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
) C2 [8 ^; c8 v5 Bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! d! g; }/ c, f0 q2 A
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; x- ] \, l; s N- S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 ?+ Y Y0 X2 i1 _2 z) Z
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; R {8 T0 \, k; ]" j* `45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 E) D6 G. K6 t" l3 Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 D# e; E$ j: a
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 ?9 Y6 R) M4 h
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 v7 _7 `+ G2 C) t1 p
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' p$ B" j. N2 G$ vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* U" P' b3 s5 c8 a" C9 i) C9 V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- [- i# T1 s+ ]/ T: eassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 b$ X( ~1 G! O" d- T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& s2 x5 p* N: S7 A- X9 P" t4 \; qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" i; w. P; z+ g" o1 M- rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 M, |0 e: l. d8 H
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 g0 z- g8 N1 |# F8 L3 J+ h" u: p+ v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% a F I) n( \& Xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ Y( r* z% x2 v, I+ B
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 q8 S; P& T& X) _1 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# g/ u8 w2 i. [1 _# S9 F- t, y; s* }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% E- i D3 y6 g7 `! f o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 H) c1 A+ H; W% l" {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 t8 E; Z! J) [5 u9 H4 Z8 Y7 hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 H$ f" C, x! Q; y% K& X" q" d5 U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ l# P& s' a# B2 RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% G A H% _; W) Y0 ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
9 a; o# M4 i) }7 B) _charge the fee defined by the state.. x* r+ w1 T# ]; v& h0 X* T
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 y* e: z+ y6 A1 @& @on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, @5 t- D) T. C- i" ^+ iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 F T: _; E2 a* S: d/ d7 Z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ V W, E+ W' u9 E k" X$ P6 Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. q0 t9 m0 Q n$ yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, `' P" l0 }# W' d3 Aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* y0 t+ x; u% y( M/ p
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" G2 o' \5 f0 m* U3 X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 ^" K' B; h% a' T% F2 I1 Q8 ~hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ ?+ I7 K* ^" w2 n
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% D/ ~, T7 l$ ]* F' I( f3 m
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 C N6 j) h& p3 Z4 M/ xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- V8 f6 U; S5 e$ o# U% C
are spaces.
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& }9 K. P! c. I5 }/ [3 |There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 ?$ [& D/ B3 D" q3 M' @. jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- s* H6 H6 W% c6 O6 a) j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, L" M! H4 N! T6 G$ n
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% d( o% P) @6 v- |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 s) P* G% E7 c/ u+ ]# J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* Y: E1 V7 \( t: j7 ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, H; |: ^7 |, [) M7 P: j# w) {" J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 y/ a; }; D9 Y9 f! S, ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' f6 E9 A X% A' o: G( L$ Q. U" M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
