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
0 l9 P$ l2 T& nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 b! _- r5 P! ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 R6 ?1 T$ I5 @# p# O' t"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- J4 |+ N, a/ g: G0 v! d
answers to our pointed questions.. _1 a- @: Q5 k' {( @
+ i+ f$ Y U% R, F& Z! e% \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 }. P7 b) A; }8 V* T( l4 D3 o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; `1 c' B3 D' ~" J4 S4 ?
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
) h- S1 j& P; B& W* e9 |: D7 {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 \ T& w0 ^' M3 p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- t, N1 Q; ?; m4 Smedical schools.4 w' d1 m& U- h$ G# F
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ ]; \/ Y% M! {" ?; A5 f6 igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 o! w# e+ }% e [& c
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. n: c! @2 ?5 C2 r: l: D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, o, k) ]4 `8 v9 w; u; Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) E: e0 y# o9 J7 j2 O* A1 @' aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 k* t$ u/ B! dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
Y: I) O% ^7 H5 Q. M6 U. Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 C. [; a1 s7 U! _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some, O2 \8 c" ~: x9 C) o5 A
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, l& i' D }. Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 k: f5 `( }: a+ ]; ^' e7 B3 ]5 X
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: Y' p* U" Y$ \. w" \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 ?; X/ R3 b! Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 y# F: P7 i2 N( G/ Usitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! O; O9 L9 H7 d8 @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- a$ a- p. |$ T2 K- j- a5 u* {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- O: ^% E6 X! t+ C a1 T
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. Y2 q0 P% F5 v0 w& G
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- U/ r1 S8 z' q$ Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 C8 i% {" P' |4 O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 B. d# v) Y- W y( O! i
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" t5 K7 ?! n6 v& z- f& y( Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, w8 v0 I/ U& [' R
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( p! ^2 F2 @0 T4 Q! _. G* X# k ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ W7 j8 n7 d0 |6 W$ e: Q$ Hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 C4 R8 o7 K! N2 B% z* ^ Ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 L ]0 g" r; t! f/ V& Chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! ^: @0 Y! ?7 V) zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ `, P( P) t5 ^6 O6 cto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% d& B, C ~: q$ e% d
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ w, q, `6 }& K( nare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ L) t) H- s! g" E* fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 u! |7 V& K6 S! ~ M( Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( U, |: U2 t: f6 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' ]$ [" e3 H. Tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ R# i+ O% v, Vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ j; ~1 q% @7 F
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 }# W% F5 Y! l- J1 O4 Z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; q4 S/ G$ p8 ]4 o0 X4 F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, _% r% }" f: H2 m We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
