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
. h8 Y. w! s3 @" U% astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' ~6 R& t1 p j! f1 Pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( l6 u6 ]' M$ ^"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 T* \0 ~2 g2 K, s2 G# X: s
answers to our pointed questions.
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8 Z- m+ z! i. A* m3 bThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ k2 |# O; Q9 q: E8 J: L; U
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ Z/ S0 u8 h5 N- V$ ~8 d1 A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' L3 @1 B& ]7 F0 _( O5 ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ ~* Z+ U5 M5 Ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 m8 }8 k; y0 i7 W+ w
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. }$ } i5 Q0 b& Z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. W% J9 s* Q% o$ X! ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 d9 \+ K6 h( E" g: W% p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ l, K+ x+ q1 a
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" a; F/ O0 G! G0 s$ n( O# S; L5 a. W# kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& V! ]6 P Y1 v. z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 T" g- I- U# ^. c* ]& M2 p4 `
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ I- r, d6 E, @) q# N
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 s/ R2 {+ V4 n5 h D
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, T' r; J+ G* O/ g- A' r% B$ _, k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) X( h5 M. e, r3 w
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. b0 X) _7 k9 T! [4 ^! ?% Y6 }# zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& b# O) H% }5 k- e2 N! gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% w4 x/ m1 F7 z8 }2 x% C
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& S9 n- i: G( G) }' _# @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 q0 n0 w# y) _; w2 \" P0 _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ R$ l( j; V/ p9 s/ [ G3 n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 h- w+ z, V. A) icharge the fee defined by the state.- `7 ~2 a) x% g8 h
' _* o4 H2 Z: X0 sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ z3 z5 H4 U6 r% b4 n. ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 K/ \, f% l# o8 D* M& P% I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* ? d, F. @0 B$ v/ y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% V9 r& _& `, A
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# R# }! y4 n- S- D! N( j" L l* d
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 Y5 X( N0 V0 ^, F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 J/ b! s6 B. R. T5 ]
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% E0 {1 H7 m6 P( i- h6 F; s& Y5 {2 |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( Y3 d$ ?$ ^2 y6 T* c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 b5 e$ s7 W$ Y8 X9 u S' Qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' Y$ [' x# K Z+ J0 Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 A- }4 V: q' E& _1 b& v6 ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& v" E. a+ |8 K4 `. J$ s9 vare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: r6 a) C7 _7 S+ s1 A' g4 _
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
' q$ s, O8 f4 w: L% y. aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: M1 I" S* p0 _+ L" x4 R# C+ j8 |
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; l# s2 a* j# h6 n% c% H7 H! E6 g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! s, S9 _! y8 z9 R5 I5 _
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* `2 W" v% N+ Z- Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 m p) d; p% U' Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 g( E- \( S' M: w5 }is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 ^1 ?. a. f$ S# E5 o+ i- _: S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
