我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 U% _) ]0 U. s, Y( x
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* k) u! q8 C6 G; i1 m) G
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
R) ?$ A3 ~, |8 t" h' X7 y5 i" h"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# o: r6 s* E6 Qanswers to our pointed questions.# C& j1 M, ^) a% y
5 ^: ^6 u+ y; r' Z9 c9 ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 T: B3 P0 o8 x" a2 S7 G1 N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" Y" t( F# C9 U& M3 W( Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 g3 Y; @# w0 {# Q: z( C6 }7 ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* a" i( U' B. ~7 m) }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; ^5 I7 s% @9 F; _$ f Y5 I6 F
medical schools.
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/ Y9 S) N; q7 n: `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
V5 {5 U. r2 K+ y$ \( Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' A+ I5 n# @5 Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 g1 F/ M7 Z6 p) ^assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 R. y( S3 |: J( bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- D7 n* W/ c! V
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( m8 _6 W7 T X ~4 e/ A
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- Y, l$ x; ^! A% b i) }
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 T0 K* q. C4 p j& E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 ~. p D; |$ q' x. a9 U6 b3 I& Z' D( jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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2 o8 x' t9 [" q6 j, k+ S" KThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# a& V3 y: a" A' A5 xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 F- d( ~! v7 v* O, S U2 `6 isupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% B4 {2 g4 r: K; v0 s4 A: D3 lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) N9 a) f% p* ]5 V- u' Ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& g1 W( Q. m8 C- F3 ?/ nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ |& }$ x5 q+ ?: n9 U% ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! P/ L3 \! z& J( dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 \. @( H1 F# [: u. q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 L% h& @, ^! z3 n( @/ G: pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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6 r" u/ l1 [% a% e( _0 |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( M& H( \/ [$ Y1 E! p# R- Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
3 l2 H/ }5 f2 `% F1 I8 Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: J( Q& E8 s7 `1 \
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 N# V9 t% L* S: hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
3 y8 L* [0 g8 n3 W9 sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 L+ E& x% H; C+ @5 @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: Z" ?3 n/ }+ ]) ^, [0 C& E* L5 z0 cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 n( m8 [8 \6 D9 K# g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" @$ }5 t0 D. c. ~; k) }/ z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" e6 g+ H. }( B" @3 I
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( ]; C* L O8 B" [+ Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, y- C \2 p0 T I2 I ?4 ?buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( _/ l. F. r0 O0 ^" O; L
are spaces.! u* W6 d2 s6 k
0 x6 `% q3 K( B& x, QThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ a/ |; E, @/ W. c4 ^, a5 Rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
% v, V8 F, b) u# g4 Z" N( oown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( |* X2 s0 ?: @" O2 x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: m6 i3 X% p! w0 u- ]) P) N, X, |
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ s# s; L- x P: U4 M# y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 p& M9 l, G" g- vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
+ ^: S- T# n0 x! B0 `. V I) L4 Kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 E: @2 I1 h1 `4 V$ Z4 m
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 @6 x" w7 j0 N
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
