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
R- Y9 s Y# ]$ }0 q5 Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: |* D( B, ]' v' Z9 y+ x& j% ?on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 Z4 f2 H9 a/ a9 }/ D. b"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! n9 V; \# ^- b5 F6 P; H, C, Z( W
answers to our pointed questions.
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! ^( W G9 s$ `( \. lThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 w4 B9 V8 ]/ R* P& v' r( _' k- _45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 i3 B4 s! W M8 p# E
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
7 O% @7 d- e' O9 m2 q wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
$ T$ { Q+ Y* H, \9 x( ?1 h+ vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; ^7 @7 E1 |) V) F0 V3 \6 C1 y! U
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( b$ Y* t4 ?5 i. ]( C2 @
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# v* u' _, _ [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
, `: s) `. R7 d3 z8 c6 g0 n9 @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 s# E+ J9 X( a$ C" @2 d0 r# q% Cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( @7 A0 Y/ ^! w1 @ q1 y; Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
j4 W& Y$ c& D% H7 ?% L% z! hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 Y2 h; C+ G4 g2 {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 c6 w! @$ ]4 S; j, l) p. H$ ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 ` @/ s9 d7 S& O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! X' h O0 U/ [/ _$ P I' v0 |
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 x6 s& w5 M- P5 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 G# p4 N1 W* i+ ?' S. n: V0 e9 b- y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
l& s/ k) K8 yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 q3 Z n6 r( nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
; o0 `+ H% x( x$ G8 a9 vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ H2 x3 w+ ~4 k. l! Z2 I8 ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. N/ C; g: h7 b$ r- q6 m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' N# Q2 }* H; G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ ^0 c p$ M: ~/ K, vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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+ j% U7 s0 W3 q2 G9 k% s5 HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 M: ?. j- `, f# _8 B# j, D: b% t
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' ~$ U6 t, g4 f, |$ wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
8 R) Z* d6 f) p% M7 vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* T2 I) f2 w! dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, G# ^+ P# |* [' d
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 }0 r0 o, E3 j4 r& F: i& F1 e
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# [7 c3 Y* Z; k0 Z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 h' s: O' \ Z7 x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 v$ r0 v, _$ G+ Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! m, {" g9 T/ P
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: P. l% x* g* @+ Z$ S5 `) W. @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) a$ y; d$ w" r5 o2 s! A
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
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6 N4 u3 } Q9 b+ C* cThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; P1 f: G; m5 V) I% Y5 T8 x
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 c* D3 q4 |5 D+ W# S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) I1 }4 I* f, T6 E7 j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 H3 H- a+ Z0 }4 x; e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 H' a7 H* t; U+ U( o3 N4 hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' L: e) }, C. B
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% R3 v8 d8 f0 n! j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 A" q, |- F, Q) m/ @4 Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% { k1 Y# U; Y$ t3 ]
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
