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' u1 y; E" b+ O, s( G. j9 s* ^, q3 i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' H [4 z3 o6 Y2 u/ {: Q* _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
% P/ A" I) k" d4 i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" d7 h# A M; j6 ? Manswers to our pointed questions.+ B( h% M! q. M1 D! {+ W2 |4 w
" g9 ^8 a. Z8 {( c% g3 ZThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ D# c3 [% p; V7 T% ~* K
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: t3 A# I5 P* }4 f0 m6 ^. xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ ^# n1 n. K" @8 G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 Q4 ~/ r; Z9 \4 k, X3 l
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- S+ \" q3 T( n; S! l) J& {
medical schools.0 ^3 C* T1 r; u* c
3 [7 Z) M# z; q9 vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) | }3 z! d2 Y5 F( f# ?government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 \) B; [' s# U4 @1 _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* V* S/ N4 D2 O* `# e) v& ^
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 M5 l( b$ x! Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 o6 ~- O4 j/ E: Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 b% R) D5 \4 ^, k5 d
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% n3 b: a8 Y& v( _3 _5 t" `
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 N" ]3 z* \- R: b- X/ Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; w7 K* W* E0 H0 Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 t8 s/ e. H+ w- w( X9 Y, _! b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- ? G$ |. @$ k) @2 Z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. r! ^ d- m1 x1 L |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 h. q# C! u2 Q y9 f' w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) N( d# g. E2 ?, q, a, asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 L* w6 @2 g# Y6 l3 B. Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! j( _& M( a8 [1 D0 d% R( F) q9 _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" a3 n# K y2 @4 C4 x' ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 b2 [7 Y* Y% {% L( K' v2 `charge the fee defined by the state.& A# l" X* e# C9 j( w
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ Q) _8 D" |& q! G% ]
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: i1 t z: N) Z' g: o! Q) f. u# I6 `1 [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 T, T$ _0 X# Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: R1 G& G" g, `- p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! I F2 }% [; |: }9 h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 F# C- \. z; r4 f/ G1 x. d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' |9 b0 o# Y" U( H+ e. A1 S# V( D4 W1 v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! r4 c9 N# E5 K" c4 Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 m; S5 T6 t( V3 K) Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 k" x/ g+ l; V9 jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, o. n! R7 z" ]2 t% {' N9 I. U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; X. }& s- Y! Rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
G$ M7 l* A! {; F$ Care spaces.. v0 Q9 e) X+ z$ ?. P
5 @( L9 w0 |* \0 {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 A H. m& t: ~% V) E: a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. H$ b( L" d) Q N% N4 q# f. X9 cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* G7 P1 I: [1 s: _40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; ]! S* R. Q" p0 Z+ x" P# i) P6 t8 h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- [8 ?% X, r9 f2 R Z0 ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, O% \$ o& k" q) X# G
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- n6 V( i i8 U) X. N x4 {, O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& G) d) o) `' A: a4 o; m. [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ X" n D9 A% U0 F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
