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
% z, _9 W- q4 ?5 G+ t7 x4 g Istandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) F2 ?) J* W) s+ j% m# L8 p
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* x T* `+ K' P* z" Q F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 F& r6 Y* c. ?2 W/ Panswers to our pointed questions.; R W* s: r3 t& F
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," W' U1 Q1 u) j3 Y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: o' n# N! o# Z; r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 f0 F) c0 l$ @+ }' Y; X6 ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& C* |" } r ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) c# r4 I3 l" l, i' {* j' G0 `! Y. G
medical schools.
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3 O5 r: X/ ~ ^8 r1 _5 ZEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* ~3 d0 b8 M0 q! Y+ sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 E, R- v/ r7 Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 w. t7 v1 B, ]7 M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ \" o3 F# Y+ X! |+ y: \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( w4 A( n6 v: R0 E
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" @3 T! u9 Q3 nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' o. V b F. S8 I7 O! Z H3 |: f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( R' o m( b8 n# ^4 ^. g5 H0 l! R" d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' S- |: n4 V% t) i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" q1 g {* N) \# A5 r
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ g0 C$ ~& F& L0 v; X8 a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ F4 Y1 g3 p* @& m& K- B' ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 g4 [- X: f7 X0 @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
. k3 s9 @3 I! K! w8 @+ k7 psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) ~7 v9 x! l$ J0 V; b [2 N/ sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 G$ k; B8 G' P9 y. n; [6 pDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ j' I" X) z& M+ b! Q( L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% ]+ a7 ~( y5 `% E2 h( gcharge the fee defined by the state.5 l# q8 g( n1 w& d
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& T8 q& m$ y) xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" O b- u" Q. T! J8 ]$ O2 S* [
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) o: R" }* A7 w- u7 q8 ]6 |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' p" c) d5 B) e" ~( Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" K' n; f8 K2 l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 U+ c! o) d% Q+ p: B; u& v9 Q9 g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 C" y% F3 R8 H4 {. v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: j- _. f! H0 O2 X5 Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; [- T; `& }- H$ W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
, U- S! L% {- Y. o: |7 _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 W5 Y6 |% D. L" v& o" v" z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% _" R3 f) c4 d5 y* f" r0 w& @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' T4 f9 {+ E9 |
are spaces.
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) D. U4 i' }& A) V* u- cThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ [- W- J# Q+ `& w. Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- r# g1 }3 o' H5 A5 O1 w
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( w8 A( G' _8 h/ `+ }2 p4 ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% _: s/ g( C# l8 }2 y4 A$ W% i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 Z$ \' |9 o& n) S# k) M9 w) c& x4 N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- v9 {2 V: I3 E! Jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' T; m5 L/ R2 l4 h; [car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 T' _# @4 ~* d1 m9 g, Sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ Z" Y7 x' E4 B# A, @0 `7 }
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
