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! Z0 w7 A+ M& J, o1 k- h
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 v/ Y. l# q1 y( q) i. V$ \# u9 Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ { e3 `. x% t0 @/ M5 [. M* q' g, ~3 \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% r2 |, `5 y4 Y3 d# f
answers to our pointed questions.1 u8 `; U8 _( l7 O; w
0 H$ O- ^2 Q; z9 w9 U5 l: X6 PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, v1 y) f* e) y3 }- U
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% B. v# }, Y1 k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 a5 w) l+ i1 _. C3 H$ k- T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 o- k7 | }$ \ `! R5 fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# G' d' P' r3 g; p
medical schools.5 H$ p/ `2 m5 @$ z
' [! j- @/ w. P. _# J: O9 _" U9 ZEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 m. P: r' X, d( e2 r* h( n, m' \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ n3 f h* ~: @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- z9 Q6 p) b5 y! j: b l9 ~
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 w9 E& x& u) r! ?0 D2 ~is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) i* O' v1 L4 j: E/ I, P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% `% ~/ a, d2 \( O; `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and O/ `. H9 d# K9 B9 I
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& ^# ?* ]. [+ m
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 X! ^* U3 ^2 {$ l) B
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
^& U# u9 @5 W& H+ lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and B& o6 J' N/ \8 ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 n. P$ c( d1 {5 T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 z$ m& ]& A% _* o/ ^thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- {" y3 f* P# y; Q: U4 A
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 ]: F* k4 C9 Y, l" `6 @/ ]
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 @3 G3 q9 ?! JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. c+ Q0 d. k: m% a6 Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 o5 z$ @* _6 I# y7 Vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) | I. U, R, ?on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 ?) Y) u/ ~, l: }7 ], s
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 f; x( }/ z7 u. P7 itruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 P- u5 L. X# z+ e" [2 o7 u6 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) a) F/ V4 @0 g$ w3 a3 n7 f" w/ k+ z* mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* _. g2 U2 f' Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 ~- ^6 ]# S/ x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 |' h [) D* W& U. g- U# u# x' T) F0 E
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% I- W" I/ b! Y' M) T6 j* qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 P5 _! W: @4 d! U! _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( w+ J) e: j& B1 {5 }/ ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, M' s) I$ c' g, S" ^% q6 o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, v4 u0 |% Q3 X/ }7 K6 z$ Z4 n( c
are spaces.. u- f- e9 Y1 A5 Z5 w z8 h2 T6 H
: q$ o5 Y0 i3 |4 OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi \9 x3 M# q h0 h# m, l7 t
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 g) x/ G; V5 j3 }0 w) [1 `/ uown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 h% E; ]0 Y/ E) Y# R, D7 @# ]( Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 T' q9 p5 w6 \1 Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: I2 e h" _8 }% K9 n% V, Kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 v. B+ ]2 Z {# f9 F- ~
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; ~, p+ B, A- D, T _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% B# ~) k; C( u! A. L) J' W" y- Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) m, J* Y# X/ H5 _$ g3 [
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
