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
+ y& D& z; x5 T# wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
/ m+ w" l$ }7 N+ L0 Won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( W4 \- v. F# i! n; J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! D! i# ]+ ^1 Z2 c' M, \3 O* M6 u0 H
answers to our pointed questions.! ~# M5 @8 U! {! u) {
$ I/ w6 {0 a' K; w! L' \' b+ }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
" E4 t! |7 R: }+ f( B5 V6 I45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* Q- w1 @% }5 f1 X8 G! Z
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. w4 x. ]" S) k; ?% P3 Y
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 W, q; L* o; R% n9 Rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ _) _, P' v6 R. A% X$ M0 @2 {
medical schools.
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0 w. U8 S+ @( k2 EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! G( D1 f, a$ p8 |. a) o, {government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& ^# L7 C# \! O& F7 y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
, m4 d( w) x0 aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! F v! U. o, F6 ?$ z3 Q4 ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, F) C) B! X" z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
& g5 t/ `* s% Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 c- i* p: N. G0 R2 J5 g5 p, G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
H# {# W$ L3 t/ b# T7 Z) Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 q& O$ b3 L+ R% qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( b- a/ b' ~( F. r
; W4 C# n) U7 x# T6 WThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! b) D8 S3 b$ c# _. Z3 kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 T+ g. Q- P5 Q0 ?* I. I% H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% _# n9 D: o; Q0 lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 i8 P F& n# K' u0 B/ L, ?thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
H5 @! R3 v+ J7 [! p, k: ~% hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 b& S! D3 D) q4 Q. ^* n `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' C4 D, w# v# Z7 {9 y! I
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, M1 l7 y# P( k0 \+ }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 M4 V0 O+ {' S! P9 G
charge the fee defined by the state.' h/ q# i; y9 n- Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 i6 [! T8 U" R% lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ d9 Q! @: S6 G) ]; _1 `2 h$ b
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% B$ s5 k, [3 K1 C! a- n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ n8 r1 Q+ G) Oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ h; w# c) ]& i) a% Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" d" `1 w0 K1 y9 I, a C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& g9 o; `' \( m. j; q6 O3 E" ^/ {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ s7 g- t5 A7 x- C! u) ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! f: V* I! C0 Q/ K/ G W) Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 ]- r% `5 I2 Z4 o+ ~+ w
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: N- F; K; G! Y) X% y* S6 R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) w4 k$ Z$ y/ K9 H3 D* H% B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
, d% K* m" y' T" D; i7 eare spaces.
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* n/ y/ \, x) K1 n8 |3 ]5 sThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 R9 j3 g8 l# P- V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" f1 z1 N. X c7 y5 m' f6 N
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 q0 d$ c7 y" R. G0 k0 f+ O9 G40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different4 r" a; l+ P# Z2 E; @; j! S" q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 I& v4 Z f9 Y& W& hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) f) ^ f% V& qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 a) A2 N- O* b: [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- y, a ^$ D: H! O# a! d
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ M0 k+ V$ |5 U2 L5 g9 P9 }/ F3 y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
