我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living0 a8 b/ h e1 [6 M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) g L- Z. b# E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# l8 j+ [- d9 ?8 T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
~0 j d7 ?: oanswers to our pointed questions.! s0 r- i" Z3 X4 C1 c3 @% ^( F t
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, t9 R7 s5 _' ^% E# }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 W) [; o- p# G3 I" Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# |/ I x0 t1 @9 s8 W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! `. b+ ~4 L7 ]7 i, B+ P: G# D2 bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 \) }* h3 h& M) j& T( A* d* `
medical schools.
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( d: `9 b, o* o. EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( F9 P8 K) H l7 a n: N! Q: m8 ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 T! ?1 e0 {4 ]: R" S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 k' x+ R- v2 Y* N6 R8 U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
* v2 S7 j/ e2 R) K$ Qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 x6 D: l+ q. D c) _/ ~over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ r/ w2 x1 } j. o8 I ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* C- f. _8 A% I7 `: Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 [5 W. h: ^5 m2 e1 _; l6 ]/ M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 [' o) [7 c8 {; b! }0 q! b% W
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ k4 v# d" a4 ?3 ?
6 |) i5 W* u' ]* @$ EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
2 b. @ k7 l& y- k) @( K8 _: Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 e! q6 O) }0 I, \) a: o9 N& Q# w& K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% ]* h3 ?, ^' |, }have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 O2 p8 g- r+ F) L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 J7 t' s3 V+ }) |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# s$ w2 }# k6 l7 D9 _3 K
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( N0 w. l7 v1 X k, o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 b9 [: ?8 L% \3 }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( W! a+ t4 g$ m8 K, |6 q3 H6 {
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- g" Q$ H6 ^8 N6 c3 R1 uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 F% e( A* u2 n. f1 j& V3 g' y; z/ [8 ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 T, P7 R* [" `
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 u! e, L7 B) K
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* w4 p0 R7 E% J8 Y3 r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" Q- r: o4 p$ X4 Yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
9 l+ O) j( `. {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
A2 c! B0 S6 B* l- {trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 S# s f; W7 x+ E; M4 M7 xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ n2 r6 p7 f7 M9 B4 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want c0 e- e( ?8 r3 t, T* C' |. u
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ B/ S {2 L- m7 `" j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" F" t1 ?& }+ K: dare spaces.+ v( A0 a) S' m1 P8 c
% N9 o. W y0 M( B, qThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; }3 q9 ?) s0 A/ k M& D( o
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 C% M3 @8 M3 _5 l5 o' q0 u# K5 u
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) ? `6 Q9 p, T3 y, i
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* S) o. a; [: u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 q% c- w: U3 y, U6 ~5 n; l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 W4 _8 A+ e! v$ b# C6 `0 h Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ^$ \0 C" Z4 K! N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# s- M: T2 G& {- d9 |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! \' Q) e/ N( m8 u; M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
