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- O3 d) [$ _; C8 q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 D) j! ?6 w* p# s& ^9 }3 S$ Z0 ^- Pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
% R4 ]+ x3 z" w T"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ }0 v! l- f- S8 r
answers to our pointed questions.
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8 p- t3 u: r- P' c" C' D* CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) t6 K) l6 P+ ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. s/ f; N% C$ C H% A6 V2 x1 ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 u5 e( X) f1 P; B) e
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 n$ u3 i4 v& N1 n4 V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 B; n( g* ~% Z$ V& N M
medical schools.
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' s5 J7 {5 y* m9 [& P @2 h3 l. VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& a2 S% [- w7 `, ~, D1 ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 B/ g4 o1 d' \+ j, K8 S* Gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
v, [' K+ ]+ `& F1 Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, i8 M6 K j% o/ j% j' B* D
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) w; f% s0 p- ]8 Q' F; r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% r4 C6 H9 A1 Z9 Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* ?% N" q' m7 D: E, p3 f$ mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 T2 |: y" K7 A' a9 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% r8 q" X# e! Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ L+ t3 H' C& c' G) F5 O H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 Z/ x v! \& Y2 U* r/ V& l; u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 @4 V6 L! N3 }* E3 A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
0 d1 s2 N+ X3 Q; _! C/ Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 y& S: ~) ]1 `( Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
e7 `, Y" P- j2 X% Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 E& ]2 Q) ?( XDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 Y0 y- N1 w ?: `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) L3 _% _+ h! {& Z9 scharge the fee defined by the state.9 b& d1 F3 N6 P) b8 w7 I, F
7 y* @. a+ W5 k* _4 W. K; q$ |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 g! W# \; D$ i$ J+ C# w$ w8 Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! ~: d; m* I4 Q- L3 L
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 Q, P( }4 s8 C* t* U+ m
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 v6 ]: Q( q4 B9 Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, T) L2 F, b- W4 K" i* |8 g# Cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 c6 y4 E0 R. a! L! d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 l: p6 L( X* E eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. ]7 Y9 v8 M' a: Ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' I* P |0 B1 t% ?7 a/ \1 Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 S" u2 W7 p( a) s* {3 H2 D, V1 apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 b/ C" Z2 ^5 s) t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ \% d, D; _9 r3 t8 D$ G: M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
m2 k3 Y! v7 ]are spaces.0 q% M" E7 p5 K* V, i
+ o% P6 S/ X: vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, B0 G' ?/ ^; T* y U" F: Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
, x* g9 K/ d4 d3 G3 Q Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" ^) x( u1 R6 \/ k7 r7 F
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 x& f5 y( C, Jparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 u6 R4 g, W$ R$ S# `$ n8 Qbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& c6 T8 j; I$ A' pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of @+ p h0 L9 n5 A# \
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% L6 b5 B# H1 v B% f( P& i5 Dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 u; j4 e2 w' O8 n( I We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
