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
4 n0 m; E$ K( t. S9 `- M& {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went9 {! `# o6 V, ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! Z' T; p, C9 `6 n( b7 |# g, u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; i( C: F# H: A' ~) Y
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 ]) b: Y; A! d% f* y# Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 s9 O; \0 L5 n9 A: K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% O X3 X2 C. e( [
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ X s9 V) v! _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' Z n6 r) l5 {( Z
medical schools., E% y [: v) e# {9 B2 w B5 A2 r$ i
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ P5 \9 R8 |* d2 b& I" h. a4 l
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants j% {9 S; v& K5 ]' u5 h- F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# A( I5 H5 @/ L. p p. w8 lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ j( v) J/ q3 f" q% s8 Eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* z5 P a* U4 P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. I5 e3 H5 c& \- ~1 C5 n1 @
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' ]0 F% U- H8 k f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 W0 c* a ?6 G9 S( _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* k7 \+ _6 L1 ~& ^9 y/ xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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* @) \9 o. @. E; E8 N( X& \/ X- TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 @( n+ Z3 ^/ Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
; ^9 v& h( J9 X" e# Fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! p% [2 z% O- D4 chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# d8 y* t$ a7 `# Bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, P) H1 [5 @! \8 p+ F% B6 S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high T7 k! J+ i- t' n, [
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. X& F. x% D( y# J
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 K# {! y |# q8 E1 ^# y* N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
" g" @2 Y+ u5 U* i6 Ycharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) Q1 z, _4 a5 j* H9 @6 f
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' Y$ x. H& V Nof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 [1 q' ?3 i" [8 z7 n: V3 Btruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* m- I/ z4 s% a. yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! i, I% ^8 w9 c2 W+ W
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 S/ _! F7 ^3 Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: z1 `# w/ y+ C. z% j K# B# \, L
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: p# s0 h) K$ h2 s, `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. T5 n' f+ N5 Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) W( n: X/ b* J) a7 |people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 a- v& ~" }. k! j, S0 }! L
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- O3 @+ @& Y# `6 Wbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 T$ K" Z* v; @. S$ @! X
are spaces.1 c S" @/ N, O! c6 t
. s% [( L! K9 ^' v" B& Q' JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, [* K3 ]6 [. u+ I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ g0 S# G5 T1 ~own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. N! x9 O& e3 T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 ]+ A Z( y2 R% qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
5 w$ a7 F- Q' Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 N+ M2 T% N$ d8 X) n3 _nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
F9 }% S9 |+ ^2 g# xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 B8 q0 `" \2 E- F. [4 L$ \3 D |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 {( U# `7 E( d8 _) s) [1 G
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
