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; l/ S7 ?* n& R/ }! K6 {$ u! T+ M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: [8 A* v3 s2 g+ b8 [! l! U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# O; b7 ~ M7 {2 U) O- O7 [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: N$ f0 z- s6 S* ^
answers to our pointed questions.& z0 j3 I$ F% J1 {6 J# D. g
3 q0 l2 S) Q6 P4 j9 uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 N) u) |" W: D1 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" H3 O) r' E X( Y( i% M% s9 l9 iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. r3 o, e8 H; Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: p' u# C' Y( M8 Q. yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. U. _ V7 o- B/ T7 B r5 F! o+ Hmedical schools.0 \9 p: a0 X5 i8 T" X- i ?1 ~
) E, g# Z( u& t/ f7 w; C5 sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% s1 \* i) ^ k( R( C- N/ t4 T. a
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 W& i, A, h: |# N' ~9 ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ |1 o1 P2 b# S& ?5 Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& ^. w5 \0 J, }& m+ Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( O b! J" |8 _; x* Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; ~4 `9 W) o0 D% o: ~" Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ f ]2 R, c' gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* K8 S% ?# ]1 U6 W$ ?3 Z3 B7 v5 Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 ~. }3 v; @& j. a, m& @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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* ?9 q6 u% n$ E. q; t. J* eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ C8 Q* o& H. v: J# q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. W) _1 j, N# O1 nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 f$ \+ L6 F# T$ N/ C0 R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 G( l j7 O: n4 H- Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) }6 n2 f0 a7 I& f2 N9 U5 q! \sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, p8 Z+ Z: G# z# U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 Y+ d2 J3 E& b( n+ ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 @) z8 x* ], \5 m8 ]7 qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 c$ q& W& N8 M* Wcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" t% P1 |9 p+ c3 D
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) B* e/ @1 k4 |: hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 ~# P/ e9 Z: ^% q) E5 D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ H3 {; \3 T9 g, _% a Y0 Eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; ?! @7 n8 K2 C) @1 O5 c
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; z }% X7 J' O; x: K; k5 Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 U+ h* g7 V4 f! d+ T, @) S. K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: d9 N4 J! I' Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 G Y1 ]) s* ^: |hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 P. Z6 G9 A! H% j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 }( U! N. ]0 fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' c1 i7 v7 O1 S: m3 Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! I0 F) V# C0 m# ~
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- m+ N; [$ t% o i- Q% G/ x
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* y* t+ F. u) F! pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' m& _( b4 l* N6 A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% c; r2 s5 a8 F3 i1 r% V* K: u7 @
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- e( ~- r% {1 j- W" G; \6 Abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* B, y! M- H ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; E" Q& h- `; @7 j* k8 H9 H6 Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. R+ u7 B4 V& g0 G* ?5 F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 c7 t" v3 o/ n We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
