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
7 c. I* }+ W$ H4 t. Sstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; [5 w f' g4 r G, C+ b% l
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; J4 E1 u+ c. G! ?" E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# J5 q! }- p9 Z1 Danswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 M7 B, \) a6 J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# R0 @. H! Y% q$ ^; x
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& m, G2 P5 m1 L$ p
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' o* Q* D8 o0 |4 a# o5 |" m# q
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% }$ w3 ^. s" \* l3 _" ^medical schools.
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: R7 H9 H* ~1 Z& G& iEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ U8 X. H! S7 q ]1 T( V" Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- H$ t" q+ y) cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# n- Z4 j3 c. B; H
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! U0 h& t x& [/ c( wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ `+ {# s, Z2 |7 L: ~3 G1 Sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 o% X0 m+ t0 n5 F* dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ u+ c- ^5 L% [: X) u$ q* h: ?% r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. J/ [3 r$ Y$ P8 M. Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 ~3 E" j, h2 `% U8 P# xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
5 ^4 d6 p0 M& w$ r' b3 w3 k6 b) @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 R8 i8 u1 S: u) c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people L& @0 H; W( u7 }: a- \/ e/ l3 h
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& z8 b R, n, ^% v$ \3 l* @! h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby |, Z% i! |2 k: b6 T) O9 _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 _) N0 \5 ^$ S4 U5 ~divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 x. y6 {( s4 U/ m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When q3 H8 b. w1 l0 v, D8 V( P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: g- E& Q0 I' e& \/ z- Ncharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# J* z: K r" b) [: Z W' x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: p: d/ [( L; H: _! r% Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 Z% E* }- m9 j+ \ T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
: Z& [, |. O) h7 eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the @( ? V1 h6 N& n1 m% G' X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 Y. p7 Y, x9 K( p$ I9 @/ t+ p+ nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, r1 v' l5 B3 b! I) o: y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" ]% [9 {, {5 g# y9 | I
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ b/ { `- S t5 z G& E, Rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
|2 D, U+ D0 N7 ]people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, T! p+ K8 B5 s1 u4 Xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
\3 W5 {5 ~" `+ Jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% r& K* M! u# C$ L) }1 R+ N" z
are spaces.2 ~* c3 G% O8 G( D& t
f J4 m& F% t' C# jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! U& @8 }8 U+ U3 a5 E3 vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
% I2 u; \9 g& \0 @) Z* G/ Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 @9 o- B) S. V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 u3 E y+ l6 R, \4 z# z! j# ^
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 j5 ?+ Y# |! O4 j3 kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* \& N2 T/ i! ^8 D# u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 W: s2 R+ B9 e- q' ?! ?+ m% ?
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 }3 w& H t: Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 m2 X: ~# C: e1 p! ?3 ^, e" W. t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
