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
% b' P. @3 F! S! [3 h. j/ dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went A& R9 ^ y. a7 d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' j8 Q" T$ {- l& _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 t6 W# o" I6 U& O- N) F
answers to our pointed questions.. E3 B1 y5 L' J, C( h
' B8 K# B4 _) ], y! }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* g C; y( Y! `8 Q( O& P2 e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) P2 O- y4 N( b; m9 i/ z
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
7 f% ]. ^# h3 @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; z1 \4 D& B5 Q8 l- K$ @+ z/ d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" d- I `" W2 ]1 e$ L, J7 Y
medical schools./ p3 K) ~5 h2 i
; H9 Q1 l* |; R9 zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: a' P4 I6 }+ ^1 ?# Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* L& h# l C6 K8 ]8 D( N" Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& E$ e* S9 y) I
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) t/ Y/ t8 S' t0 [is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; ?0 S/ d$ n! d4 N! R% v1 }" Bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' L+ H; ?) \+ `; A2 X
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and; s4 f+ ?% m! u' T/ O
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) b- ], [: n5 Mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; O9 h) `" L" O5 l2 w" Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 m1 _7 f7 W6 Q
; M! O$ }/ h. S
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( i9 `2 o' k% o+ U
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
) C! s' H7 S' w# _; Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; b/ V! {0 s6 \( W3 k. phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' ]. u4 c! c8 J u+ \/ ]2 Q6 vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& l3 ?$ b$ E! {6 P. E8 V9 o0 C7 v
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 b4 Q- b- _: s' y( `( W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 @+ w( O! w$ v7 m& q9 Z- B* e3 C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; e' d/ J: h5 g) Z& ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ X4 L$ A' Q+ u* B) v& F5 M( G: ncharge the fee defined by the state.4 w0 d7 X; U7 H: n
! W4 i1 Y3 i9 ^- w# v" j6 c+ l
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
4 c- d3 @' V) U/ ^/ t& gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
- c5 _& u* b% z' i& W& aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 r" _1 B7 d# o& w2 }/ I& Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 J/ d. W1 e6 i [# h. Kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 ~0 @0 o" i y7 |0 }/ s# L" z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, N+ V) l6 v; @0 P) q$ |/ L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 b0 r/ w( O2 c' Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& i! x3 X, J. Xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
R D- X: {, ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& ]2 c5 p) ^: F2 i% X, Cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( { Z/ {6 d( d! n! Vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 O; _! O, z0 `/ m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% [% ^* R" ~, B2 g5 t3 ~are spaces.
5 E4 w& D6 l% R( q! Y* `$ V
6 o- i( A2 P& M: d+ [8 F0 EThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' }, @2 \2 q( E$ i
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 y' T. e h. J7 J3 U
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" p- ?2 I! i! ~2 Q8 \- I! c! g
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 f) N; N. O, u* Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 }% M9 e" R' Z) i A* D& m4 Z' f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 p q, ~$ ^( ]1 E4 x: Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
, w/ r/ Y6 }( T1 ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. Y" n* R/ \' Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: \0 G& Z) X! P
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
