我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 B/ S6 F" S$ q) S
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* j* V+ m' @( m
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. X9 i$ y6 n! _+ b8 S N7 |8 B
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 j" Q# `3 C1 f& Janswers to our pointed questions.
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, x6 D; R4 L6 n. L, o3 g% nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 s1 [5 \9 ^5 k, B
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. {- p/ `. T5 M* gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# ]+ K2 j" J) R/ \% _9 X
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ ^. ~2 m3 X1 r& K$ z2 p$ I$ C4 S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* i$ S- z C! ]9 l) e
medical schools.0 {! n( t3 w* O: h. Q
# z) \5 B' J* g2 S8 W% WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! l5 P! A. _* s
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( A' z( O1 `0 Z* f- _ O1 D5 Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: d3 b: Q/ ]- c6 y: G
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) @2 P4 ^) X% q! b
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 i8 M4 v( n: ^) M: p1 l$ P9 G( cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, B8 a" Z1 Z0 \! Q0 O/ k* l# Zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
9 i' ^( ^* `( y, y p9 smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 F' k ^5 f0 S ^' ?shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* Y5 A+ {: c; T& |' _9 U" C0 psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( I6 W. u. B* x5 g' R! U) w
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" h p7 s+ E, `- D7 \1 Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. z- [& [% m; Asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! A4 i. `% f2 \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! z$ f" F. g* Y1 y- j. y( @
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 {" t8 h( |1 P, X, y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 a& T( z* N) N( tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* }% k2 d4 U% J
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 v$ A1 w9 J( Q- b$ Y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& K, T6 p& |8 b, c3 R! J
charge the fee defined by the state.* L( f1 P+ `$ O( d1 o7 ^% w) |0 \
0 Q' \, N: W4 w; P0 |9 O) XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. m3 i! N" N3 K& h5 bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: M( ~% x% K1 [% V& o5 Q: F
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; A& o1 W' b! n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# J. o$ y# ~$ E
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
1 r4 i8 n# C6 q# d( Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& B* q) P1 ^& C9 C; t1 H2 O4 p W; w
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
9 y8 w9 Q X6 V2 E% K9 Myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 g2 ]7 F& E: }8 a1 S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ T( L1 F" g, Z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ {9 I0 W; O6 D( O# o- ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% T8 {( q) A# O0 \' v1 y
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 y# b( k$ h- T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, s$ S# j! s$ f7 q' G/ `( J% s
are spaces./ m3 s* h1 Q9 E
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% Z/ j3 o9 U# s4 Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 A6 v" t! s0 X4 |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) f9 l" }/ b' `& Z# e0 Y/ ]8 ^40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. {; s% h' {& w4 y1 j
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! d8 r3 H0 m0 V; |4 i4 J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* B- b- A3 g! Y( v% }, W, jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 Y' d! o1 I5 t- k& Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 _( S! h* S+ U; y9 |3 Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., l) E, X- D6 S% f% x
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
