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+ P8 L5 G9 J1 ?2 o- l8 |6 _+ [- U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 N' J) p- X' z0 Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," _' ~4 S$ s" ?7 s3 I8 G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& H9 Q9 c( _: r' y8 R# Y, lanswers to our pointed questions.1 x# |( h7 {' L0 ~
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 c( ?5 J) [; I' P$ w
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 C$ o* ]) ?* J8 J* c- hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ u* t9 v. [6 V$ z* ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 C; X- K Z+ P% \# i3 ^8 J! g3 `3 ~, L& T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
, P: J! i( c: A4 F7 t# Qmedical schools.5 q. X% @( \& K( |- ]# V
; c4 A. }) T2 KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 P2 y" \3 J! R- g9 fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 i3 K, O, S w B4 r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; O5 J# s5 ~' Lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- A* |; {& Z8 K9 {) B+ t; f6 `. G
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 \ ^2 x3 L# Q1 S5 y; I
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* f: J( O& g% w+ }. Y' T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# ~$ E2 k, L5 z P9 l2 P$ Emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! P9 @# r- f, L9 k4 f
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
# ]/ x9 k; V }/ b" usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 x8 Z9 `- e: n5 h
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
& p1 i& |! l _( hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# m1 a6 ~6 }$ ~+ P" a8 [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 O) Q8 E3 h8 X8 F; i, l
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& Z- o# O5 ?4 l0 l) _/ z) u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- ^4 b& t4 x z9 g5 C
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 g* L( x3 l7 {& z- Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 h& P; a9 t0 T/ MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 H3 G- u! b. S. D% V: o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 a# S: c: L: E0 o* l* ?
charge the fee defined by the state.) U. `8 g- [. w M) [) r$ }
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 [" L# V2 n" l6 [6 G, ]9 kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ |- E& N, n# T2 d5 ]$ T: b' ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 k$ s! I9 h9 |# Y- n* Gtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& Q- }2 o2 `% c& sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' z9 Z$ x: @4 ~( P( q, U+ b
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% F% i" e0 Y6 @( t4 n
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ d8 G" j% r Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 ?+ }; [9 o, c$ x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ \% q, v" D* V! l/ R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" h3 m# A3 \8 ]- W2 A' C% J( a' \
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 R) O+ q. I1 J8 e: {- y6 D5 o1 s- m
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- Z e& m J1 b3 N1 S: k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: ?$ g1 Z- m4 v0 \. lare spaces., Z$ P" K+ J" D1 R2 Z
; P( J% c# u2 W% B( ]9 n' ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. Y4 u. J! D. t: @8 ]; K9 [7 |to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ @0 I- |- @1 ?* L: k7 D3 l
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the3 J1 g: W* h7 z: p0 U b- j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
3 G6 Z/ a; a: Y3 h( wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 d+ A( B# k- Z7 i X3 k7 R
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 Y5 y% S3 A3 }5 D' s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* h7 O: {( X6 F/ |car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' J% M! H& F4 { F6 p6 f! G+ v- J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! W: h+ H9 G3 X2 ` z& M We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
