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- f# Q7 \. K8 f. G# d# o; f% m
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 C0 A6 W' K& F5 _( c' pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' L: B; r. d5 R N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 y" T4 K) m, y7 `0 N$ h- ~0 A
answers to our pointed questions.
1 J' x; H- i; j0 _$ Q6 u& ~* s: ~; V, d- e: r2 i8 [/ r
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% e2 d* X! v: I6 R- H& G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" P j8 A, s" b, xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ D6 S8 S2 ~" r6 ^- ^. }7 s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 I, R6 d% x Y" J
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" b% _+ m0 @5 ^% c# ?! l
medical schools.
! H/ m& y4 j5 ~% r) T- ?4 @3 L0 f* N& ?$ Y
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 G! H0 Z, U: c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* Z& g v; B) Q5 v0 H
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 ]% d- o, Q2 N5 |6 c* h: Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' \$ z' x8 \* b% T9 Z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" r7 V- |" {" d$ G4 G- x0 f7 [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 M8 b/ {" u$ K/ R7 c0 ^( ^ c/ A; Wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, w( j* x, s$ P" i g3 A: y$ Z7 G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 `5 k; ?3 k* A, N6 }- F' D6 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 ~* q; y/ f2 q% E4 t- Psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 y2 I! l" w+ J9 {' e0 r ~% f" n3 K
: z# r/ D( d' b& o. ~; `, r
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 k8 ~, T) S1 Y- z# b; B# f
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 ~% B J8 h/ E' y* Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 ~% d+ P7 Q3 r& P. P% yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) R! `( q% }5 h+ ^2 P4 _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- K; I( g, N7 {4 { {$ ~. t- gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' C; _6 R# h% A0 C. z( y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 d- P$ i& ?9 |, M w5 \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# Y! X, n4 y9 R( o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 d9 g! {9 w1 s9 N4 P _$ K
charge the fee defined by the state.% k- v- ^- b/ x
+ L! `6 u+ I4 e) ~
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! h& g' A# ~ q( J5 F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- |2 F$ Z7 E+ ]$ f* n k0 q
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 u; _& g0 [* a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' J4 X2 g. l: R' v; }
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the j9 d9 ~. R U4 _% O! k! h( s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 o" ?; g) l2 M6 D. q# K0 j5 |0 Fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ o5 a/ ]7 P- o& y& D" H) a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ W7 z/ C2 A* h% ~+ O! S7 itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" ^) Z1 i& P8 D A0 L7 Rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& T3 N" z3 Z8 |. Apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" {3 u0 b+ H' B+ g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. }' P/ Z& D, |2 M, j+ ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 ~+ G, w- F. I T- ~' m, _" t
are spaces.
# n! M( b' {) W9 e
1 n+ ^1 g- x( d4 D! y4 k3 J7 [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( e* P6 g, Y7 {; L# e/ R: O
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 U# Z8 C# {2 r4 O6 h+ ~* j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* B* A( B. t' C( e% F5 k5 `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 ^; Z; U1 c9 t& q8 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; S: @) Z# E5 J6 p9 \best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
1 [# I2 t0 {; }# j4 dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) w0 c$ R a1 t2 J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 x, n" M+ j( ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( R0 Z0 `; w8 Y. B. p5 e1 x
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
