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
9 B; j5 @6 ~% R# estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; t$ Y+ N# i+ Q# j9 b0 H0 V
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! x" U7 N q2 W- A! k7 w9 z5 d* t"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ }" c/ l" k9 F, P9 P. u/ f; c
answers to our pointed questions.
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' {# M b, {$ v) o9 t& NThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, O8 v! o4 M- D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
* x2 l3 b/ f5 Dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! C( s3 P) Y- u8 q/ R: ?
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 r3 Q, h* W- W; h
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ O" h$ \5 x& m8 p9 k: @, H
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ O+ K6 Z( U: i+ e% m8 p! egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' q) Y- X/ t( r3 Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: z8 l, |$ b/ u6 ~* P; R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ M! B J8 ]8 Z! y" Q# ?: ^
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% S: p: |( A T) }over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 L/ S1 P2 Y* R4 o5 o$ T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 y. V! o# e( e
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: @/ T6 C1 Y, n
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 V9 N ]" y8 I( B# ]sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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1 \+ M( p3 ~, B4 Q6 x5 H2 `! XThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 A) W% T5 w; c/ K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& R1 s+ @$ E( f+ a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* U4 x4 S ~' E! H/ fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 b9 m- F% o8 e; t. }
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! z0 @; _# ~, b! S- L7 }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: u9 Z0 N3 E& o2 Ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 ?1 V. n8 q6 I. }; aDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
, d& C9 C1 r) ~( j! e, b1 _2 Z* Ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. J5 P* u2 V* Tcharge the fee defined by the state.1 y* k" U+ w9 `4 f& o
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) U, P* I% }" i! T
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 B1 `' j0 i# ?' D5 Wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 O2 Y) f. l$ w. T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 G( P/ U% s( A" a* n6 rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 ~3 T& @1 c( Q- a0 Y- o3 |3 dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, r$ q4 i1 _5 w. z1 i9 K* S( Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 |' K2 N2 j; n. J0 \5 B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
; n3 \! G. I+ N4 strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( B. ]8 R# H# L9 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 W9 J" R' E1 }, b* Wpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, A, I4 T6 p* ]6 g- p
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( H) g0 H3 \. h1 t. Ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% q" V5 O0 B+ I' [
are spaces.
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b& S& f3 z4 Q7 v/ h9 AThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ L, G# }( G* D* |
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they j6 E1 X, G6 C7 g
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. o- E/ E. P0 G. x) y" p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 v7 V. {0 \( Q2 g* k# c* B
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( q! m+ h8 G8 \5 a9 m1 G& tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) k, o$ X, N$ N1 K' Z$ ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- z) Z2 O" Q7 G E8 |5 Q5 @" bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ A3 H* U; Z1 i' h# J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( l- H0 j) G2 Y! Q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
