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
* Y: e$ p) C$ x. k& x, [# W5 h. Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' D: v* @7 {' ?6 m% i5 Y% w
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 _' c# J, n9 ~! W) p( r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 d8 s$ g) B" e8 H5 `; `; panswers to our pointed questions.
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9 Q2 }. j: t2 s1 h- ^: C5 EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 u0 o" `% V- Z7 L8 H# b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# r2 E: C& s1 P2 m+ I
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* ?. J& d9 N. C1 i: s% ?% Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 @) G: L ?/ O2 z1 M- B
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- B$ \, I+ Y4 q$ Z' i* ?
medical schools.9 F6 a6 ~# b& c) _! v b/ u% Q5 m
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 X7 a; v* t6 P# w! F3 H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 ~$ B1 g' |8 K; t) u: |/ dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ h2 r1 s0 R2 @4 a
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
- m) C+ [" {1 e. v5 g; T( Z5 mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! z! @4 n. b; i8 O1 _. G- Bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 y0 z" R2 @6 a2 l9 q; X( rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: s; V6 t) G3 C3 p1 U. bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 J4 Q" ~9 p+ I/ O+ Z# s+ j% R- X4 W0 ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" `6 o9 _$ `! W8 ^4 z& K* R
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, H. u& O& u8 t9 l2 X- wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( W* l( d( y+ T+ Q0 d+ s& l
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 @2 C: Z ~7 a/ H! _$ ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ \) a0 }: Z5 h/ F0 t" Y( }
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 }4 U: f# s5 a# N* f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 K0 U* K: o* `) I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' o* j; e n2 m" G0 BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! s; j( C4 G0 oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 O# K# v6 W9 Z# ycharge the fee defined by the state.: R) f/ @+ x" L! k* O
- k& l1 m5 w) D& O" ?% A$ K3 A. YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& L8 C0 N: B" Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. k5 k3 j6 [& X, X
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# U8 Q' K! j2 a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* `5 @" I/ O8 ~- T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 ^4 O$ q7 O5 N, g2 g/ n; mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 a+ Q5 u" T/ Tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% _9 m$ r5 {8 ?: d4 a) ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' y1 l" e. _# y9 R _5 H* Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ s$ G6 q( _4 t( w/ w9 a
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 Q+ f3 |5 I0 o- ^" Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 j E: M" N7 X$ m5 O" Sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ u5 g3 s2 V7 m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there K# O8 F- ~, f5 p
are spaces.+ g x% [% w- Z% d l
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! r4 \3 j5 T Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( s W, h/ B7 O9 V- h+ jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" Q7 p1 M) I4 u
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 l8 R6 W$ H6 n- A( g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 C$ I6 p# `- k) R( D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! a& B: }! c2 ~0 X( D3 snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 k# d! X1 U" {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. K3 G: u! [* S* ~3 t' Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! n. ]. x2 z, e, N We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
