我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 ^2 L" B( @3 V. ^" G5 Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. z, M/ R. F9 a7 O; ~' J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
) m' K7 F. O/ j: h! @( A"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give V. H) ?) L( n) r* p p
answers to our pointed questions.
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5 I2 h$ y# B# Y2 G0 dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* @ {9 [- }, f) T7 d/ n% c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; S% W, p. H. `3 Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 l) z; h: ? \7 n" P
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; n# ]# \' ?% ~to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 l3 v+ q0 U% z! ~
medical schools.
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4 E7 k2 G' I( u& LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& x# i9 K. q+ x6 i* igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 K: H- n% A4 h( q8 f
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ t! l( i' \1 |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; d9 `+ X2 T5 Y. X' ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 J c2 v4 _" `2 g, ? g! Eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* g3 F% u! s; `; |' p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) ~7 o* a9 @! [/ `" b3 @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: g5 X# n/ C- l+ X" ]8 L' `: w* w& mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 _$ e K) }2 Q( E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 ?; k) {- U0 i) f: m
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 k/ F& S: q* a3 s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 }* B8 ~0 M7 @( V0 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: J7 `/ F3 \3 c3 Y' A, Z- |
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 i& A8 P& d2 p$ F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* E3 Y, ?) X. K& I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 c' g" H5 A4 s2 [4 ]
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When Z! S \0 u, @4 Y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' z, c* N: r3 t; P/ b8 b: {, I% vcharge the fee defined by the state.% s# [( d6 }5 v% H% [1 b e; t
# U) V2 |, ] @- E, sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. P4 |& N9 e/ r" }- m! @) V7 T0 Q0 i; h3 c
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 D$ B. x6 {8 L! J; F( q
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) z7 ?) ~- w8 k% [2 q; a! x1 l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, F `- g+ S& E+ Zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: E* C$ f2 b W% A4 O3 B' tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! n$ g( J" d9 {) P/ P
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if x/ N: b1 i+ }2 [4 p! _+ i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; U5 d7 N( H1 q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) M& h6 b2 S5 E
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! a* U& f* T4 O5 F& z& C0 T- s& N* hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 `8 u# o: a# p& V2 _* sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 P. F$ |; Y: h% M4 x
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 `' Y/ o! [( d1 f. b6 ^1 Zare spaces.0 ^. e* J7 s" ?& X- D) n$ a' i/ B
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi q% a \ L6 ^ K
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ S, s5 f* j8 W( ?, u! S9 N
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ `& v: f' Q" _! y- ^
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# C' T N. q0 ] d( ^1 E2 x. o2 Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 o4 ]6 S' I4 A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 ^( Q4 S# e, [& }- {1 [
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: g" |! p$ n0 l: w t9 a" ?, q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 d! c7 I' Y: D6 W/ P( g; g( sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 A9 L8 k0 G9 P5 \& A9 l# [6 ?1 K
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
