我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 o1 o) v1 T7 q) F" X5 G
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 @+ ?! r$ c0 a" J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! g; k7 W; k5 \, b2 T4 p8 M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 ]) R. \/ `* L. ?, Q) t
answers to our pointed questions.4 c$ `; s) A- y9 E
) a, V( v$ K: U9 k$ C
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 q0 b! p* C: M, n" f3 W5 Q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand B: d& W5 Y# g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 f3 [ S9 h% O+ ?free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# k! Q2 G% E4 T xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 w5 m- Y T5 L5 s! s
medical schools.! i* @+ u' Y# i7 l7 w5 Y
! T& s4 d# r+ _
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& ^0 Q; X4 Q; y A7 }6 i2 l
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% ^. x) c: g9 X2 q3 hto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* f# d- Y& t7 _6 i' Lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ i9 d& R/ Y6 L( R/ kis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
+ |% A! f# p- Oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 J4 Z% C3 H) i# q" f R" eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 `8 A5 o9 i" t3 S) U4 a0 f5 S
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 U& |& Q7 D9 I, U5 Z2 l3 `: {shortage which the government is addressing by converting some, ^( {" \- V! {2 M' s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 a5 O! e& F, l$ r
8 V/ |, ]0 P* [* lThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 L, E$ ^4 O, X; c8 `) a6 P2 H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 @" o `4 j1 `" b
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
( z* @2 y2 I0 m! o/ g$ `4 H( Zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# R2 T6 L2 e1 Gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( l( i8 a/ _" a) I# w: S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' D7 {' a2 _% h5 kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 O9 f/ ?; K" E% g1 e- b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& {1 ~/ ?! G$ U, |! c8 Q2 q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! A: F* c' h+ c0 v$ _
charge the fee defined by the state.
8 @* b% {2 G/ ~! P+ A8 O5 o7 i3 j+ x( a
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, P' ]6 t# m7 l* k% o5 |6 m3 K5 g# l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; p. i b/ e; W+ ?9 Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 h7 c+ w7 U5 q6 J" u$ Ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 c6 C4 {# z4 ^* g7 \seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! Q. E7 S* m/ Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 b6 G" O+ L4 W* d0 W% ^* k, Y: _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; C. E9 ?. \. G" {0 T8 Myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 ] i/ \1 F. G& Utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& s' Z8 y% H7 E/ V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ f: z1 `2 q4 q# U! g7 V" `* o5 K1 mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% B7 q/ ?0 E0 v- Z* @8 t5 p; j. N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; p+ n- a* B4 x) H/ A1 X. S( `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ |2 i. q6 g9 O6 e' ^! Eare spaces.5 O, p5 w2 c- ?2 S% T1 l
/ z b+ w n2 _! a- f4 u2 }
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& T6 l) d+ F3 z. @; M+ m3 j. C# Q: K8 M1 W
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 _4 Z8 J: o# ]) L( c, b2 H) r! \
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 J% ?$ u9 X9 u/ i# _; p; r40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 k5 ~3 E: {3 [0 Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 P7 c" r0 T0 u2 O! m0 x1 j0 e; Z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
, `: ~3 x |! t$ Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
8 q' O2 k1 |- Q/ ]4 R3 P2 Kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" r/ K8 S" ~8 }& Z" nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ K! p; y) H7 n4 M+ [3 U4 T7 E/ B# S8 \ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
