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: h' ]& Y' N. z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 H" a5 T0 {+ e2 X! S: H" @# P' U( von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; u7 ^: s3 g' z5 m
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 T) b$ r" N* }6 e
answers to our pointed questions.
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6 I9 a6 e% X0 ~0 WThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 G# e2 w6 b: J+ M: @45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% e& Q' {# ?$ u. F
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 b K# }9 m$ I( S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" M/ k/ K; ?2 j7 q" ^# ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 s' g3 f* Z- amedical schools., g' v5 v- t8 A" S6 A
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 Q8 C5 F5 i# R& M6 y9 I* L
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
2 ]$ {2 T3 m( T' ?' ?, g* Tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years m# @4 @+ Z* ]6 }2 L0 K; g$ R/ n
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ v! x9 v. o9 i; b" f4 Z7 b
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 Z+ }; ?! d2 i0 H1 {
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
\# @# k/ d2 B" L/ V6 mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) `' x. ?, x- w, C9 imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 p$ W8 e. E1 X2 n; [! _ dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 ?6 J1 H2 ~% a( J/ n a0 j
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( H; l/ e! I1 b6 o7 N# T/ A* X+ K& K3 X
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' I6 n$ q i( E9 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 ^& h- h# |3 V
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ O4 w$ f% X- q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
0 V& N$ ~2 a7 t ^. ]$ F6 Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 N" s+ Y# u7 K7 y# R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: n( Y- ~% y; z/ a* z' Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ i" l, L$ e0 g$ TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
}- `4 S2 b- W9 J: c) a( Ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! ~6 P" E E% P
charge the fee defined by the state.; G. \5 E- l" _/ ~0 p% P- q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: K% J9 \$ @2 H a c2 M
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, z1 H' R0 K! q4 u( P% Hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ Q$ q1 O# u0 ~+ k Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
p9 C4 W1 I; a! k' s9 Wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
' G' q2 b! H3 V" c3 }4 B, \3 {4 @working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 G( A5 ]% Q% y! Y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& I& t& r6 E1 p% L. j; t
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ i( _5 J: z0 mtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% ?* j6 g! N, Q# l: _, @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; E3 C6 |$ ?$ a7 M3 X+ t/ k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ y x# A4 }8 @/ d/ X' b b
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! T4 [8 t. z/ {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' m! W( K) A! n% b! U: {* G' L6 care spaces.: v; c; Q$ \7 w" l
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 m: {( r" i6 F! R1 S" g: V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" j4 @, _) \9 Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ v* U$ ` A9 V( ^) Q4 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, z) z% Y+ T$ O. h6 _
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( s) R' O, H& r7 p' q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- n ~ R+ l# F
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' n' p* \ t. b
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' C j5 X% ?& n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( X& M: G" q) p+ r9 w1 ^ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
