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; o; [, ^2 Z5 b& T7 f
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 s6 ?' {9 X" b7 ^$ Q6 aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! A: r2 j$ u* a! J( N8 W1 ]
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& k7 F4 G. u: }! z3 X
answers to our pointed questions.1 h- X- i8 i5 _% S/ N+ t- i2 O
9 Q% T: U2 W$ ?1 E- H4 d- }* WThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& o, m( m$ K( m* R" `' V45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 {/ x: v/ B, I4 y+ _4 }
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ C4 I) P/ C, [6 |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& D4 E; x0 \ ~2 q- M
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 v$ o0 I% ]7 Y" j. L x8 a3 f5 s, Dmedical schools.
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6 A6 a9 D: x# j4 qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ j3 o8 H( h& E }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 {2 H3 V9 s Ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" F8 {* _3 {! e; M) i. Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' o: {: ^9 m5 v" S3 P8 Q- Y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 A% c6 w2 s# b; eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 K3 q$ z2 v! s6 {% q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( |4 r$ g: N+ A! y1 `* pmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 w; f5 V: J, w4 Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" c" c a; o3 C" j }/ @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& \6 p. ]' u5 Q, w7 H5 F
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 C7 _- c' H! z k9 ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
1 C( J r. ^* r' l( e. ?7 g) Q8 Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 y/ z5 x8 p1 t6 L
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" [; w ]9 I$ n, h& f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 z6 j1 C$ a& {( X! }+ }/ q+ esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ @& Q5 c5 ~7 t7 q' r# ]+ t8 H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ G( z: B- k$ bDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ d( n! |+ d$ [; y3 Ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& [6 N% i* Y, _3 k' A/ l! Gcharge the fee defined by the state." F, K) n- q; `' f/ O
m. d' T4 ]6 `1 sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; s/ l1 x2 X0 @3 v3 won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 r( }" I/ F& tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 w0 w |7 X9 C p1 S
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 x( O! A% r6 d$ }* w. B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
' I7 f" a) Y5 y7 d4 L/ h K, qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% `/ B A, ^; Z* |3 Y. i7 Z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ `, G, i" l' k. P% C* J
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
z, C8 W% m/ T1 g# z- ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 R- N; u1 P0 N4 Q' Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ Y5 e. p+ j, m7 M( }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 V6 X& v/ m- _to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: ]) r* N, b) C0 K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ x7 M9 l2 |& i3 O" {
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 ^+ u3 y1 v$ d9 w, ^7 |3 E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 c/ k. b; [& u! F, T, |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 a1 T: M- N: H
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 d6 i6 d" h0 ]9 N7 ~$ z5 ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 P3 j9 E" u0 y4 y; I- {1 ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 ]& ]9 l! H/ ^) inice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% z8 N! Q4 d+ F' F9 B2 Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! d2 F4 m( w1 K! x$ C! c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 C6 q/ h0 q1 P8 k' J+ ~, ~( H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
