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& ~0 {# K" t4 l5 k* R0 i! J/ W$ }* ?+ g
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 C% F4 t$ R4 [2 F) N0 Ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) S* ]( E0 z4 b' p9 v
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 D' \* B; H4 c+ `0 Y3 z& manswers to our pointed questions.
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7 k: e- N L3 ^+ M u5 _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, p* o( [: m* v( {$ o
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* }3 o/ v. Q$ E M; X; _
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 h4 Z8 Z; D) C; C! `9 e8 p9 x3 efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 N0 l# Q9 M' X5 T, n7 e/ Eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. @0 N9 ]9 M$ M% ]9 Tmedical schools.5 j) k$ ^% F% t7 q
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 u9 ?8 j& i' W/ f3 a3 Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ G1 T; i! A; q& W- m! eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 U, v) |3 C9 g# s3 x
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 b; z8 Z% a4 L$ E
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& @3 b+ a3 C, C9 t3 ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# E" o' H: _7 u. r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) ]+ \# h. Q* O- T7 n F
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, c. @! i" G9 M# R- d6 @shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ N; @1 K2 Q: p2 O( dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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5 Z9 g9 h) _7 ^/ ]) {$ X5 o+ iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; Z* L. S% A. o* F2 d; V3 U% N7 P6 g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# ^) g. p6 b, t) r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 ], ]2 i8 V3 V& ?. l' h2 R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 b$ E3 p& u8 S. G/ Y- m# Z+ Qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 M Y0 n* M$ l) A# @+ N, e7 s
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 Y6 h4 V; t4 {& A, s. p
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 t4 Q( x4 t2 x/ h5 A' M" |$ T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 h0 D0 n: W! A/ g- |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only) [$ e7 q: S5 M7 f6 I) M R
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) V z8 g( d- D! V: U- Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 s ?! `" s+ d H
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 T1 I( q) u6 j9 }
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 @4 M; R6 M+ _4 b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) o" L& ]& q7 U% W4 _/ h+ ]# y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% m+ a. ]+ N8 W; }/ Dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; W h( I; h, d$ O
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 Y2 x% G3 T0 h
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# t3 ~0 ]- q0 _) T
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that( p6 m4 d2 u7 s3 G5 T
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 L. t. Z- L. Z0 g# k: Pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 Q# @6 ?* o+ P! ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* C# S* p* d" ]7 B" C3 P; Pare spaces.
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( ]" ], b1 H& F2 {5 N. k0 tThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# _- s% N" L6 x" v0 @7 r# s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# A5 h+ n9 I1 X0 jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! `, k7 f: B" ~0 |; C2 {
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 c& y+ n3 c+ Xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 a# c P: @" }- v9 ~: n7 I6 mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
3 r% L' L0 N' Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' H, }# ^; l+ M. K$ w
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% Z* c0 V; [' m6 N% bis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& t% [! e4 P8 L) d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
