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
p1 c# l; ^; h+ Sstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
1 O4 }! }8 d" D9 B" D" o# ]5 s' M" Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 D! `+ Q& o1 I- I) Y) H3 y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 P& O0 X' L& h J( R# c0 T% }1 vanswers to our pointed questions.- j( P0 D- y7 w
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 D' ?3 D1 |5 v" ~0 K5 w45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 N8 f3 g; t" C8 [+ v
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% k2 o* J- C. \0 ~/ F8 a. Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! ?# n$ q- t- R. Y \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 n; T- |2 `9 I. X- |medical schools." E# [3 k: l. K2 P
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* j8 p) X, m1 `, M& l/ f+ ]
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 k: G* [3 N" d5 o1 a7 j0 ~4 Qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% D# g! y' M$ V2 E' H
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ c0 Z4 {$ t5 ?1 g! ^is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 B& ?( W% c ^- @2 l/ lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! g2 f& v; g9 N& r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 Q" L: S, t7 Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* [ _1 R1 z/ ~
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 Y7 |1 J' W1 i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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- p3 r% s4 l3 k1 IThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) z/ o$ t6 g; q. b/ i6 W0 V
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 h# K& p) `6 R/ z8 M/ F0 @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& V( _: G/ O# B8 M- l x# f$ phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! j+ D! J6 W" y+ |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
+ C1 f5 e2 R. isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
w& e. b: m& Ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 H% M/ D, o7 Z! ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) _! o8 e y# ]6 X
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: Q4 `+ k& {: P7 l
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 B9 f- t% U" G) }1 K ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* Q$ h, b$ z9 z1 i( I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; V2 i* A3 u3 R1 @. a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 Y' r3 }( x2 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ x0 i2 _2 T2 r5 a. \( F. `working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on s2 }9 W9 ^: o- ?: Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' h! A8 ~; V M. P9 \
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 g V; b6 P& b E
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 K" u9 Q+ f O" e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 N" F. P2 M; E0 {, xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 B" B2 @0 o1 @/ g9 e' _
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! Y9 V2 |" f- z' t6 ?/ g/ C# r3 X
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
1 c' b+ p& ~3 C u) E. m, @. Tare spaces.- P) ]" O: |4 r; A _& w
; p+ @' `# K/ B; y" B7 F5 r! ]6 tThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; f& g1 _5 \ M* F+ ]# F) T" [to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. e1 ]. H. A8 c) H6 Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: y& X, t; K( w
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& h9 S; c/ w# j8 H: Z: O4 k o" u5 Aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 m( U* E" M0 q9 [( M5 s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' ~; [* [' C, X# \1 Hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- v! \* I3 W! P3 n; z1 K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
L* |+ B8 u" c/ R) p9 x( dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. l: n" Q/ B3 v; t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
