我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 I) E5 t# i5 a# I
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 W- o! a3 H& e. E5 o, q. ~
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 Y5 `# Q; k8 F- }, l
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' b! @/ N" U a, |
answers to our pointed questions.
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: S9 n; c h RThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% ]# [8 \" E' N7 f- I* J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- I2 i, A& s( F0 V, Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 P& g+ u' P# Y5 W6 z# h$ g* M
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ W2 z. J3 q) ]* n. }7 S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: x' L5 |; X; G8 _; t* t6 M
medical schools.2 x& A8 [/ K+ R- ^
1 i, X9 X- v' V. B6 qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 F, m* _! [" p% ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* |6 Q% N( B7 ~! ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' ~7 z: Y$ A/ `7 Z4 q8 F. ~assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 P5 A, J7 o) A0 uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 _" H# z i. @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. a2 C: n& X8 w# c- aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 S3 V, U, f: b( f. Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- @. U0 j7 y' D
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 E% T0 m3 D6 ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, `3 h: y; ^0 ?, Uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& f2 ]1 _9 f. H h! Z3 i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" o% t) j1 V' i* W/ U3 O1 G- }! Z5 l
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) X2 y6 w! N5 o5 Y9 V( g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, ?/ S& b1 N" w7 W( ^: _- U
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ C/ e1 c! i4 I! o/ X5 Vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ S) m! e) k! L/ y7 E1 MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" A4 I( `1 X( z% ]- m0 R5 p6 f
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 Z. i& S& D, A, E
charge the fee defined by the state.8 r' Z" r" C( I) C$ Y; ^
9 R' s4 [) J6 Y6 ^" r" iThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! p+ l; n, W5 k+ R2 e8 S. Ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
" X# A. }3 j5 L+ }; B0 rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; @$ E0 i$ V4 E; v+ E! z4 v, u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 k& t" n h# i2 q$ j" [( A8 l# C6 q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, s# Z4 e1 y' L% h- i9 ^/ }* tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
0 c- a$ D3 k7 @( i" Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% p) _8 m" J9 b4 syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! ]' E" M1 m2 f; r
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( W- ~+ k7 l/ q$ G9 H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- q7 k9 n" I8 Ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
% E$ V% r) q. r, I Hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 E4 x+ k' z. l5 `' N0 C! Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 p* @7 \' U* l( care spaces.. Y/ W- T; P' E+ F/ ]
' b* e8 ?! ` @" s3 [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
W k! V# Z8 s$ ^! E! Z% Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 P1 j3 r7 A( r+ n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- _& w( j% `8 p. E& B! p, W- {* e+ w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 J, X/ d, s) g% E1 k! M2 I: v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% M' E: t5 h2 S) |5 xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% k- O9 | R& U, p! L( b' Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
$ Q" s& j& @/ Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: p' G ]0 O* `* C& ? u5 n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* |. G) U. |) _6 b; K" z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
