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& \3 s! D3 f' R; k
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 t* {- x) L# n6 K1 l# T* won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! ~/ _9 }" ~6 g/ ~7 W
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; i% g* r4 }6 ganswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; y8 N. Y+ b5 _5 T" i0 F45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 b# r/ r3 W7 D' [
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% O4 s7 q) L+ x- j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: `0 B7 f! O9 J+ o \5 n( Ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ ~# I# r- M5 U0 @
medical schools.+ K4 e5 y! u: r9 }$ h$ ]$ C
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" J' h( z2 p4 m, B2 ]+ Z Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% c6 b+ Y) t* N1 B$ o3 L
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 T$ r. L3 n2 w1 ^8 w4 ?' P( {3 uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 |# ~4 h9 ?- [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. L. ~2 z [6 u0 P' Zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
1 O$ [6 f- b+ Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ A$ @8 J. B) O: ?& ~) y
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 ?6 p5 g) H! Y+ G ~
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some J3 T' c. f0 q$ ], _
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 Y5 \; h& c e& _0 w
B. |( p, k. d' OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 |) P& Q6 @+ z; Oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ L/ h \! ~# D2 @( h0 _
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: F/ t6 {. F1 o0 [; r! Shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 Z9 s: P) g0 a0 t7 e6 t% M2 T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) f! B( |& H7 B" \, Y7 I3 F: S0 g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! R) d5 Q8 a! H! a' y/ ]/ w O/ H# tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; G5 Z1 ^! @1 f) W! w4 _) a# hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 g5 F- o) o# _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ U3 V) f( x8 r: i0 \charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get; s F7 ^- a. ?( b% A
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 Q0 l" u$ ?/ n# ?3 |5 D$ I- i
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 o% p& a- _- U0 d8 y) ~2 ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 S/ O/ L6 m% {3 I
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: s# H% t. r; M& X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" |. S# X: x6 j% A$ g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ n; n% A% @: \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# x% R* _9 k3 a- ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. Q1 H7 R5 U& b8 g/ \) Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 G m4 b& P6 H; h1 ~/ L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 {' X0 V& Q9 \( Z' Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ y) o/ w' H2 w9 I- ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
2 T4 O, w. W+ uare spaces.6 ?( K; l" H5 E) k5 S# C
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& t( X' C7 {1 _. o& H: `3 N
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( N3 ?# V# H# k# W$ a: ~) |1 T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- C* |$ [0 ^) a: { c1 B40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% b, Z% L J; D+ j# f& r/ o6 F
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 o: Y/ `! X, i4 C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: }8 _8 W4 j* H5 y, r" }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! b' k7 A1 O1 s9 F1 ^5 i# Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
& u- y6 N" F, k0 R! C+ o* {, Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 d( w; m& v2 v+ s J4 _
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
