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
2 H# |) o, u Y; s& i& e+ B3 Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 A5 V( o) f; A' Y8 r" I$ { l/ Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
- Q/ B2 k' a2 u5 |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 \! q% p( A# o" e# s; W4 F0 _
answers to our pointed questions.6 h9 o2 t9 ?# w$ {7 p
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# s9 Y2 T) |8 y* s( T45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 d5 F! T' T- ?8 t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
[$ [ \! z- ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
l" E+ S9 E2 a v; yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- u$ T( F0 B' fmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the K/ X5 I% D$ f
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" l# H, F6 _, W' T& z" r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years }7 R. [( _. `# q3 f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, ]3 [* Y# M, g& Cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 {0 K4 G. K/ C$ Q+ h! _* r3 L1 sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; f: M/ q* E' e3 G& n! X8 T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and Z& a4 \! r$ z/ l- a
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 g3 n5 w& |/ A9 `. ~! F' \shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% H! x3 `& w L) }
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
a+ X$ a: |! V3 \private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: h, Y1 `$ A4 l& nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ l: o8 {$ z: s4 J& X# d% f* Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
4 V4 w: ~6 ?4 ]thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( c- I$ Y3 T/ ]4 z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, q- u# w- ]$ ]5 r! H& ]
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 ]1 o8 E' l3 y" Y0 c4 U& o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! j' x, \, a0 s! ~. B% o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: P$ B1 f/ Z8 n& ucharge the fee defined by the state.
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3 y3 }9 z! G: q8 k' XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( ]5 N' C. T0 g1 Q9 E5 Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 h* I% K) }9 T1 I' \" R uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
' _+ q! y+ M1 s- L o5 gtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 {1 u; e7 z2 Z: t1 v" Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 f9 d3 M; `# z. K
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% z3 J" m: J& h) h1 J+ G* a: D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
2 m8 l& E' D7 M. Y2 Cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 p. H. N. u; b7 ~8 Z+ v, Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch E O' e% A3 h- l4 |/ [+ ?
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) D f) O4 _ K F& V7 b9 Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 z5 |) p* x# w. Vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 @' X; D! N ?( O D
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* e% D% ]+ q! Z8 m
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 v! a C) n( Uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 }! A/ w! k1 D( ^/ ]3 ?) v- V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
o' |9 n" k) j- x# K. l Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 S' S) i9 P2 R7 hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: K) M E( A! S: X$ X
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few Z% C: b# c4 D, t6 _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; P- \% A5 o4 p# ^+ R7 \% ]
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
_: {( V2 |9 ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; K5 I3 n$ a/ j2 |* u" X, K5 T
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
