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# t& F3 ?, R3 N# o
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
+ E" z5 R( x u H3 J; e, k" z5 ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- C& o5 z6 j5 S' S# a; L, F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
K9 A! Y! f% I1 m" Aanswers to our pointed questions.7 n" U6 q" p7 h( K. e1 a
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' ^" V' N: s2 g- y- a0 m45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 Z1 b: m( m. S' ~5 d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 c: O( ` ~4 X* ^; B+ ~% u* G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. O4 k7 n, C E; y+ rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( f% z, X! v6 u
medical schools.6 t8 e- k0 c8 I) N( a5 w
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, l; t* ?9 }- n; X. E1 S% T, u* z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# A6 i7 T8 S( F" k! o/ _* `: z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 R) N4 f6 j& J! d5 Y# i" f( yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- d }% e! v! C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 J( J* G, e3 a E. V- l8 c0 S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! G* d2 m8 q- G+ [5 U7 U( {% V
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# ^% ?: v: [0 m% N4 a
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 r @) }, R) ]+ R+ I% ^6 o: C
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 B) f2 s% }' N1 O. X5 ~; o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 X3 c: ?# y' }- k
0 N$ B( B" F7 Z r9 l' BThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 q7 B# \2 \$ |3 Mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* G3 b2 c; I' @! n
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 s6 W8 |& ~# q& q; \* yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: E% W8 {0 c: T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
: N2 H1 x6 L3 J0 K' G5 c9 D' Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 [4 q0 W" H$ r ?! _. [/ p; l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 o8 m+ V+ _1 O3 W4 TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; f& C: [. k; `) ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ R- _0 S! h/ K
charge the fee defined by the state.
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- p% |, U; T; I. k0 J p. |$ X1 PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ m0 N8 @4 V1 L# r; con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, g* J3 E( ]3 J: l! M* Q J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* K- k/ C2 T: W( O2 l. s4 r8 S/ l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% R1 e, O$ }7 A$ vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 t/ k) n! e& Q! L9 g7 j/ Y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( h7 Q* m7 s* Q) I1 L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ @! N) c6 [( d% ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# B# [: a3 I' _4 c3 ~trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ \6 i% q) s6 \2 [2 v
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& d m8 x; r* Q7 l9 z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& `# W& P6 `/ e9 ?to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' h- F# t- U+ p F% G Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
- l2 N0 F/ E$ `: ^are spaces.
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/ j% W, D1 E' m5 w) }# U* G" gThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. Y, O1 U# X0 g9 j( _! f5 |2 Yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( Q' ^. }) F! i* A( _own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. q, A9 r1 n7 C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
3 f+ l; ~/ X, T6 k% g0 B( Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ W# O1 v& E% g" B3 |
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
3 u$ _* M5 x: j( Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 W4 X) Q2 Z0 o2 k$ s2 ?car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 j1 u: C1 o0 O( u* {! P: X
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% T N! Q" j8 t2 Z4 m We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
