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* h' K/ }7 h- T. d7 l6 q6 b
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 z) G8 k9 r! e
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% m$ k5 i2 P8 }6 j
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 v' p" P! ~8 Ganswers to our pointed questions.( y" ` r7 q% n5 Q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# H8 H+ p$ j2 a7 F45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( L" e" U% c" l# t& T$ Vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ Q7 T8 w0 h/ f0 h% m2 e0 D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 S3 l: i; `. `& ^6 r( Z, s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' U5 b" X1 e/ m0 | X4 L
medical schools.8 m5 v4 [. {; w( l1 B) F o3 k$ E
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: H6 M' G! [( _9 c& ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 b- V3 |* q: X5 d- p5 Y6 v1 X7 o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 e) x) z3 J; [( q- L0 Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' q5 |* P9 [& ~) R" B% |4 N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 p% k: @- Z& }/ A$ G
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 x* k/ v! b3 A+ G$ o7 Z5 qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* r$ V; C; U6 c S
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
o# |$ s9 M: bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 k" n5 F" c5 v' Z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 ?; C* a( P- H1 K
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( v8 F4 W9 T& H( l8 }$ Z R2 Mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% _# Q5 j6 a# C/ p3 g! C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 u' O; H0 r+ C9 _have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 M! ^; N4 ^9 N9 Q/ u# othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! H) z5 c% ]; K# [8 u; H0 j( z& B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: Y. V+ J4 g3 P2 Q; U* j/ p
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., _8 N, b8 Z& C. ]% U1 r& _5 D
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
, l1 x0 b8 a' V n# {; ~a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& A# q8 y; q4 r8 m) I2 R3 Rcharge the fee defined by the state.
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& V/ E8 D0 I- m7 |; h2 cThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% l1 w: R) L, G( x& @/ W$ J8 p
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' M. {$ d/ [. K- ?7 ], \% [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# ~4 J9 [6 V# ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# {2 n. J+ P) h7 }, C+ sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 C0 H# k Y; _" g7 a. ~. x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ _1 K5 o( H z& s" L+ y0 uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
' s, z3 C* _* ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 h$ N! y' i/ l* e' a4 t. Ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! A( O. j- n+ H s5 Whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% L- F8 v% S" Z1 F+ R! tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 @0 m$ f: B0 K% u# K% Qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 \1 Z" J: S0 ~: x& B, H9 [, _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 U% v4 N% y6 x7 D. W0 q8 a
are spaces.
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1 }. W& l: \2 h# s: CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! ^; H' n0 O+ l/ V1 b4 G/ [to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 W& i$ s: e" w ]8 |5 _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 V: ^; x" Z, e3 n! a1 h& t0 N40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) w, b2 N' V9 E6 d( Eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 D8 ^9 R. L5 J3 W/ U# o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 }! k: V) {/ C' v+ W( `
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( C. `4 L: P7 F }car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- \! Z& f- d* [8 u- Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' g8 d9 v8 b3 }
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
