我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living6 F/ V) c# `, ?$ ]' E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 s: W6 k# J+ r s, g$ Y# }' W% d/ U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% P/ K. d& ?# b3 W
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ D @+ k" ^0 Canswers to our pointed questions.$ F1 t8 n# J! X+ L; ?4 x/ A0 W& F q
. `5 K# {. v% d" Z+ S QThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ c7 e% w5 E h3 Q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand' Z7 _8 B' M3 N3 W* C$ O
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. W6 J# D$ {4 L% {' I% R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 F, E' Z* o$ |/ z4 G+ T# N
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ e! P* l# T! ?: ^4 i
medical schools.7 k. j( ^. v0 p1 x4 [: E
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, j2 U. g4 a H6 q6 ~7 N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
, z( h2 f9 F; G6 j. V7 Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
6 r$ b3 k2 B; D- F2 W. K- ]# Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) [6 m8 \1 J* L5 r( his from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, p+ m" Q+ f0 f& v% W* W( e8 jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 ^0 D; h' s9 P T k, S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
g! D/ K# G$ B' b. Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! f2 {* H* a" ~ ^
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 @) u9 w- M- W& y, v6 \: |
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" \2 a' A0 h4 V) W) [# zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ I) Y G& C, }* ^9 f. asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* l0 b" s; C. L, W& ?. }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ x I$ T3 {' p
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 k9 G: C& v' N+ [( h% P/ D
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
, i5 Y* {' p! ] |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 x7 x! I* x+ G' h- RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: s' t6 [+ N! a* `5 qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 Q0 u- M& b' Q+ \; _! g* C
charge the fee defined by the state.
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$ `$ L$ |( Z1 p' J1 N+ u( I+ yThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' @+ ^3 _+ \% n8 L4 O3 non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 s/ `2 k8 ]* R/ M9 Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ X7 v3 B" m) z( A2 F+ ~0 p
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# L+ b8 K0 W7 \* P/ ~- ?/ ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ I( c+ U$ h [+ e$ wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ ?: a/ } r/ V' i7 k6 l+ g8 H! Yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 N( N7 ^% l$ K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* }* b4 ]* m: r3 W R- o* f
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch3 H* @6 E$ t0 Q, c/ M: y( Z; r/ G( A: o
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ o; }( e2 g) u/ C) U, Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 Q+ q5 R2 v) [$ Z; W4 Z' Z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: _* `: `7 t1 n, \" x$ \/ H# sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ ^+ F. o' f# z- F6 C% P
are spaces.; K4 N. t' H4 [5 L
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- }, p( \, D% p$ D* \" l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
G" b4 X1 m' K2 _( l( W ^own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 Y* s9 C4 s i3 h2 X- I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different4 i' g" a3 Y3 M
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ f' L1 o, S9 G) J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 r+ C9 m/ N. I; w$ A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
$ m- s- o. P% Bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, b F! `) X! T7 A ^
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. `; k* E) K5 F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
