我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 o) K" P! G& r5 H: q& U6 a4 ]/ C
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 _! H/ G* a& Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 h' S, u4 M3 k6 Q* K) k$ s
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; B, m/ r; m. x7 l, S8 Vanswers to our pointed questions.* Z: ~5 t6 n' y% W! N
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 D0 J3 I& j% v- Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 K& p# o: T6 m/ [: Q+ ^# A2 I4 _) |/ y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; c2 D/ e8 J' ]+ o Q# ^free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# n$ p$ f% n8 Tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' @2 i8 I& G3 H2 m1 D2 Imedical schools.6 b* W8 _- L8 ~ k9 k! y" w
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 k) N8 M7 D: m1 _! Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
, U1 C. p8 d# i* ~0 J6 n, ^/ ?to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: x4 q0 O- l. g8 |" Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& P) M* ^) X: r1 C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" h" G8 \, n2 Q% @over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 D4 z! W+ W! A; Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& ~1 i9 ?1 l* n% f5 M4 Q6 \# X
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ M$ D9 V5 r# O8 n1 oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 m2 V7 P& X, C; V1 K7 H3 E; `
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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' i( r, z" s, o$ X5 hThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* `2 E* S5 H2 l' Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. u: G! X( L/ B( Q0 y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; ~8 c% I! G0 h; h2 @
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% O- `2 Z7 ^) k$ D; f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
7 ?0 x, r" Q2 w+ ^- Isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) ?. k% F! D3 e3 w1 ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 f Z& R7 _) n) W: }: nDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: c, N' v+ [0 c& u! Z1 i" U6 V8 F& Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( ]4 p- ]$ t. X3 B7 R) t1 i
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 a' D F$ Q7 Y; s6 E+ R8 f2 W( `0 j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 z/ ~# F. u6 V; Hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" E4 E V3 D c* l; m5 b' [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 l- d7 u9 N' g
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 ^- M: Y$ B+ [. p" F/ N2 P
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" E& h( T* K2 x7 w+ [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; M/ ]: P- K% R! o1 U `
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' ]6 [# ~& n @3 b, V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' ] v$ a/ O7 N. T+ c- }2 vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& Q1 m. C/ e% c9 |7 Z! n# c1 O Opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* c, Y. x' P& ^3 l6 V& c' b0 qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 P* c( [! }& K A& abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ R5 {/ Q Z: D! N, z
are spaces.5 C. J0 h6 ^9 j/ c- H' W/ H8 {
6 i6 a/ F+ I: J5 Y# ZThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, R- y; @+ m, {, g
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. Q- h. F$ f& ^. R8 m% D2 b: ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ e( T. E o2 o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 b, f) Z7 d( t+ B5 G3 ?0 }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 Q+ o' k$ O/ K; m. c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ [0 c5 R+ P) N x# o+ z+ v; i
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" ^! V% j' A1 U- M: P icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, s k8 g* @7 g& K( Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 f9 o- E( L% o# t# R- h
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
