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
# E A; ^; I, b7 e# a: cstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 R* h, l" g0 j5 s1 d+ P& j9 t
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# L" N9 g# O ~+ z/ l* N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 a5 B; y; ?" uanswers to our pointed questions.2 F+ K+ c- y5 E+ d& q& v0 O5 i/ o
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 _! p2 c* b# Q( I) y) R7 A, l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- @7 N. Q5 o3 Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ y0 o c( F6 x$ v: v, |: ~/ I6 K/ afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 Z- B1 S* y% c. h& I5 z$ ~; F6 m
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; F/ E+ }5 U+ `5 ~% N* U, Xmedical schools.
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/ }$ ]8 Z4 H! [6 n' h6 bEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( W1 K Z1 k5 h
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ `! ]2 B# e+ X/ [/ gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ n4 l5 b: P* I( j2 ^) r& Y, Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% J# w2 D4 b" w1 N+ @9 M, C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( @5 |: u4 v l; Kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 C5 o- N) }2 U
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# J3 I* V8 d) h F* G7 I
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 u3 A' p+ W4 t6 j1 E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 h. L0 `9 Y; q* c0 y" l( B! u3 _+ Nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
V! Y- |- I$ A, ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 ~( t* J# b+ h. V1 V" z. a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 w/ L9 O$ q! s. |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: P# e3 ?+ h1 T. `: Ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# f/ M1 }# M4 Q1 H( X
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 t% k }; m! v, Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* J9 l% s/ h9 i+ Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* ]3 u8 l9 R8 ^( S! [3 w. Ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 R, v- A l4 O! u
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& ^' B* W8 d/ s* l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( g% q! g0 o! K6 Y1 C/ c2 [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( l' T: `+ H% |: u& Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* r* o+ O# P" S( G+ Zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ S/ ~. e% J2 o1 K$ s& M: i+ Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! o# a# V7 ?8 ]7 J9 P k' Xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% {1 E( p" H& G% @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 t1 o# `1 x! Z& B8 v
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! F3 N# I$ m) c& D1 w, Whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- Z$ ~# B C! {, H# L4 e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 [& I7 O d6 u- r/ l' g' R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 n) ~0 [) I* d7 a5 }: v8 s) R
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' O' D' }! J. Q5 b& Zare spaces.) W2 M2 B! R$ ?6 a+ \; s% |6 c* ?
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! o j5 W" b% P. B) R
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" X4 X" m1 w- Q" i
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 x4 Z6 A2 I; d. M& E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
/ y& f8 f* `: [8 f6 ~0 |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ u" K* ^7 C) F' V$ Mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* B2 l! W/ t. x8 X$ X8 s5 U9 unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 t, k. L- C! G, mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 Z- G2 U0 P% k) n& h6 z) sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% N* ^1 M- P5 V: j1 C& l6 H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
