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& W: ^! e* E; S; a9 c0 c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& X2 Q- k) c* _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 U7 H1 a+ G7 p3 O7 u4 n+ U"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, i6 f- Q4 }9 o2 v6 u& @) A' Yanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# S7 ?; {8 k8 k8 S5 m Q; N. g
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; _6 `% z8 E$ B4 m3 a' qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% b k$ n$ R6 V1 v K8 @
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- b" T( s6 {0 q7 R, j2 i- Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' H; u, ?! F8 e% j
medical schools.+ h) g9 ~4 m9 d* g+ @) }
( N/ V- U( h( cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 a& _9 \+ F) l; Y# q9 l1 t
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 F. E+ \' B/ |- G$ xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years b' e) @# d" b
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. U+ {8 S. G" A6 ~
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ N( W% y7 G, Y3 X, @3 c5 n5 S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- t2 ^ M j2 L( w+ O2 L/ Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 A- A( z6 U- X1 h0 Q; N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
P9 x0 \6 }. R. Z9 g! r0 Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
# y" E4 J# R2 w9 P7 Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# _" _8 P2 d; g
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) g! C( G3 A |" [& v3 V: k8 s! P5 Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 U& u6 f9 A$ Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. A1 {$ {8 q7 _! ]8 P: D$ D5 A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
- e3 q6 h% z. Q% Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 [( N) J2 ]$ a) t" w* @) v1 X, `, k5 msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* d. j, `1 z7 t2 c& d6 _# l; w+ W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 n% ~: n- P- I Z" ~
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ p1 f& v+ @4 V! N A# ?( ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% {/ o/ y. P( u" m0 [2 Z" l0 dcharge the fee defined by the state.9 K _6 Z, O; E
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ t; n) [. H" k1 v
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ [1 i6 }* e2 e, gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: v" b$ h/ Q4 d: Ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 m! M/ @" y5 O( Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 r6 _7 j7 `4 b) U% U* o2 p3 [+ s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) v* l4 s( q S" p. ~! ^schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 b5 k8 m* @$ o @
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ [2 m4 H. [0 r3 V9 dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. Y0 `4 d: j( a2 j" I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 x9 q$ l( q4 d. q- P8 t% Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 P- f& P6 x! L0 N9 e9 Sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: ?+ G; ~) B& I, f! s! Nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 |. s, m \) G# ?, ?
are spaces.# H* g% a# m6 _6 }7 O2 ^0 m$ T1 a
1 R* H- B: h/ I: vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 d( B8 l9 f; j$ q& X0 v* {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; W; G: @" Z* J8 E" w8 ~
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, S3 L' a2 ~. [! w& O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! \8 Z: q+ \7 Z3 s& N @* }2 wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 a: x1 {+ L* Q# }" H0 x3 ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few: T8 k% p, M9 C
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* M' L g, Y, l! ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
4 K* r/ h; X2 v3 |/ W0 lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! ~- Z9 X/ B0 `' @% K' `
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
