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
6 o! o6 d6 E& {7 p' Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ q, v5 ~5 | g- lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
) B+ y1 i4 X5 U) F"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. Q- q6 Y4 ]2 G- S
answers to our pointed questions.
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g: d m* {; F3 D: ?2 v; J+ d9 qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ B6 p9 v3 G1 Y# \3 [45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, v; R* v; U* i' z
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 m# B% q: _) sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: V6 `2 C# `( p D! [to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 w I, Y$ f0 ]
medical schools., f3 H, v' _7 Q& A: q* P1 }
) R! I% N6 _: s. ^Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the p) @4 P& |( k& A) X$ _ }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: `8 ` V# a- ]6 C" p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# m( p) v7 a3 |8 iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& M- K8 K6 R7 h5 c2 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 F" Y% _$ e6 k" _5 N; w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* n) J- K4 S5 F, `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, s& d( E6 V$ p, H& t
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 w0 N. m: T R) y6 F, M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 w/ v4 P( u. `. @! Y, k, R8 P+ w
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& ^: E- a5 I! \8 G& Y
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" `& T4 r5 ^+ x7 b! r6 p* Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) p3 h( L& M. E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, Z) [# V" Y% }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ \; [# S; m4 r2 |! S2 U6 ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ N) Y0 S I) m4 y+ o) F7 W
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 x9 R1 F& Y1 C3 X1 l6 C: _
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 ]# D3 B6 g: d. ?Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* _4 a8 Y+ [6 j+ ]; ]" L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 f& h9 K9 T, L& r1 ^9 s( e, M ^
charge the fee defined by the state.
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0 Y( P7 F4 x8 H! o: TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- a* ]% V4 E0 W' o( r
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* j& x+ J, ]9 h, q+ Y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& M& _) V6 ^6 I. E- F0 [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) ?3 C$ x& S" _ T3 G# jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
t! y, E6 B. jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" W i* N: } Y% `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
Q) [2 k, d5 Y3 C/ l7 l y Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 l1 A8 n/ S3 ~! f" B% vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" B$ g. ~. O" n7 u
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 w7 K: [; Z7 }7 a; ]- n2 m1 H
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 B/ [ M$ g: g/ L5 S0 d- T6 w
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# F& x( k7 w# C5 X, K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ R. X) S3 {; D+ m$ u: U, E
are spaces.
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' e& K" X$ U% P* ^* |/ S* F$ nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ P1 o+ {" s( _0 d$ f4 I u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 f; o- j2 E* o; Y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
5 ]0 V, v6 |) w; a6 }: ^+ t6 e40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 b" D4 W k: J& r% ?8 ]+ Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' Z3 U" t; I3 I9 X1 I* u: J5 J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ S: }+ W3 H/ N) q4 Tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( Y4 A6 g {: P# H: F' wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! }+ E( g5 g. [9 r2 u+ `" p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 M2 A4 q6 K$ ~
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
