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
+ b4 d! | K/ g' H' y+ f g' \standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 J; d B6 R% Z# |on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( `3 n8 P2 n$ _. q9 l4 |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# h1 ?# _3 V8 [6 ]2 u! U
answers to our pointed questions.
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: x& v6 a0 P/ L7 s) m+ j. h9 XThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! ^9 {1 D9 `/ o- R% j+ c& W( D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 z3 x* ~8 |& o7 \- i# b* i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: ]4 @1 z1 u. M9 R1 C; O* ^0 _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams M+ I3 f) k' E
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ G f5 `/ I4 F0 U! Emedical schools.
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, j+ a \, X/ g4 _Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* |% _. k8 A+ u$ U4 Y; Wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& c! ?" p3 t, \8 f, j3 }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% V% C( S! A2 W: ?+ _# N# F9 B) `
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 Z, O, f6 S3 r- {9 E
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 Z) f1 ?$ _8 `over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 l ]9 D$ ^9 O! I! E( G4 a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
4 U# j6 _$ P$ u6 ?3 qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% V6 a6 l. b! d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 \% {7 p7 y: a( H! ?: S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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6 n2 u9 W$ p. H0 ?The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 K& f8 [+ [+ A* C4 ^- u' Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; {2 _ I' N5 m5 N1 d
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! M) n: P1 k, }. q/ g+ f5 \0 ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' O6 \+ l3 g7 f: b8 D' u- b* Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( ^5 `# w$ C3 W6 ~# @7 j/ F* M
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 d- I$ Z2 g) }# T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 t3 v2 X. a. e: {* T4 y% r
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* u# h1 q8 L* \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 Z7 c! ^8 W# U
charge the fee defined by the state.
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: q1 M6 K ~4 U, r4 v! `There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ Q8 s, |- J2 Z6 xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. e" g% B: ], |$ f% N
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 Q, \2 a& ~' b) h' ~1 C& Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 n" N. \) _# v/ m
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 k( \4 A( x! M! |
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* {) R' A; x% a
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" S% ?3 ^+ ~% M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 U( Q& j- F ]$ e* A6 p: K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( W3 J' L) n l2 g# m& Y
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ W' o, d3 Q3 G0 [1 speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 a4 y5 e. [3 W; \; x5 e$ g+ ?to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! O Z/ l2 f( Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' j F; |( Z7 t; E; H0 [8 v
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! t) L" I9 u4 F, R
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 C! C6 V; x! m1 i
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! \" o& D9 |- A6 E& }1 q4 P40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( b2 i- I# z3 `1 Y4 s; p! T/ I4 \parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 t! |: G) p8 ?8 y+ ~! l. E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) X: g3 y A' y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* k$ h4 k7 @- z4 F1 \
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 `6 c m, ^2 L8 N& l; ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 e& E$ v6 @( u9 f: K/ y
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
