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' z3 r2 P& m, _* O5 M2 K5 \
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( X6 C* |5 i/ I r, t% c. Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 L; d) {5 H0 K9 t+ E! V7 c$ {
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 Q: [4 z% y, j; U' c3 l7 Y
answers to our pointed questions.
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: f$ T2 A. l/ H/ U' C, _# OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 d. e D7 g- u- p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# w6 R& \, a7 P1 H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 o( F& T/ M n
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" E8 u7 H ]& ?& h9 ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; i. l, _7 W* _- y, C
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ u' } w6 p$ R; V* u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 A; }& o* J: \ l8 p$ h5 \: U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& N2 S y9 F1 m- l# T& S) b
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 B6 J- Z% q' H1 {is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. K- Q9 t0 j% d3 r2 Kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* Q, c- O8 ^* {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 I4 J7 [ y. D, f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: ~+ b" a( y( Hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ p9 ^' n& u* T0 y% q& ^sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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/ l- e9 e% e# G9 b5 Z1 a1 vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' G' p4 f u( S. z; G, ^( `private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, N/ t2 Y' V! N& { f. S+ F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' D- b5 ~' ~6 q, |4 G# n$ ]( H- ^
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! f) A& |; u+ nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* M- M/ C) U! }2 l8 a
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) O1 f9 l; u* u' H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 Q6 V4 u! C3 G1 h8 x- {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 L) D+ q H* V- R1 r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 m7 y/ q6 Z4 d9 ]4 t
charge the fee defined by the state.8 O/ v* S% W/ R8 d" {8 M
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( C, T2 A! V0 W7 \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, y3 Z$ ~5 b$ g, I! @& {of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 L( }5 d6 O; B3 otruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
2 L9 M: A7 Y1 v/ t3 f2 F+ nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. R& |6 n2 I$ P9 m5 h% S
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; e* K7 g) k; A) l: S2 c/ qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 h4 M; S9 {5 V/ p# q' t
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 ?3 T$ w# W' G( C8 I. E5 J, e% Ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ f% f9 L3 O4 V; z! W1 Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 Q* L3 @5 ^3 l6 V) K5 F- Fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ D4 E0 R0 n) M( T) R. A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' l0 x _1 T, n% Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( T& E' O6 ~3 H8 Fare spaces.6 W* F1 C9 [5 Z5 T) f
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ F. N! [* N- {9 \3 d7 Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
, Q) W: d, l9 j: fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- Y3 X% g+ J2 }; u2 w/ ~% b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. ]3 {6 f! N! R$ ~4 Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 [# l0 w! \2 o; W6 U, Z# }: g
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) m, j" K7 ]- H, J& a" g: A2 v% d/ onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* r, g7 o* ?7 ~- L% ]# Icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 h' X' N9 s4 W8 ]' Q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: |+ w$ B# Z; K; L* [: U7 T
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
