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* Y7 Z! S& _% ^
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 a0 F. E3 D0 L6 m) Q) U) Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 `( o: [4 R4 f2 d* B3 I. C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. x/ P9 P9 q/ w+ H/ g. {
answers to our pointed questions.: r2 T" M# ^# n+ H) T' K" _# L
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 X. B0 B& U1 d; n7 k
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 v8 p3 c4 i& h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 j# N1 D, I3 y# e9 J" ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' p8 ]: z7 f: X: f, xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 x4 {9 x5 l+ L
medical schools.- K& l" {: P5 B* {9 ]3 ?
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the: p1 J, a8 ^: k4 }9 u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 G! D1 b: R) g9 D
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ s: p' C! S' U' U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) H* q# Q3 w# a$ p7 |% }is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to t. C4 x; h8 L: x6 Z+ r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; F% u2 O8 Q! y2 ?8 q) t
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ o$ @3 n: W! Q# |( amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' h7 a7 T) u4 A# ^* Z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
K5 e& ^4 P, f& c! v# } r7 |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 j+ j, J8 r, d; w! Y3 z; C4 [
% S, O8 A' |- E) z, E& z2 G2 {The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
^! a! S: y6 j; Lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 I. k) i4 F$ x: o: }) \, v3 D
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 v9 [1 d9 Z; khave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 l' M) ~- ^4 E# o; ]% a. ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 ]/ N U7 `2 e# \1 \, J' \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 m) b6 F4 i. I" g& P7 ?! K0 r2 l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' t" s) O* x E2 I8 I) v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. K. S% c* X' Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 y( F' T' i) z
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* E4 s2 P/ Y; R1 a* Y
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) q' g5 {# D" } v) Z2 ~+ Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 J" l2 ~; @5 d" P {' p# q, u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" B7 v% D' k3 |6 `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" _6 e$ Q% r$ I
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" d- m# l' Q( I5 o5 z( j' |schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% R6 v( e2 m2 x" j T
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 T* v( s+ m/ Y: Y3 N. q9 R$ W, z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 T0 ]6 Y- P9 d xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! t! W7 a- J4 u3 f; F/ R/ f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# d4 ~. x8 e: r$ j; Y( n, o1 u- r( Qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" C2 u/ m8 Y# ~2 z A
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there" _* a, E9 o" Q/ A: W
are spaces.' r+ s5 d _$ x( [+ ^
, y2 O' y; Y1 |" \There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 i' y1 A3 E9 G) }' Q' t! ^5 o4 Ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
' o7 n5 ^ K( V! k! m4 Z. G* `/ Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ f. I4 K. b/ w% n
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# @9 |2 r1 Z9 M' N9 {& p- J$ ^" Bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' y" N* \3 e' ?' K# _. obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) }9 K! O* j* B( K2 I
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 _9 T& W, J7 c1 G
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ M, T* [4 c) ]- p) S8 f Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 l2 |5 N- T6 f& ]" E We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
