我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living1 l3 l9 A& x0 L- P+ b% a3 ^$ S
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. ]( k! y: K$ y" F1 con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" t" W9 j/ f# s8 |8 C9 F! i" |) q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give q" D1 h6 I+ m" b1 L
answers to our pointed questions.' Z# `) |- u/ }7 u' v2 V0 n6 Y$ m
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ i# C' Y% W- W/ U. c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: A' t5 ^! B, _' @out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 U8 H/ x9 F) E* i* K# [, E8 i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" G( P# z4 R6 l
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 _ E$ f! Y% M
medical schools.8 W. Z( P6 z% T Y) j+ t, d
+ F* @& q Y9 p0 g- |! WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. C' s9 K5 c6 l$ H. j
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, E0 O& I5 ^' g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ }6 T& J1 B: @, C) c A. C% X
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ K' }! T( u) jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 k9 |4 \9 k- K2 t5 b6 lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' o( r& c+ w. n: m* ~
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! A. f% t* U; O4 O8 y+ r/ Zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* Y: G$ u) S, m8 `, O6 cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 J; Z; b: T6 Y' i, _( hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' j7 [& O/ D9 x, q, |$ M
7 e* ^2 e" g% P- Q' wThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ j$ R( A4 a9 s9 Q7 P eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* a2 I) p) u! V2 L2 }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 ?$ [( ?: j4 R' r4 d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; [! H$ `+ ~1 N! N) n+ a" ^
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 b4 t; ^" Y4 E7 E Hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 h$ k' x ]0 x' G3 q! N jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* x/ w J0 Y5 [3 X, K6 Z" d# JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; g' R( y/ s* T1 ~: va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ Q3 q$ h; J2 m x' Y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! y+ X- X/ U5 }# b8 v0 eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 s/ n. J: k( Fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, G6 _5 N1 D! q& P5 j- {' a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ c1 V Q2 p. w5 A: mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! y9 P7 ?6 E5 D3 W0 z' _8 ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! I/ S- @# J* Z0 ^1 U/ i( V4 F/ @! bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ F' D0 Z; f# ~9 u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
; N, z( `0 t7 G( x0 F0 ^) _2 l1 qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
& z8 l$ {9 w5 ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 {, k8 k' t3 e$ [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
; T" V; H5 P$ a; k' v# @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
6 C3 e9 ~. y" B1 R8 Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 i2 [1 f- N8 `4 }: b
are spaces.9 o Q& b$ u- m% ?4 T) W
! j6 H: x! a- c2 [/ Q4 H. p9 ?0 o9 tThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) B; {( {. w! [) A& I. Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
0 r( K2 F8 f1 Wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: B/ S+ R$ z! Q: R5 c, S+ ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& h8 p I g2 p0 R$ ]% u$ D& U# g$ [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# Q- _4 @) J3 P/ |, ^/ sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* [: O( g* F. N1 ^ e- m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 N5 U6 p7 @7 Z' Q, L/ l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ^! `8 H6 y: w$ _# V/ Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 n' D$ G- M" `6 K3 i' j6 j" t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
