4 R- O( }# C
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 o8 b" d' R. ?# y6 ]; {
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 t3 j [4 U/ V, J# |* I' U) G2 H5 E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, w+ E% ^0 ?0 J" g! Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: v& W' h) j! G c* I* ?8 `( jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' l" c- d( p6 U/ d7 u3 e# ]7 R- Aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' D/ n( n. P. `
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" E+ A* Q- b8 \! U
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ Z# ~6 Q& Y! Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ I4 `4 D, U( c- ~4 K0 o* ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 P+ _2 P/ l& k% F; o7 Z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
6 Q1 G" G# @/ t# `4 r& tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* w' d7 P) d2 e$ u2 `4 n9 }$ Xare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ m9 q7 d- Z1 ^$ y4 U# m: _" K
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( z/ H( l3 `4 q+ t! Jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
+ U6 U3 }! U) L4 p$ \* P40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 g1 }- q) B* t |! j9 [: a$ P
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 |9 E2 |) k' t- M+ W8 ]best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ |4 ~6 `8 m, b4 znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# L9 i7 u- H6 s; i) f9 {- ~car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
8 _3 o: E9 A J3 [% X2 F# fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 o2 d& h$ \7 L4 M. H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
