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
5 S0 J' i9 I# r5 c/ u kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went0 `" {$ |& k2 x. L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 E" |" P3 R# s5 y; |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# L: t* G; \: F6 ?: v* xanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% ^9 F, W4 P9 r+ a2 W! |" y z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 i2 ]/ _2 P$ n9 O% ?" j" i9 ]
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 h- Z& U" |% e6 T& E) Q+ I2 Y- Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 X0 ?" S {7 X: V8 K- ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
q$ b- P' {, n; I+ I5 ]# [medical schools.6 L1 A% F9 | i; i" Q
# Z% G: e; O8 f; b3 G% EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* o' d+ q- v! C. o" {: }; K& Z. Cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' f' Y, u; z4 G1 Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( r, S2 M2 k1 T5 ]3 m8 k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 A. b& o7 I# H7 Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) C9 d8 m" |% k' c' k" d6 Z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 @8 ~- J9 |1 U1 z, mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( Z, X- m1 o9 P; d2 d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 T* Z) R1 N( A: b5 a2 e7 Rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 E" q* \0 H$ {" ?$ l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) `5 D1 B7 ~: d M1 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( \" o' x. D) B& |9 g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ T8 D4 r" f& p& z) V; Shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ _" ?$ h) o- U: U: g' \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; D, u9 f o6 m9 _% x6 B5 I
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 e% z/ ?% T* T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 _' E" j% O1 `4 [ v4 ~' G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- e8 J' d2 ]2 i4 e: E' }* G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 Y+ K' `; k+ K; p6 x
charge the fee defined by the state.) o4 h5 i& W2 `) V, E+ l4 {
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- k& k/ o$ s, h/ Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ P1 h& e6 N. p+ @ zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 h" |0 Q, |6 S2 R; U( w+ W3 Ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 m* w+ t8 @4 L' s( ^) v# R
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% o3 v1 `* W8 y3 b A8 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on S, W, Y+ L- j4 `
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; ?' [& u; q8 Q+ D
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 S. p, T4 J! xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. y; A- }6 f. s; G" [' J3 W Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 Q7 B {/ W# u. l4 y- g; Z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
; r1 a- j% Y# ^; C Sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ q) t% s! F( t6 o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( Y! `# K0 o; F( }5 Pare spaces.( V3 M2 G8 U# }. C: a' j E: I
$ [' t- U) K ~. X. f$ s% gThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 i% X( P- R) T# {$ C0 ^; {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; i5 b% e1 K% r$ M+ u0 V: Z1 O
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# m3 c9 S; Q" f C- C7 L$ G z$ T) R40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; H9 \, E) q1 S. l
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, a7 G3 X9 r$ G& t) v# E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ B h$ N) v0 e' ]' Y* ?. v5 Fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
8 N7 W4 I# ? Ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' F1 _# J# y, ~5 v( q8 @* o# b
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! b3 O6 e [3 y: G2 }8 m
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
