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
# r# M* y; o0 h" V& |1 ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' a. w! P* r; a3 S0 P
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) r, }0 I3 H- h0 ]6 R
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 b3 _" U5 {9 Z6 A4 w
answers to our pointed questions.7 U# h1 K$ {% y: }
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 ?# k$ e& U9 V45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) H' p) a5 B& S% P) w
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% C6 z1 b' V$ N* i( z- B7 N& }
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! e' n5 L. M3 j! O. z, m, S; m
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 W3 c6 h; C" F
medical schools.' d! s" s( F! E. {3 i6 K
8 {5 V5 D/ R! l8 @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
9 {- |( E r2 S, k# \3 F8 Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- O% R+ \4 X' z/ _7 |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& H5 \ ]* R6 W/ V) O# m1 ~assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. C" e2 F2 w) [2 [ R! M! y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 l- m. k: E/ zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
B% p) N8 Z5 Z8 k! Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! A i5 v! T: ? R% j3 hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, G3 V+ [! U( L x: y) h6 jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
& E7 m+ k5 X) v4 {2 L2 @# \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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' v$ S- B3 B0 V+ p& n: d9 jThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" I+ e: n6 `4 v3 c; |; R, sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 ]9 n0 [* S2 I" Q9 O# Z- p" asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: _3 M3 P/ U/ a* f, V; [
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 M7 b. N7 S% d' `0 O0 w- wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" F0 n& N1 k' v! Zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 g" d: ~/ H7 O Z5 O2 N% jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- H0 ]3 p# Z3 e6 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) ?: {0 X2 L" C xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only Y U9 N- J: z
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 X5 e0 S" L. q3 [' xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
" S$ t2 M" H! |# X, C" Bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big I& T3 ^: A* o; l6 G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. a) `1 T/ Q5 j" O& c0 R3 a4 t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ u# Y) z) B& n, \5 A. A3 [% a- V yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- H2 j8 L% M! C2 b6 t. Tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 h( y7 f- s2 cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# q( Z+ K$ g; y/ ]- L7 `2 H) t7 y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 k+ f" x" h fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: }+ {$ {* B! {% A# e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& s$ ^, N3 n/ I& M3 B7 [& F# `: |to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, j* F6 e- O+ z5 h/ `0 D
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Q2 E2 a2 G! C0 _$ [0 x: Yare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- a, a8 O5 b: ]- ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. n5 ]' a9 m, v& o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, H1 R3 W0 `' t- `# J$ ~
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# P" k0 i1 k0 \; A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 {0 j7 y! q/ X1 G, F% ^best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ [, _4 y0 y9 `" ?; x" V: Y+ o. hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( _6 }. n' P* W! m! d& u: _! D
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* B" r5 c6 u% ]2 D, Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! |) L- { P. U1 V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
