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
) h0 |' ^ G5 ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' v6 v G a# X! o6 Y& mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( {9 F9 F6 t. o* j/ y4 d& l
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) A0 S+ S! p3 X1 p
answers to our pointed questions., u$ u% l; Z- h7 q. J
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 E& s( g- t, O; A+ c! ]6 I9 t45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 p/ c- ]: Q% U6 t7 h: E& t$ gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, B/ k# F9 V p( F5 @6 x4 F1 P
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
D+ h$ S; V) o' ^# g) _7 ?to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are J; e8 q2 }% ~( A& [+ N
medical schools.# _5 {+ p: d4 I1 @( V2 k* Z
6 E' Q9 n" X5 ` l1 vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: y* x0 |* [3 _0 b! i+ L. agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 t5 `8 J9 l/ T, [# U) K$ b1 J `( e
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( F, J3 p+ n* s2 G* H7 G" U1 c
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 I1 |/ P+ \# s) S" e
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 a9 k. X/ P& b, i5 G) z x2 i
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
1 @' o* m; `& K* r$ t+ dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, H0 M( P% m6 e, U5 {$ ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' }: v5 C2 L; B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! r2 m9 @# Z; A5 C' L0 C4 A- `2 Wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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& K9 W" W# x2 ^3 JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ?$ A! _% ]+ `/ E! T5 Y$ H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* r' H+ d' ~' ]/ b# D3 J5 Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ B( s$ }( O2 E5 E( W) q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ m2 z6 Y7 v& Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 x- ]' \4 G6 Q' fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 c- _ a6 y M- v. t! i2 \1 A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! Z ]9 o& e, @6 Z3 G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 B, H& t l2 l* @
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 I; q' z: z( i/ Q( [, Q& ?; l4 mcharge the fee defined by the state.
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% `% P/ \3 A5 W- y3 P v4 nThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 w% t# ]: z6 c7 Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 y; K: ^" n! o- J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. ^. a9 j' C+ W9 q5 atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 q+ ^$ E% l% I7 Q- |: {2 W4 B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) L: H& @2 f' N3 u9 t# n3 Zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( B0 h* C( d- b) r) V4 bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& L( g& z* H! t( h6 }
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! p8 T: r8 z& Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 V5 t' t% J; `7 Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; O7 n4 g u# h! D! J* ^; Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, M I1 _+ z' i+ l, ?4 [1 v+ s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- C; z7 r3 r" zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% w0 [% C- c: ^. W% E7 d0 \0 n
are spaces.1 X4 F- T8 ?! \ C9 c3 z% _' g
5 K; ~3 V- }- G; p. j3 kThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ [. }( W: G; T9 L+ d F) P6 [- Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 l- ?9 d# d2 p+ K
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 o/ e/ [) @- K- U0 w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, Y+ {4 ^! Y1 p) u3 \) r; _& s) B( Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( A5 Y6 n. B* N0 S: d( @+ C0 Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( S, ?) D) z! |. s" l0 H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
& I, _) k' T V8 O; |( W6 |car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- ]) G3 J* s vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
g% F' F N- w, C7 a We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
