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
$ D2 o6 s) G: \: ^; j# L4 tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- p8 E9 g6 `& T! y& X
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; q! u& G9 b8 s0 ]; S2 M
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; V, ^% \ t1 S" p
answers to our pointed questions.1 S/ h6 j/ W; m7 j9 ~: w9 _: h- R
; M- q+ s' E0 j3 s, p. a$ e4 yThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 J/ g8 M' [1 q% I9 x9 J: T: G45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! c' U* L$ e! gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is- O$ x+ H' z7 n8 g5 Z
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 E0 b3 F+ [7 J
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 Y; ^/ Y$ `, y; F3 x* c- X8 c
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 c2 T7 f6 Y7 Q9 g0 L0 N2 u) ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 N8 y# M) A# u: R& b1 k" ~
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& Z, w1 V) {6 U3 `
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba q- Z; V8 a3 u/ ]
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 d7 y# f5 q- p3 @3 T) }) y# C) Y- g
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 W5 z; p1 o a& R
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% S4 X8 D1 c9 _1 T/ s/ z3 ^! Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
q( j: c+ Y: M: c3 D* x8 nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 D6 M5 R* ?* \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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1 b& c& X7 x. Q7 _2 c" GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 s, @ v; g1 Z- r# j( \. |
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# ]( G7 t4 a- I: G9 l6 R+ wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
|: c( W. T) d/ j qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good R5 B. t& Y5 J6 Z g+ z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 e% E3 q) O( U0 c; Xsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 C) s7 V" A+ w- ~! e+ r
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# Y9 |3 W! N- TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; Z8 b1 m* T5 k6 o( e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 v6 ?8 b$ H* @charge the fee defined by the state.8 J- p3 z! l5 g. n" y) Z
; ]) H b9 H! O* R- p6 _+ k1 TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- i/ z# V# z8 S2 _$ I! [
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 e! ^+ d) l% bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% i% N# v* M9 g- r- Otruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! V: B! U- P: X/ ]( v
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 |1 ^+ s7 H& _
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* I, c! K; A2 ]+ y6 z' \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- N% H! a" d1 W. H* x. g& \
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 L9 N. n4 R: p8 Z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) U ]5 d. W& o7 \4 g( A
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ I0 q7 L0 Z7 U( j H9 Y9 P4 [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# W6 l N) X5 b5 {! q" f3 A7 \3 Bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% C( K5 ?, J. y! Q1 W% G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( s9 K2 a1 O0 y- n* B
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) H1 B" L. o4 ~" R* ]+ @2 l! s, J# Vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
u' Q' y8 `; }) w/ M3 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& x3 D4 V: _+ q# o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ A6 D" ?. x. N5 f K' c7 `
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) K+ d$ c3 t9 ^- V3 l1 A5 g, Q$ }
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- X7 D& h0 u. H" Q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
& @1 t" t4 J. `' l* U* c+ _( lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! u1 {# ?# H' c, B% ]$ ? W
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' N# B- M3 O# |. c We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
