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
: t) v" e9 z% N0 ]1 t' hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, n8 S$ T& d! A' xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 n( v$ J0 N" ?, c P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* i7 G% B7 W3 R0 l
answers to our pointed questions.7 G+ t1 e, f: f- Y0 U0 Q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, |* }! K1 V& s7 P, l2 G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 u' B, m) s- D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 \ X. `! u" j% M, l9 F
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! y7 t$ O+ s, u8 G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 o( b& h9 M8 n! T& o+ Ymedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; ]6 G& g+ i9 I' {government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 b: C' ~5 a- s- b0 O' h- Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 \4 K5 E5 A' o- B6 Y, [! G# \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# `* [9 b0 f3 r+ V. x+ G2 A6 z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% T7 L W: z' Q9 _" Z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
P5 W2 D- m4 b2 |. _' s2 ]9 h- }" X4 eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 o0 w8 s, {" rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 q7 N Y% h% W8 U% b# M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
& A0 E' s- H2 S% a; G; u- l5 esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 @! O. a9 ^0 _
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 _" Z" K; w$ d! rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
) f/ W# P0 e& B9 j- wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 a7 q$ T, g6 E" Zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 W5 s! M: ^3 F6 e: Q1 ~$ B
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% X0 O6 ^ b( e& ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. m1 h( O7 _" {" ]$ V% ~divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 z3 d+ I6 [/ d" X4 ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 W* r4 C' L+ R
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 m# Y) D* L; @- I/ K' M( ]charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# ]# ?" F5 o" Ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 p) l9 j% ~/ S8 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
) K" N9 `; e, d4 m$ e4 Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( E: b% M `4 W. ~- Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 X7 @9 a* F v+ J: V2 }# Z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ s/ [) I( y# x ~; {9 b$ L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 e% z3 X7 H# u: I0 M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 Q7 x/ n' E( c0 n( _' E2 K! n/ w
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, |: F2 b5 o- ]! J$ ]# ]. thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) c& I, N1 y1 C: ^) ? ?; w. ]5 l
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 O9 L3 a, z# x! R1 b( K3 \; }( b
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; i, G; s8 R L: }* `0 Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Z$ n& Q5 L- O1 K: Sare spaces.! O- L' ?& ?- b8 z5 l
- }0 D9 L, D9 X9 R) kThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: o- e8 H5 {9 J8 h0 H
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 P0 z' Q: c" y. P- Y) @8 P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the9 M5 n# o0 w" M; ^7 r9 Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 t# A$ x/ N/ Eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 {0 G3 @0 Z$ T/ b9 m2 ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. C7 @) A8 n! N! E8 V; N$ onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 a" S5 q/ X: n3 n- C6 t: b0 dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 P" e8 A, |, v/ J P) s zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
9 f, m1 V7 ]- T1 i9 n We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
