我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living6 Z/ O# `2 ]; F; o
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* h% l* U9 A4 j: m! I0 h3 Mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 Z$ I5 O/ x* o5 `* l
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- N# _1 F) N" Q. ~5 h
answers to our pointed questions.# e4 R$ ^4 Y/ s! V
6 f8 {/ j9 [' [) X" s7 r
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 O- n6 G% X/ \/ }. r+ f* c
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! v3 f. z u7 p2 N8 |; V5 q+ A1 Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% ]0 K" d2 e' |9 yfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 k# I) c1 O' ]$ x9 |$ Z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 h& q2 O1 f( }+ A+ R
medical schools.# ?, m2 x$ H6 Q4 O" P; n# w5 ?1 o/ Y
/ G1 c0 L7 J2 w* X, I+ p) v
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' T3 J/ _2 U! D% {% A: N3 vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! Q8 l% H# G7 w$ A4 rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 r( V1 _4 Z0 j0 i6 R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ z6 W' e6 ]! u0 w5 Kis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; ^0 w4 d* y3 o- {3 H v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& O# q0 ^ y& |7 Z$ k a+ D% f
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
$ ?! g5 k: ^+ W8 z6 Imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 ~$ n( J; ]5 g% w0 a8 _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ m+ `1 V9 W- a" y4 @* |6 R
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ Q+ I. V9 E2 S$ O) V& b
# v7 N( a7 {! y" v
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 Z4 e/ e( y5 F# Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% w1 M- n3 f6 P7 y" A7 f* A. M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ E! e0 y. Z' n" S+ ~' ]- a0 ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 T/ j9 G# r( \) ]/ @" ?6 q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% R0 k ]3 _; Y# G' I: V, ~* Z- s4 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
o, g! v& r7 A/ Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 x$ l6 _* O, c5 o8 b( _1 l
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# _) L! f9 ]' l: f3 v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% M3 N# K: ]+ X0 vcharge the fee defined by the state. K( J! q( N5 g8 s1 k7 i
- X' G5 x3 P; Z/ w
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( T/ ^- \9 \4 z* C& I& }: kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 |7 V0 H5 ^4 q, F! S+ k" Tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ |7 E+ R& b1 \" ^) ^) r$ Y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! n0 V( x+ N% _; a fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) V2 r9 ]' ^8 m3 Cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 ~. Q( N2 S3 V* s% c4 S+ l$ c
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: P6 ^! e$ \* Z( nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: H0 g" @: A, ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ E( f, |: h! J/ h( |4 F5 u1 Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& v$ B# E k6 n: E1 H
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* c9 M& E/ G3 k: I/ e x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# i6 r$ n, I/ l$ z6 g0 G$ _& {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% \' i: m/ L. y/ J
are spaces.
' [- z2 N6 b! _; a, C
% |5 j; c" U0 T+ y7 V4 O" iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. i" F8 d: i4 {# A Y2 R: sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 t+ ]* S7 b$ k6 @
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) t1 U0 Q4 O, F) x/ l+ s" x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, N' k# c/ F. p! @4 x
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( [8 C& g: B; {: G% Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. U( S& L& v( B1 A5 Y5 N) lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 M1 r9 }, B$ `' a; t/ Z4 T
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 k {+ `9 q( R) N0 z8 Y5 q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 d+ G7 O8 i! Y# X* l We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
