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# {5 ^5 x; f8 r# r
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! A" ~8 k; n9 X5 L7 _; lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ y1 |$ j# j ~& U4 a/ t4 G! v# B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 ]) J, I/ ]9 |& ^% ^& |0 danswers to our pointed questions.4 I" m# L. W+ W1 J
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, W! I3 p {7 z4 S& Y0 Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ X' @9 @, E* M9 U+ Q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 h% |3 E- ]9 E- {3 q; o& D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: z# ?1 D$ J0 N1 k4 Eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 v( z- k+ W1 [/ U% A9 Cmedical schools.
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3 ~: i- ~& c# f- s* i& \Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ E, O* z& X# T2 T, o* w+ v5 Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 W5 Z& o# a' p! z m% g% @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 h2 J3 T1 D4 p! z- sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% Y/ m5 N4 _4 j# q/ I0 k, M4 ?
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 ^; R+ R0 d1 M' u7 P. K! D2 p( kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: k' p6 s' y! ?/ L. `* T2 @0 q$ @: Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 K5 z0 N7 D: m) Y1 [. V! {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& j5 D. u8 \) eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some' P- p1 [( L. o+ _1 o& G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 K" Q( @+ v0 p# kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ ]4 k/ R/ Z1 _. s8 ]6 t5 ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 {; J8 n5 _$ ?8 E; K4 y0 c
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
}$ [. X4 G, y7 ]* ~& Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 J5 D- D: [5 W$ @7 Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) \& u5 n1 D6 t8 R7 }
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. u1 A2 p6 t& W/ x
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- ]5 g6 \% P. l( ^6 M$ Z% p
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 i5 q4 I4 o3 K, X( p
charge the fee defined by the state.) [" \# k% T3 S' {+ s* m
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* `% ^' n* r! F- Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) a4 P* u; b- X+ A% l9 Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 }. b- h9 U& Y# Z0 q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 F D, t- Q% C3 h: F5 s) s# w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( Q" x4 X# k1 z# d. G
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 A% H. Z, o0 k7 [8 z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" V, _/ S/ z) R5 e/ Q0 ]' G0 Q$ Y9 nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 t7 h2 D. [' f" p. Y' `trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, J5 R- N! V- g$ C* k- {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 W* M0 N& K# k' speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 `/ y# `) j( g) ~4 t0 J. M9 r/ qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' B; {3 u$ u2 L% dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
c3 `) V7 J2 n9 Iare spaces.
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. ?) m# j0 f8 ~There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 o# b# Z5 h# X& k
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* ~$ w I! f: X( |# a% |$ Eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ M1 l7 s3 d" j J7 F2 l d, |) H* Y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: o- F2 y0 F# Y8 S7 Mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& X! o$ T' Y4 ^. N7 Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" o2 P! K* n/ h6 L8 O( u3 |1 r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 {; r- n5 @; j5 A
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ g9 | p' H# P* N2 \* S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ g5 P6 h# d. I, u We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
