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 R/ p! ^4 {: t, c* b2 jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; L2 e4 Q: l- V; P. T) q1 y" N5 m0 aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 Y" A/ Q1 f: P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 `1 o/ H: s. t. E+ W; Eanswers to our pointed questions.7 \& {+ l& S: k, J/ q6 l
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! J' S i0 G) L% h4 b" g45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 s' y. D+ M x7 Y4 {& r' W }& d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 O" a% j9 X+ N! G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: o; m2 r5 |4 _1 F
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 m! V+ T# A) x# p( b% p: C
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* S ~0 g) e: B$ Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
V* P7 ]% M$ R# y7 Hto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( m1 N; {+ m$ X6 z2 L- ]% Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; Q3 r! @ g! R) n
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; e9 {! j% c, j1 d; ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* P( \7 s" \& X B/ lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 X0 X! ^4 ^0 s$ ?" Z' U) i' k/ \
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. ^: [& s8 p+ c
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 ^7 R* u- l5 {' [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' d8 U# M" [8 v- R1 u0 p- f! R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# w" C4 Z' J' k9 `/ r2 wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ _2 k t8 j. x, Z9 b8 V) p( m
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' S$ u( o& [5 z: U
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& O* B2 n9 g+ d- A. ^/ {0 {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 w7 q; Z; j5 o& G, Q* [ ]sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. l, L' {; O- `' e9 F% P4 E# F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- W4 Z' n7 ]9 ~! H# O; L9 Y+ F- Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& {! G* T# L3 i, ~* P2 {/ Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 ^) T" L% k) v; Y3 M; ~/ Fcharge the fee defined by the state.
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2 x- B9 b+ L0 p ^% o$ @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 a3 l% r* L; h2 g0 `9 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; } i6 U$ G7 @; R5 L' c/ \5 kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ Q' q9 @7 j* b, i1 v/ U% b, U
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 V) {/ o4 |. M% lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; X. C% f$ ?! E0 t+ Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) G9 D5 L7 R, t U" M+ v* ~; R
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 Q* J. |, g7 n. ]
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. c" n5 c# I. f4 H# f: g8 ~trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 I6 P; ?* i* `2 N: ]) ~1 e Z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' d/ Z2 r2 h& j# |people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 D9 D" k) u" |- v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
) a% R# V- w7 q, Q; Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! E: H- w4 {( ^$ H- z
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 D4 `& J! D5 T- C, N) u( f
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) ^$ ]4 c% p, Q8 i! q# F' w6 r7 Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! o! E. m' t0 Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( Z! z g% y! `9 [( S, F6 Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 L. Z4 s- ?$ ^0 f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& v @# d* ?% z" N; x+ Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- p& l6 {+ A& M0 p0 L. tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 b5 v7 T0 }. Q" \: y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 o) m! z+ ? R5 O" Q4 D9 R
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
