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
; y0 `" o4 e. s! V. i9 K) }standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 x, m" g! r {" }& k$ D% P7 X; Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ T `# C5 `! O# w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- Q, d$ J7 T# N& ?8 k7 v9 @* q/ @! f' f
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 V% e. S1 I, W- j1 A" d9 Y$ ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 `' \) B$ N/ x# }% \4 y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ w: E- V Q7 S* d# Vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, M1 B; \# v" F3 ?2 J' s' {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 [2 ]5 ]7 x. e) b& g, Bmedical schools.
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, }, y; C' n0 |/ _ lEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) Q' V* ^/ [! k" X f
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- d4 t( p% F- I( R& M# Kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 G( ~% O2 L s1 G" v1 b
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ U3 }/ S. b( X0 C6 I5 d9 L- ]3 z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& i o- Q6 W: f1 F, M2 J& d3 z% U) T( Q4 U
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# I1 `1 W: T; q6 c" Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
+ U% R) W3 n0 x; b9 x; @mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: B5 U9 n/ ~# m8 f9 z$ tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 s& E$ A3 W& z9 l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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5 Z; i, O1 K7 e+ P7 NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
f8 Y7 V6 x7 B6 g+ l$ H+ Q" C" aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% r" r% j; g3 m% G) Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- x$ X. n% A. n, V) q5 E3 \have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* `# E+ g/ s' d8 H; Ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* h6 E7 T0 i' @8 U' E
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; Z& a; V' U+ r2 _
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 Q2 T; F! p" m6 B9 h4 n! L* }
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 a3 a* }9 K' o4 e& I6 ^. Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 v2 ]5 ^$ p z# G+ N
charge the fee defined by the state.; ]% O( I/ |- }8 t8 M
0 S' w6 K' `1 s% qThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- b) s* K% ]3 }% k1 K W9 son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( C0 S+ w) C! X5 M9 e& ]6 gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( R; V, s: K, o% z5 r, }
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' y+ M* f, E, gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- P; U) k% H# ]$ _working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 E: L: a. p/ o+ u* _/ U2 o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 Z1 n4 K4 f# B4 |( g& o1 E
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) L+ X* z/ ^" otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ r2 W9 N$ b* D9 k! Y$ ^2 R2 W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 Z) I! j3 p7 p6 I: V" V
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& x$ p4 |6 g4 m1 y( d& B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 R$ E( B) T8 j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ Q+ {2 P" K3 P* B7 ?, O' r, R8 dare spaces.! L6 r0 @( H# E: Y- B
. t s% ]. X! V0 s! h$ I0 qThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& t# O0 V! l) \: S, } Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# r, m; ^" J! k$ `6 P! Z6 e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- V# I4 O3 t0 g- m/ x, M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ D* z" q7 Q5 E# l$ r; h e# t
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% i8 s, x% r- J; q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% x+ W( q% j1 Y7 w: k& W; n9 ]
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- x6 n. w7 X+ J. _- |$ ` f$ ~+ B; O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; F8 z! N* R& T- m7 \# K& _- gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' W3 i/ Y! g7 J7 y/ s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
