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" h$ l! a. {, J
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 [$ m2 ?1 s" F4 I. z& L6 r2 _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, g" Q0 X/ ^2 t5 y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; @" z# H' L7 t6 |answers to our pointed questions.
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3 C/ J K9 J H' r+ vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ K) N; B2 t2 Q+ L" D5 S& ^8 E45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" l( S& w1 k4 z; J4 {
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 U/ h4 Q S; ^+ S; Z& b3 w1 j- R* K# b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' N" D( d, B ~9 A0 i. S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# ?7 f5 l; e2 l; s' y. n
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 f& A7 s0 U8 P5 ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 }2 _$ K% J. y& ~& f
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- C) @" ]$ o+ _4 X. ^+ W5 A' [assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 W' O0 G. m" B9 ^
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- `6 ?1 _. q5 ~" {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 |1 U2 i G# l8 s2 S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; A1 O1 Z0 `5 P) w& s$ q5 Pmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* b# J% @8 v0 U8 G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 Z/ m7 ^1 a3 N
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 q. K$ {. r% a$ x1 p! S7 ^
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% H2 s5 g1 R% k8 k3 M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 w) J" B. B/ z& X) u3 H8 V
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' V$ l9 r K6 j4 V4 Dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 G j4 H: H0 w1 Z- L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% j: \2 u7 J7 e" z1 ^" v' v1 a8 ]" Hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) ~# C- ?9 A4 \8 b: f; e: d0 f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* C. l" u" h" G, k1 l
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 Q/ x! l! {3 U9 m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! f1 `* T' R% Acharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 i" E0 n" k) e' Ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type% P/ d% [$ K6 {
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ J- _, @* S2 A* E" A* a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& t) h, s6 [9 @ B: zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 y; \& L8 Q6 t1 @working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# u3 i( k# |; i5 {6 p2 _( T
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& C, C2 v, d% j+ B4 c) z: @1 M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" s- _% K4 f' q% A( h6 M; t, Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" e P8 `" i0 g2 q$ U! F$ ^, g
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ }5 l. T8 B% ?" N. S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want H1 j! H- \: J; P
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; D3 L* ?% n# b _ w- Z2 i
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& o3 C3 i. B9 t- Z7 iare spaces.5 V# R6 v" ~ t+ ?* T4 r6 Y
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# F* J4 ~5 @- Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# h7 X2 G" L4 q/ [
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: a* g% k9 i( g) Z) u3 ^) x' G40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* H! V) h d# ?- X$ N+ o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. R2 f0 X4 A+ S6 _" C6 Ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& `* H/ n& N5 k3 R" {nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 I" r$ H! Z; m! Q1 G
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 i/ D# U1 K) }1 m5 ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% V- h( v2 v) \+ J) p, J7 {5 ]
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
