我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 q6 a4 |* [6 a+ @4 x. H' j! J
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
+ v( E T7 i/ W! a, ]on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 e7 M# W5 E" A: N3 V5 h"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) y/ t. k5 E" K; Lanswers to our pointed questions.
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* O) j K4 c! E5 ?, Y3 J, e% mThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 C e0 o7 A6 O% Q8 n; X ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 [& p' ?. y1 M/ Y. P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ G# ]1 e2 b6 f1 k R$ Y5 J/ S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) u8 L* B' Q S! p' Tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 C/ W2 {$ q8 g( o2 b
medical schools.
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( ?! ?. E5 q: C& f7 PEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, S; y9 ]5 V; |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 ^# f0 H, X: n: l
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 @6 f3 r% G" l1 Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 {2 n$ s; J: m* Z, a; k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" ^: A2 n- P' g1 z! C0 o8 W iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! R7 i: V5 _8 S% M! Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% G) k0 i. y9 T: p% K6 fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 J2 b3 [) q6 d- Lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 m8 C- R( u \# R' l# csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 R. A9 ?% I/ d$ k. `' Q, [
; o7 M% i7 P3 QThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! Q9 R" ^- l3 C' p3 v1 V7 C1 V3 [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- P, P' J) m4 L* j4 a6 R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 |* y) k9 i+ u7 E$ phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 v3 F5 H& u' u$ U% ]& \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 P8 G% H2 h, Y' Z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 P8 P. j% D, {: |" d
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., C, x0 X- t9 |, d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 D/ f( Q* p; o1 P( F
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ T3 }/ J6 X# rcharge the fee defined by the state.
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4 z4 Z: f$ {1 w5 a" C' S3 F+ |' WThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 d0 L6 u# q4 S. R0 V) O
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- F" ^3 ^( u+ u A4 B/ n# u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ W# j" h$ e2 r: etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% a- b5 b7 G5 r! u, V/ z+ \
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( ^5 C" ]& j. I7 x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, o' E, J1 k5 G
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
2 ]9 n, y; ]7 G4 @0 ~; E, Y) Vyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: i" C/ x( j \8 ?* j# u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 ~6 f6 m" z0 g' A" K7 yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ q8 u {/ _7 tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& {! B- o4 {2 Q7 tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 E8 y N7 }* ?& L( U. S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& x) c8 z2 O8 m) M+ k3 f$ z6 A
are spaces.+ M* V$ I( r1 M. D3 s
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# L9 E/ u/ I) g" S: ^+ a8 f0 n
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 @0 b9 r8 e4 v# }$ cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% l) e: B3 k1 ~( G7 a- |1 N; g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% t; _+ U! {- P# Y5 ^) R
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 b& @ A8 O% D- S6 Z8 L1 Z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few S4 h, G0 B: L0 d! @
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 s& [3 n0 y9 }; ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
! c) n8 e/ e6 ]5 J; x- A* eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& k! ]5 ^* \7 M# }" q2 g7 @* O
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
