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& T) ^9 A6 y/ R8 ]
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. F9 E% _- _# t z, `$ f/ h( F' e1 Son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ j3 n; H' ?0 o# z' c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 [# J* ?& p+ x! _answers to our pointed questions.
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* T9 g. m# J' w' b1 d eThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 D2 ?. u, Z% _5 ]0 Z/ L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ a7 l; y# t6 O& Q1 ?7 cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 K/ l6 r9 u2 t( U8 L- u J' X
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& e# ?4 G6 a3 z$ \. N* |' i( ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( H( \9 k+ o' ]2 }/ q
medical schools.) M+ O- W3 U7 l: A
. \& A' n' r! D4 s$ ~2 k) v9 c! \7 IEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 I8 H7 w: }- I- ~5 pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* M0 A2 g8 _/ p2 k2 L4 R& `$ Wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 Q( C6 z0 l( W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 j7 O3 F o# `8 b, Bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 B' ?' y' z: J5 H2 \* k5 hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, ^. J6 C c" Z# z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 w( [! |, h" s3 s; w: I+ v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! [2 o( `3 P& R* f2 j$ L& zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ J( H6 d0 c3 W# g* C3 r7 [( o9 u1 B
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 D5 C( J' b' d
) Q' h* b1 b1 Q5 D; f, ^8 AThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 W' a$ e" R4 Z* l( d# }$ |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# a1 s% v' X( B% D2 f( ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 I1 r2 M. P( E8 u" a d: r
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, C7 H4 r9 ^ y- q/ cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 {( x1 y' i- K, f9 j. k3 ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) W6 {* N' J! f. ?
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: J A; c8 E7 B1 J% w
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 u& f& b. B% ^7 e4 [6 M; `- }0 Oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: x3 d* m7 N G) E5 \: Icharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 z' d# N" W' I* K8 o& p/ ?4 w& i( |
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: F" i8 C/ ~- C ~' s3 x. ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 P3 ?, x- a4 z" J8 L8 ~" jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 Y, }; |. Y3 l$ A: Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 z" v! t, }. e, J! Y3 Q( ?
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ O5 o8 W9 \2 U4 A2 l; tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if/ d1 E) `9 {. q) E7 L0 ?7 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 c a3 D& x t. N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) \/ p! `5 F. _, u$ {1 R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 ~/ _- h8 y3 F. F7 {* g9 ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ V- {- l8 N9 C
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ h" t) ~ h( ?9 Q& s' X/ e- Hbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* H" d2 M( W8 S. u" _0 {are spaces.
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: p9 x1 r% l& ?, a$ |1 w" KThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) q7 s4 @( s; l( t4 _3 r* O# D; P: wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 K+ l/ y0 ?: {0 ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 Y0 {0 `6 U1 X2 x% F5 h40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 R% n7 d0 d0 G$ d) l+ M9 fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) V$ m6 L1 k% @: e6 ?. ]; S0 x
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. g0 B. l; o* C5 b! ~4 Znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% U5 [1 R" T/ K8 K1 i% b& zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- K' R7 u" y/ l9 g% @
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' s: C/ h2 d8 D! ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
