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
4 T, O8 T+ a' }7 g- Z3 ]2 Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# b/ D% K- j+ T( `9 Pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# }3 D- d8 y5 h9 p& J# C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 C0 `9 o" T d6 A* q f2 @9 ~
answers to our pointed questions.
8 t. z V8 P, e l; C t
$ a1 d0 j+ p+ J0 h) b. N( w* c1 F3 }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ ~, }" V' Q5 v3 N" z" d% s# Y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand' i' L* a6 a( S9 ], W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# B; K; V; |( S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 H( b. U3 |+ T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ R$ N0 {6 d7 M Hmedical schools.
2 W8 t" X/ Z: Z1 i. o
% M% N& J$ D' A1 k, @, x! gEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: L1 {4 k W+ P& w1 Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, z1 K% a T" C9 q8 @; n+ U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* h" ^( F+ x0 K y6 C; w+ aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 |9 Y* l2 n! \# V* ?- N& o
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# k# i- Y. o( n4 x) @. |9 c
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" D* n" C7 x% {6 B) ~seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 p2 C& ^5 A' r! A. w8 o/ i, @. z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" z, P+ A0 x% m; n+ ]2 I0 w, Fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% _) } B( Q2 D+ Y- @" e* j7 R; isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 b4 T- ?& F. \" `& ?
- H" q% U% ^5 m+ RThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 A0 E" j: o, W. ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% {0 S8 k' c' p6 k& g. M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' V; n' G) `8 g' A) |' h) ]7 g; {) H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( u) K, T) [# D/ f9 b* z( Wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: U4 Y" O# L; a/ y7 w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( _. `1 r) z S2 l, F# m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# N' h2 V0 |% z) a- hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 V0 v! {0 ~ ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 [: d/ t3 H. e S7 q
charge the fee defined by the state.
q) h* J& h+ o, P Y) {2 f/ p* g9 V5 e e: }1 O
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 X" `" k: ?0 z/ ^, m& gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) Q* w+ J2 _ L% F0 L5 k/ sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 a8 U" O8 Y- O9 b. K z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 }% b* Y1 ^- p( D" ^# tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 W( t- M! V# l" d x9 u3 V
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ A2 M, i( I+ T6 a" v
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# J! e8 ?2 K4 X5 T* Y* E7 j3 A
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 X. Y4 y) a0 l1 u+ ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 ?5 |; _0 m6 B7 p" Q% nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! \" z3 H$ V: v$ {7 s' h5 N6 A" Y' speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
R7 C" G* t; i8 I' X5 t) [to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ b8 C5 }7 ]( Z2 z: I: X8 d! Xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 h( x8 T% A9 o9 sare spaces.; U6 }3 f6 C; t7 k6 M x2 T4 b+ S
; n# z' \: t! I4 f8 {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi k5 {7 W" u4 ^+ r, m7 P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ c, A2 u7 `! B% a- f
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% g m) f3 q2 M- P2 V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& Y" i& E2 H2 V" W' V+ L
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the E3 K# ]. w7 @8 R5 O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
# n: }+ s! s/ E$ @6 Gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; Z) j- k" {5 Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it g, N& e) u( d7 e3 S( T
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ e5 `' n* N& `8 y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
