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
- d$ [2 O0 n" k* ?7 z7 Z. Mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 j! u# m4 U1 _( s: v0 ~9 e* d) Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
y& C' j3 T1 b1 s& l: ]: \' V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! ^' ~. ~) t. Y. w. U
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ S7 @) X1 g& W9 w1 x$ N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 u2 {5 Y2 w7 P' }
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 e: D, K3 [: L# k1 K1 ?, t6 O; |$ \free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ \. q1 J& s8 {0 f' d7 Zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 b( a* v' e; g' u9 z, W
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* F! [! d/ z9 P- l
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- D' C' Q- u! ?$ _+ a U: y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; ~6 y; m8 _( @8 B
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: R, e, \ K2 r7 y9 i/ A
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ d/ r6 Q9 f( k& V& A0 Fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; Q u' L8 o' l
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 ^" f: e, C4 e1 h- E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- [' |) V5 W' E8 Z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& c! c1 }2 ], V* u' x' Q4 ~
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* A7 }% l; ?! L( C! W
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# m! p+ ?: i+ I' ~& kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, e( F, N e9 Q' Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
" A) r9 c3 |5 U: O4 h1 {- m" jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 N( B5 |7 N5 N, t# Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 T7 p' d8 c1 k+ `
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 w9 h/ F0 [4 w" O4 _ `$ {divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 y1 v2 B: t4 B7 h" UDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* i m3 `! Y) c: R9 v3 \) Ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 K* R9 r% {( y0 Y4 ?
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' M, k0 |/ k) @1 ?8 Z. mon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ i8 e, `5 a) Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
j4 m" \" P$ Z8 Rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ t8 ~% v. h9 Q& |7 s' g4 Mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& P# n2 t- D* Y9 w0 c$ F! {/ e
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% \0 ?! @2 x; n9 [. F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; r! V% L) B3 \+ Cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ c6 l) E' U& X: d2 O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; V7 W; y$ ~0 i5 W8 q/ @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" R- v3 K( |6 b3 X5 ~5 Q0 `3 s) i
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( e) `# F1 t& H4 P
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. ]9 h6 E- O$ Q% tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' }4 ~* g, K) s, \
are spaces.; N5 G, b- n( n9 J4 l2 c9 G
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" d3 k) i; T" W9 ?% g; [! h) o' [' s0 `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; B q) c) |* _: I! K/ [( x0 z3 V5 ^, hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- p- ^# N2 F5 z& }4 J8 U* z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 z- a# U! K9 f8 q& Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# l% M1 u7 a# j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ y' v) ?9 [3 i7 _nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: q: [3 }, x. V. T8 j5 Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" l9 n2 C/ Z/ r5 I, D! W2 `is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% E! z9 u/ d) t- E) C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
