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
( _# H8 X8 h' N2 C- }9 pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& r; ?& l2 h2 I7 H, U1 L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# p/ V6 c9 G7 k6 Q7 X
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 a7 U! q, T; Q U" [2 {
answers to our pointed questions.! l- D1 a. q/ p: Z8 N
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 S; O- C b! u4 F/ m# Z7 b$ }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, c0 G: x& I- Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 C6 y: Q& _* v& E6 {' E
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- u" }: R! C9 F8 g) G zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" { b7 A5 O# f9 c( C
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 F" a0 T$ K# Y: q% M5 @6 z* r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 Z" ]( |* T" e$ U( D! I% ^
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 D8 `' S3 ]! I0 k' _- \1 h
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 d- k; o5 {- S7 W0 lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 Z/ q9 e, d3 d( b! }$ Tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: p6 i& b2 H0 g# Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) k T& R5 y/ b2 \8 v7 P
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 u4 i3 t4 e; Q1 V/ M: V9 jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. m7 X0 H' b# ~( s/ n0 isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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* e e/ R9 ]% c/ V; B0 t3 ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
i1 e9 G- }8 N6 rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- {# @- f" F0 psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% h; W7 ` g) W xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' O, [6 p# k, C) s5 c7 Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) t; x7 }3 y% M3 C6 c8 |* o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
8 \" Q; g, Q* c% l& z0 P& zdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 F# T& ?9 t2 ?+ k7 J. N0 G: |# e* j- `
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: T8 @ X5 _8 D- n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# _2 U' K) m5 L2 b& ccharge the fee defined by the state.- w5 @! i- m9 D! t: p
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ Q& U! t, ]+ `- V# Q6 S5 U5 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# N9 e* {7 f5 T' tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. g# C* E/ u6 V& c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 U) F( T0 E2 ?, Z/ _. ]( ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
' _" X8 v( F+ U# xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- m: z; ^. |6 w+ _ T9 ~7 @4 jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# T& z& i, Z uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: j7 ^5 m4 d( O& ~( r4 s otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 e. r; ]& D) [. {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: ^! F( k C1 \3 {; ^# j8 }; D* {people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 n" @, c! f& E& }* f( \: oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( i! n! O% ?* _9 S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
- N$ p/ F/ `0 I, Mare spaces.) e# }# ?% m* h1 \: V6 O
9 c, a$ [8 y6 z4 TThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, D$ W$ @9 R( |) N# L
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 X4 ^/ r6 R- x0 L( Z, V uown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
+ D) P% \9 d& J8 u40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 B' q9 p& ~! S, S/ |2 a
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( U3 F) s+ g6 sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: d- R2 Z s: E! \& K: h/ Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" Z, g% ^2 I4 E: t4 icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 z, U3 I# J7 W E9 kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ g2 X8 z, a- R+ K0 S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
