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' R6 s; Z' b& O4 p0 K/ {6 e5 L! P
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
1 m* W2 w8 d/ D& v2 a& q8 Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" Z; ~$ x! K; c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 |/ W7 J! c7 P0 l( F% d1 h
answers to our pointed questions.- v8 O; S7 t/ [ k: L3 x* W
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," I t! V9 H; h+ I- Q @
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* C" W7 L- _/ }3 x% H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ Z1 C% a m, ^1 {6 D" H) b0 U; ]free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% G7 ~5 V" i+ ^' F6 k' {
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ p" o9 J& }& _; |4 ]
medical schools.3 ~" R8 `2 [& D* T# w$ m2 ^
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( N# ~5 `. s6 ~9 \( ~( A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, P6 f$ Z, y8 w# h" }9 R- N
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 q. X$ W$ a& {3 A! }9 C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
6 U# |5 |! E _% U2 u- ]is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' V/ T7 l* y) q8 h! Zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 b* a! q$ n# O/ jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
Z- _, X2 m: s6 ]mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 w" a7 A z) p! f+ p+ B: x3 e: jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some# ~3 _% c* Q7 l3 n/ U- x7 {
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. k3 R, H- n0 b8 ]7 ]
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# N5 Z& V4 Q% Y. U& |- }9 v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! W! R! S% r9 ~( L5 Z4 Y+ v
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- i# z% b8 j& L% B+ a! N* dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 W [& P8 e7 u3 h0 h- zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 ^, D# C% v: f! |: g Z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 k# [; [" ?% r1 `4 M9 c. mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 ~7 N8 k$ ?: T- S& r. R3 S8 T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; T. q! |+ J5 Q1 S) F# M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. T/ t2 L s& w/ I8 F8 e# W
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. F- G( w7 B' v* N% f
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 ^, c. _+ ^1 K: n3 |4 Lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. z+ P) H3 ?5 ?$ y5 k2 }& r9 ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 T% g7 S! a& ]* R; [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# _2 `0 d7 I" p" Jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ Y" `: r3 ?2 r' p, Cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 H: D! I* a$ Z0 [* f
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 X' q3 Z* ?1 y, m7 P# o9 z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- r, @) t6 b% |; f0 I j
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 _8 n/ C; V6 h$ j8 u+ Z2 [5 Jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' {7 G* m3 V" E, s: C$ U0 oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
8 m g* N2 m; j! @; a- F7 zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ t0 F/ P& A2 ~; \5 Fare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 _- f. z# r7 ] B" uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 X0 {5 j0 F: d5 k; I3 y" eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ v7 `( `; |: X! j! f& l4 j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, G; K8 n' R8 L9 B% P3 Uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 w8 D; l7 {8 i% T" d" a( sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) [9 T. G1 \* W6 I9 }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: `" C" C+ p* p8 I' S. E- s+ J4 N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ ]3 G5 m" _! ]is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% K5 j2 C, {9 t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
