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- ^! u" }, Y& F9 _7 \, G! f
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 |1 F$ [5 a" [" D/ V' n2 b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 i# L7 t" `$ U3 E( n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 C2 k/ b8 p6 I0 r2 \/ s9 D$ T: Uanswers to our pointed questions.
5 j& v' h2 D# w. G/ c; R8 p( ~0 W
! O5 z' o5 x" T( a) jThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' X- L2 R+ n$ N7 ~# e% \ u+ H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 Y+ E$ i; _ l7 g1 M' K" Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ `# N" S; k0 d/ g5 p- ]free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* A# X! w2 G' @9 `% o. }+ uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 `. E3 F1 l( V5 T; S% Z3 s2 Nmedical schools.
6 A1 b% @& s6 D! x/ a- X" l- l' g9 E6 J& O% }$ ~
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
9 R) X/ `; r% ~! `- c" ]- G" rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& J9 C+ m6 S' {2 t" _# E" e5 g5 a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. _( H9 w7 y' J/ R, c
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
* m+ z9 Y5 L3 W& K. b- |5 Bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
k7 ^. ~7 N* i; ]/ j% s% A0 nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% T6 K, I3 ?: @' o1 `2 E: Y* oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
+ e; l1 y K/ F( f; N/ emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! g6 T( K1 P1 S- ^
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 u% w3 r+ B5 Bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
P3 A1 _+ h% Z' ~1 m
! w( e6 _% c! u7 d% GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; W# @4 @' z2 }$ h5 v8 m! U5 Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 M2 U p7 o8 O6 w- M* u6 j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 X! w3 v" \2 ~! Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; D6 H1 Z' ]8 _; X8 x4 Dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
/ L1 s3 I+ f0 p: w3 Psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: Q% X( N5 K `2 P; a7 W `' Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 l# B0 ]4 h# H9 u
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' _$ O# E, K% X9 Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* C+ _; U% S" V) k4 W
charge the fee defined by the state.
7 R- ~/ |' t" R( J) s+ J, X; F! q+ Q& H1 R- o0 O1 X; F* N* g
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 Z! [$ o) ?$ k% Q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ Z5 {2 m Q, }4 Z1 Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
' T5 E* `4 C/ V& y8 wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel b/ f. e! Q7 X
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- y" V" I# s+ L1 U! V6 j
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" Q9 _% T" r- i
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 H9 K3 u) L) T# ?9 p% _0 } n/ x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; J/ z/ {/ [: P% L
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 @7 W5 e) f% j% `- p8 b* I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! o$ k, ^/ n5 T" n, _% I0 Z- opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' H5 g$ G; `- L9 B' q" a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( m4 N5 z, c8 d, O8 y" ?6 X' ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# l: X; A% T% m: x' Bare spaces.7 t8 h8 W$ q8 Y. v
- K+ C0 q0 P2 ~% x2 L/ e2 WThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ X" ^$ |! u( H$ F. p3 j
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' K) S$ q! p: g
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ B8 a4 Z9 ^( ~/ f* d, o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& s: q" q' z0 Z" fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; M; @4 [! f. G& x2 I cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 e0 }4 z" n; Q9 Y/ h a _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 ]) E* \+ }" ]" E, Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 D7 O+ M# f% V7 |: o0 [is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# Y. V* D4 ] e" N7 N. i8 I0 l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
