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/ K5 i3 p9 M. V: C Y; W2 P! L r
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 b' u; E4 w' ^: d* W3 `& {on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. H4 u% a# O8 H% b3 P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 G+ c1 W7 v9 b/ }3 Yanswers to our pointed questions.# c6 g$ J3 Z! M/ ~% ^6 v% K9 z
% ]0 d; T- J: ` }3 M. v3 s6 l0 [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 ]* X( Z& x3 _' g+ @" {6 {45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 B2 O# l) V1 u% a2 W" G+ c+ ?
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ D2 b$ P: Q% c! `$ efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 @2 F) U& Z a, L4 S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* ~7 ]) r$ N# q, i0 C: a9 ?6 B
medical schools.
% |9 C" o. `& a, q0 z' S a0 x5 [
1 a8 E8 _5 ]) h; Y' X2 IEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ P% z2 y \. w( t% y; x) Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 d" c* ]/ Y$ D5 I# j
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 M: h9 Z: n) j- `' h( V* U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, e; \9 ^7 \$ ~% D# J5 w3 n( wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 m3 ?0 \! l# Z/ Z8 W0 @3 T6 A+ w) O
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( X+ r* Y0 ?0 {8 I7 }
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" l G( t) R, X3 y+ U" D3 Y( m
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' W( W( \6 J# F% D$ i ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 T+ S, `7 N [- g
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
3 m+ @6 y/ Y: @) Z0 T8 G' ]: t2 j$ W" I
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no L9 N6 C+ c/ y2 |2 x! {/ {
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# x7 F# [$ E1 n1 h
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 |: u6 G' w! Z, h, a$ bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) ~; V) t7 e1 Z ^
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 J8 z% k% t# X" P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! u6 W4 L" Q$ O7 E, o5 m7 U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( Z8 C9 A6 g3 p5 }, ?5 w% B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: D+ D G8 v- l/ K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! Z2 H* L8 y* t2 U. [6 {5 M; i; T4 hcharge the fee defined by the state.5 i: J8 a% T$ m% N: S: D! t% C
! s0 ~" D( N; A; oThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ P- b) ]4 ^. l. u; ?0 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 M' d, H5 J" E
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 ?- x& r+ j) \6 p: \ H
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' ?) I7 H0 G5 D; d4 _! M, Z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- }3 n* N; Q6 i4 tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% t j+ R. a s* y- F5 kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* L- q& O! b+ s0 n# X; h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' G3 b; g! T# B- n: ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( S$ T8 i6 ]1 d6 l2 N. @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ z' P9 ]! j- Ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 O. p: c4 l8 }/ ?. k- ^: k6 P* i! \
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& u2 D( P, V+ y7 \: X3 {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
! m$ e4 A& }1 e8 N% uare spaces.1 |7 k0 ~# n/ v% r4 t6 t' ^1 M
1 X* Q7 j/ T0 l
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" s2 G. k1 p# Q9 pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 C) t! Y" _ p$ N
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- Q( {: V+ K2 T. h& j( e' ^: u4 F
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, P- R4 @8 H! Z- Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 V1 t8 d+ y9 {- B1 X) G0 B- v1 {9 sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! i" M; Y( x1 t! z( B# ~; A; Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# |6 B: M2 y4 |1 W' y f. Qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% {' m6 y' m) x7 b% c2 A6 J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( j. E8 [# h5 i- C! J# `. R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
