我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 o: X0 w7 K6 Q) {* E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went# [) {5 _) u" ~, ^3 ?
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( h8 d/ m$ e) Q4 M$ y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! |# y/ y7 U: T
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
" ~+ p2 \! u' e N$ a! V% j. n45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
K0 O9 r! `+ O5 I. @ {" x; pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
& b' q2 Q: d5 F6 K) d9 ^free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 _6 h8 t* r! r- Y. N) q( @
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 C9 a7 _; y0 Y U4 N$ k" p5 `" N
medical schools.3 m6 r" u1 u' L5 v
$ V& x1 h& K* ^5 e m) C* S9 tEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* R1 r7 w! \8 U& k$ w7 U) y1 egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% Q; a! K+ V k! Z' k. Rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 W5 U8 Q8 i- V0 W5 D7 Tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ {2 O& F h3 Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 C! O6 |9 f* _( ~. r. } G* b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( u9 c: ?* ^/ cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 T/ e. r" h) M, C& v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 d- `6 n- V7 \1 O0 x3 A: qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 R% o$ R" R9 [& \# C. c" x# wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! X# ?( N% ` |& E& m8 A: e7 m' s
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ {9 [6 a( i% Y% j; H5 l# ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, [: q* Q" L9 k" j: F+ `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
0 X# X4 g( B' A! ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 u( b3 j B8 ]- l
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: R3 H( W5 R5 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) W/ V: F" p! ^" eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' o6 O9 ?( L7 G8 X, _a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 \- L7 N( ?& \0 w6 t% Qcharge the fee defined by the state.- p/ r8 h/ A: S
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' Q$ b; i- b0 d6 L! I D' @
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 B' Q8 r$ }. A7 ^- C |
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: E' `1 A& a2 \# ^, _% [0 ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! X, ~& o B4 x9 q$ Vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! K: B3 C: C: _
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# h+ a) B5 i) ^ C( e
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( I% F& E6 h3 o7 s8 A$ A( T7 O
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% P n. k+ d6 S5 R
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( e* q$ i( R8 e: {8 {9 s. S+ Z* h6 U
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 d8 A, j3 g+ a. j! Q8 R% S# |people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 \: P1 p. @) O7 u4 ]# Y7 l# X
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( b6 h% f, q6 m" [$ E- Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there: [: b# a/ F f
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. p! {# V* v" w; ~: w5 ]/ d* }3 }to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 F( S' I& g! R' Z2 F
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& {" k$ D0 H7 p8 {3 \; L0 y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" ~ H9 T0 j/ F/ d) E2 w5 Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' Q2 j9 t3 B5 _- Z6 b% P9 abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; ~3 V3 B A) ]) M% H6 F2 ]
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% @3 w# D( N$ o& F \
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& {7 J& _2 R0 f2 H: h, K3 P
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., {. ?& e9 q/ [2 T
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
