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 Q; D6 ]" }2 ~
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 }& H$ C1 `$ y# W& l0 t4 y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, c' F8 B' N" `5 w2 B! _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% `' M' Q: L( X* E' ?1 ~- l3 V
answers to our pointed questions.
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3 d3 _0 [4 T- T, hThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 e3 K! P. Z+ h# Z9 R& _4 f X
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ q# E: }1 G( Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is; Q1 n0 m" @6 Y$ J3 U- O
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' U6 C& M6 p% v( w. d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ ?; ^: D) h3 |5 e; c" D- M
medical schools.( J9 ^: N7 D$ ]. y, v3 e5 |9 ]
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the h' M( ~( A- I! X m# J
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 {8 D. p2 z V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- M) C; \" \: e5 g+ u5 `0 t2 [
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 W$ x" F4 D. Y. o2 {8 W$ ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 T' B$ U, N: l; J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ d0 q' {' z# e* R0 S. r% mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& [6 B$ J) r/ ]% Z) amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 M$ p2 K/ r7 T8 l5 |; _4 y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 a5 |! {$ i: p* |
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 X! f/ d5 j* ^# C q; E2 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 v' H7 I) Y# K- x; i$ @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
l3 t) }' I" U& @) @' T& ?4 ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% t( p0 b9 z+ v
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" u+ d4 `+ s- j3 l" E. v' U. V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- `. _; i) w+ n; h" b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ o: X) }, f+ r9 \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
, x% W! ^* a1 za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 z1 {0 P1 t3 p: S3 Qcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 m0 @# a: X. ^6 b) v
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 W# s) D. y. Q1 w% p1 m( p
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( d; v5 \5 e6 G# c% g x3 Struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% r3 S6 s) h4 v5 D0 aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ B6 q0 v1 b- P8 Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on. b7 S/ Y. e! i" ^* p1 n
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! I. R p4 ]$ [3 a0 K* \% Dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) N; k; E/ O: l6 i+ U4 |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% ~* y0 g' J8 j9 @! D) T* Nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 _- |; {1 B0 ^. Bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
% L) i2 D) J8 R/ o2 }, qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 n. i: L: D" N& w& F& u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 N& d/ {- ]1 e4 o# \+ h
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! L/ I; W8 x R7 H1 a$ w$ Dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& e. v& x4 ~( V1 n; @' Y! V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ `0 E$ ]" l6 w7 N1 j0 k/ ?
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' \0 G) ~$ a! C( v! J+ W9 N
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! r" P/ O% A8 ]0 ~' d1 \2 Q- P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& _& m; K, T1 j& {
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 O$ b4 Z! {( T- @6 o- Xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 Q1 G3 ?2 x# Qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
6 U. d# v0 Z" E% f# p We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
