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, j0 b7 {# u. L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: v2 p" R5 ?& H" ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
9 G$ V% ^+ c. M& ~% ~5 p"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% M% F/ {4 v4 A# Oanswers to our pointed questions.+ U& Q8 z4 S- S
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' g1 b& h5 O9 K% ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; Y4 r5 N5 M ?7 j7 h- ]! [1 A D, m
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, ^! o s8 `. q+ j z# n3 l/ E
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' t. h, L9 T( g$ K! Q
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% L$ t4 u$ d( ]medical schools., O5 @5 \+ e; U! V% r; f! i+ A
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 r8 a* k0 B7 D2 [: q% E" f! Zgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) q. m* S' i/ t' N( M! `0 yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 g3 `6 W3 [/ f+ b& H9 |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
- ?% e' M2 l, N6 x% L7 k9 y8 G+ Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( \0 i, H- o, \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ ?: ~5 P3 I/ P% ~3 Y/ aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) r& E5 ^5 a0 V' T0 B
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ C( F1 m% K5 m& ^
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" V& P# i: J( x2 e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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' D% z0 [9 r" x1 MThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' d9 t2 X; z4 \private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
/ h# q4 J) ~ B1 ]" ]1 b: `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 B7 G% l2 p. D shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: [ }7 R6 F/ ~& K5 r
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 ?1 Q$ l* B! ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' N+ J7 ~) p6 O9 s3 _* L9 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* S7 N& c; T( r1 L# }1 i: T( c$ ^/ K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( J2 {, e1 `* U" v7 Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' h. @ Q9 r2 h( m2 f2 |( K& ocharge the fee defined by the state.9 v! B! A+ N9 F) [4 }
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% w7 `& x: G2 Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 c% F: ]6 ~" t' Z. o+ x y" _+ v5 ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% l8 `/ w! S6 z9 N0 K B g/ j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
N; w7 \: M! h5 cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. W; n+ U) C9 D+ }
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 D( v" C. @0 kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# k" ~: W0 y; H2 _ i1 d; eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: P+ V& I) J% K3 T" X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% {. D; ` k5 F3 \5 }- I2 w' f
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' b' x7 \; A. u& W# G/ P& j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' T: d0 b/ t* kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 h2 o7 \, h4 T, x
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* ?7 B. q( |* b4 V! r) ^# {* o
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( f9 d* ^. D5 O1 D
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) `! L" A2 e9 w* u- ?
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" [: |) f5 {3 Y! X9 q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 m' V. R2 r& z+ z5 J* K* cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 B8 N' D, K$ z% A/ H9 t7 R2 E. K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* q- h/ R1 t$ q6 ]3 S7 N* a$ n: `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, Q e3 G8 S7 |% y/ W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, F* _' @# y3 ~5 f. Z' U+ K9 r# q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' r4 |2 g- o4 N' h- l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
