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# I" m/ E4 T. e- e& {
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went+ Z4 j# y7 {, a+ k: G7 j% `
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( x/ P0 i. C6 S5 M7 @8 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- f# v1 J: {# danswers to our pointed questions.. ^" G( T @1 d$ }6 y W( Q6 E+ m6 [
: G* M0 C% Y. Q( vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' b0 k7 v% }2 ]
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# U/ v+ } t D! c$ j* b4 bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 x: X7 o: a; g7 ?: `$ r8 T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
% ?& P! C" T& C/ h+ ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 X/ Z3 {3 x3 A4 e. w9 w5 w0 gmedical schools.' K1 x' m! }) W7 D# \+ F
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: S0 T- _* M$ |% n( P: R$ kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- B# D7 [; O5 p5 a) c
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 y7 A( l% N; M# K
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ w0 S6 I5 g' `+ ]6 R
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to' a) b1 } {- I4 `2 F/ H! _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ b h* \2 {- |+ |seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, k4 l; O" y5 B
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# J2 d. L! ~5 D% }5 C! b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! D% U: ?8 A4 `sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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; `/ R+ O! G: l3 ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( L" h. |+ M6 ` oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# h& p! m0 C) i* i9 Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' T' N" _- P# T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
6 h/ g' ]4 q& [7 _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
, E2 f1 A. T2 x) D, @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 v% e! d* ~( N8 M$ g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ P/ T4 @; Z$ x. O9 u# b( g
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, e- i( v: k8 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 B; |. T& x7 a$ G; g7 Z7 d8 Wcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. u' ~1 n: O* h( g: t0 e! M5 Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; h( G8 B9 m D2 p; F6 P0 s
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 m m1 k* q, O7 mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. G5 ^6 Y6 T2 {3 w1 q1 ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 p+ h# c* i) Y; W: V4 [
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 v2 k8 F3 C7 Z5 L1 rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* B; x* N. D F0 wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# K' C2 j% x! i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! `- U- G4 W, ^9 W! _7 L* Z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) m( y! p) ?. b- L9 ?' { N2 B! j0 Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, E0 K3 D5 o" l+ n1 g3 Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 z1 _9 B! ^9 \& H# }+ y7 w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
o6 {& w3 u; g9 J. L4 e; }3 r+ \are spaces.4 S1 }: g5 }1 o7 W+ @$ }7 ]: u4 Q& k
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: \$ s. \- c) g0 Y" R- {9 N& ^) x6 G1 pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# ?, S/ P) C' b7 k% D/ f0 @5 w4 ?
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& y1 e7 y3 r) x
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# a S5 j$ _ t+ rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 L7 `; C! [/ }7 w; {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- D/ E$ r9 A2 z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# |: a' h6 ?- X3 ]2 A- p
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# R3 t- v0 p: A2 a4 U! B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* O2 O0 U& o7 p5 ~& j
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
