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' s% J+ |/ V$ ]# J e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! \" }9 _6 i& x9 l* Q7 k! v6 kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
% |0 C# i. b. s! y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
g1 _% \4 \' l- t/ d! Ranswers to our pointed questions.
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$ @ @$ _3 }8 A- ?$ s/ DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. b& }+ W4 N `4 }1 D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( M8 m! r0 U7 l' u! K! ~7 nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is F0 L/ Y& f( x" {
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ _" d/ N, o* ~* W- S1 C/ @" L6 O" z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 u$ k0 r; u. ]6 n7 V5 omedical schools.
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- y# f4 g/ }3 Y, g$ K# VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 c- s( f. Z/ z) r2 }, |& U# s
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 I' W+ M7 s4 S; _3 r# |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* d* @9 [" Z( _! _# M; V0 W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
- u) \. B6 ~, \; jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 f. W) i8 K+ M# p# v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; n) J3 @5 g9 E+ d8 N& o0 I5 \& `
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! a$ _6 Y4 x' U7 U$ M
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ c" \- s4 P6 @' n1 ] u$ J: y% U
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 u1 w z+ T: @! Z2 Jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 L8 ^$ y. t. J) p. Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# V! G( D! B7 o7 E2 D# h
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) k( p B" F8 G, X& d) T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good F6 h) O7 f! k$ }
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
7 Z9 {2 N0 R" J- K2 k) Psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% s# b2 y- w7 f7 o! L+ t g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 v+ E9 Y8 _. S9 wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" g7 X' S2 T' h4 r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 C. H1 b% I% h4 X* {4 s9 S
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 }( t7 m% P3 V" E
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" k" E' g4 g$ A3 ~/ j+ b
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 w9 h0 Q2 M) V# n$ w# l4 j) T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- N" g2 x- ~& A- W9 q9 ] hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: S6 G. N. W; J" h1 V. S0 X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- Q' Y$ [+ c7 I5 A2 T2 G1 K$ `2 K9 _
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% T) k( P w4 O8 I, dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: ~7 R4 w/ [/ E+ }& dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# p- K% s1 ^1 p i) Y9 E' X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- B6 X! d5 u- t- D* C r. _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- A ?- o6 q' b( }& H+ B4 ?1 E t- ]. Z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 }( h( P: Q# ]4 H) vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# D8 b" G, j6 Z" Q3 k
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: q$ v6 o- r2 v: ^to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: {+ O8 t; {* o0 Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ {9 Q# }# i' k0 T40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 U3 G- O B, r- f q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 c( t) r, K; h9 D' x) X$ e
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 ` [- X& Y) w: d- J% A8 hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 }# z" o1 V2 E5 l U" h4 i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ w1 H# W7 b" Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 m$ e3 Z: c E/ Z. v We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
