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
8 S* ]/ X! z, Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! g- K, c0 i9 F, Von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 o* _' x% D6 o3 ^- A( W. C; Y$ G7 O
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& f% l8 L5 z( Danswers to our pointed questions.
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: g% G) U* r& Q" k! wThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: ?2 q! z, @. V* C/ s8 ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 H4 h5 b/ S% P8 E; K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 d- k$ f5 ~' e6 a% [$ L4 `& G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; z. l/ h4 h5 g" B, u& `to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 n( k1 q5 ]/ o$ |+ |( e( b
medical schools.
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- u8 Q+ b7 W8 t B. U. Z: G BEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
3 N/ h2 B0 b6 I+ N2 a) kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# s: W9 c' w( i }: tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) g$ t$ c7 x3 T5 b1 T) v+ V
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: B( b/ f b5 ^$ Z; i+ o8 w dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* Y; V. T# l+ G- Y& B5 i& G2 j! }% O
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% @ s7 Z# D1 ~. W# N
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! `* f( K$ D) @! K u1 Rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
' p: s: R8 g! w$ o6 b& i: ^shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& f8 H1 g% g. a) o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% v4 Q) H6 v, Y/ X% x9 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
r; K& D( M/ K7 b5 l' d8 }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ F0 Y4 n- f* |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; Y( J+ a1 r& Y& t5 {thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ g7 M. p3 q7 G+ Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
" Z7 h* w7 y2 l' K4 @divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." r) H* z( [9 Y1 C9 U- |+ f- g7 Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 A' S9 \- v! i8 f: E7 ?( i; i
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 @" c1 b" z) n: k
charge the fee defined by the state.# v3 y- S8 N1 b h: B) {9 |
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" a0 b) }1 O. t! z+ bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type% p% t& V3 f: o& c1 O( N
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# b D- k+ g! `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 Y8 {- j* `9 a3 E' K9 v1 w$ cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) ~2 p3 h, m! M6 g T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 N# d. p r0 L6 ?7 k1 W2 Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 c: b& G9 T) N: ^8 c) Byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ U, |0 J# k9 F) p. K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 L' g h9 p; }1 v; bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 D9 a( n; b1 Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
J' R% D0 x' I2 O; R' f4 _to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 X" a5 \% d5 s5 h$ y$ Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# H: Q2 E( e( u3 I: P' A2 |are spaces.
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# s8 X0 k Q6 w3 u, ~% [( q6 dThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 ~, b& E8 J: n* h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; u9 F6 f+ c1 M4 ~# _; Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( R9 |; ?- V5 I' h8 x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; M7 d5 j6 w$ G# Eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ n- V3 F5 c" J, @2 J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& X) e+ U. T. B4 P$ d. ~) Y) ?- pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# P; A' D( O. h) X. r: T! Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ T) w: F3 f/ u6 _5 r: y' Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ z2 R5 f7 d4 e8 ^ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
