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
; t9 H" I9 W& [ {0 Q7 I4 O: o( q9 hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" K2 p, R. J0 x) s, u5 A! non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* t4 G" o( J$ L# ]; f$ |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: C" u: [" {, R. Y8 s1 d6 N9 W
answers to our pointed questions.; ?0 {. y- R* @5 p5 I/ u
" l% D2 Q' B8 ?9 e/ j {- O- R4 e( RThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ L- C5 g" S& K
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( ^6 |* n8 o& F" Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( I) Q5 Q K" j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 I7 t3 ~+ g0 w8 f0 L- K7 ?( U+ zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% j' L) N" b. W+ Zmedical schools.: V8 c5 U/ R" g5 v
1 _2 J0 d, \/ @8 d' iEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& Z/ m+ V+ b0 q% v4 Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 S: A+ }0 H* G: m1 K* v" [6 o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
1 f* x4 O0 f5 H) T2 x# |1 Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ f) O% Y$ x" _! _1 I% D, i' Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 P( }) Y, O! H% e' E% [4 n; Q7 P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 H- Z5 ]( n: C) j6 m; @. y4 G i5 dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: Z* w8 c! N4 {( Nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 R$ i/ i/ s. E, u m- t0 S* _6 X
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; G/ f3 T) g5 usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
7 G: v$ Z N9 t# H: x) X: {0 \. W+ c5 b
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( s' z+ S! I( p) ?" N9 I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# ]3 t$ h0 P# d$ [$ C y' S; N
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. Y. j2 C# T" K6 z0 d% e$ b4 s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 |: b! j( I+ [4 F8 R2 |3 ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 R, ?4 p' I6 W$ n* Y- M: rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: Y) S' ~; ^. xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." l, p5 d7 K |5 `) C" q/ B5 b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* l2 G3 T1 Q3 u! u1 ~a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 N. K# T- l$ k) {& Vcharge the fee defined by the state.$ |6 n/ T% j1 c6 ~8 k, A5 ~
; ^8 a4 ]2 \; B# N, }
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- w4 {2 Z) V1 r9 @- A" Y8 d+ [- s. I
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: P& Y) l$ O* V: s9 D6 [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 R; m8 d/ |" z4 l0 N+ Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% K5 k. Z* x. ^& k3 Y# c4 c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 |# c& h& ]1 h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* g# y( T) w# m; O% Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ^: |. M6 y( M" D, t! N, O% H
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people o ^( m, p6 u8 r/ v d$ f
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ ?% ^' }; C4 u. V T0 `8 J1 q, nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. h7 g) x6 ^+ C0 F, w" n2 Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ K2 L: u7 c! \: k9 z+ C* [! J, ]to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
r0 E$ r. |! P# w. }) y* Rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 m& P8 u4 s/ a: |" {" i2 S+ l
are spaces.8 l2 l1 m" ~ ^* ?9 Q) M- n
4 s" g8 z: l; Y7 c* \& ]There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# {, P( k- u; A/ I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( g, m$ F ~# Z2 u; h" H
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* l# X y% ^& h: P8 o$ Y" Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( s/ x$ |* a& Z* O1 `+ }, Aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: b% b- ]+ n# n! D6 Bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 |6 b6 z( j" H( `3 I# wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 b- r2 Y$ P t
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& y7 @8 {" b$ F& k' \
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ l I* f6 x: _2 t We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
