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
. Y6 i. H, _; j3 o# nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& n, w5 J, T8 R8 S% X, j) n* u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 |8 s2 {# K5 ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 G3 s% f* ], g2 M h% [
answers to our pointed questions.
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' Y @- Z4 L% f, j7 ]The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 S& e2 L1 O% E: o0 f) F' P0 t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# l7 o9 i* s9 l1 O% r: vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 L1 a4 y+ }/ V" efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, w+ T+ y- j- H/ V& H- T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 j5 r5 ^- W7 S' smedical schools.0 p0 O# V o' k3 F# ?: Q5 I
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* a: Y! s: g$ z* r1 d
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 G* K! l. m+ V' k9 f; L& ~
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- p0 E5 o7 z% } k9 O$ A" J
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ Q; P2 A" X3 x5 U. }is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to$ b8 @) d! Z: q; h
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 g0 `' n. l4 B5 t7 @seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ t5 u7 D1 u+ c0 l0 f7 h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. M9 I! A3 ]* h2 D
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 E2 U9 v9 W/ i) U1 `4 Dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; J! J* u# D2 D5 Q! A j4 jprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. j8 m& F( V! T6 @7 v7 G5 C& X6 U5 `0 y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! ^: Q* m- G* u- Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; j: [0 [' k: D( Q' F) `
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 f: }# [( y( ~8 j" {1 y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 ~9 @1 S- @7 n/ S( g+ Sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# G) [- |8 t( x$ r/ O5 T$ f
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- z0 C0 F6 R( u4 q3 r" Xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; A0 d0 N) q8 N+ G5 o/ P. |charge the fee defined by the state.9 A9 l3 G. V0 ^# T' [2 C
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% @$ R. Z7 |3 V+ c4 s' T
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: ~1 _ e/ h% M/ l: X; Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
) N6 H5 o0 ~) M8 ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! ]; u. U6 o8 [' J# l! q. Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 j+ v, N. @) ~- q. f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: V) ]7 r1 H0 @" `6 S
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- _; |3 D! D. P1 W
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- O2 m& w- I8 L5 ]2 S1 i5 I% r
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 l7 v9 u' s+ V1 S' w- khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 H3 \0 f4 x, D# z: Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 _/ N0 N# e; a5 ?1 H0 |
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( j- l2 t+ b/ ?buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 E- K7 l/ C0 h: ^ k1 zare spaces.- m) P$ I* o5 g) U
* h: N" [% d! b3 X" [- K( @There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! m# }# u( G* e. \7 Kto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. Y* g5 l0 T: ~) fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" @. P; ?4 y# L! k
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! L6 |$ o$ V" y* o+ Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 G1 ?2 k6 D4 @ E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# t! q, A/ @, e5 l
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' P) }* n' E6 r7 F, k7 x6 t. b4 _# Ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! i3 d! a, i7 V' g; L% w: ^' e9 E3 x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 f6 H2 x6 f9 U% J& [ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
