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' g9 Q" x5 J: ?; ?. W
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* k) v! g" ~1 r2 r7 a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 J4 N6 r) T& ]9 l/ N7 q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' t. |" T; s- A3 X4 l. s
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( `8 ]4 [0 R# H( ~- ]8 W5 G# T45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 |) |9 V! @+ c8 c, J& sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 ~* }* v5 y8 z7 C" efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( p0 | |# }, xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 M, |5 k' n/ Pmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, y* C$ j- N6 N, i I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
[" V# w& j( R9 {to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& u% @) Y( ` i/ V3 I" { Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& j2 N5 ^$ w' B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# s% i$ u5 l+ X0 O
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( C1 p7 B/ E$ F0 \. iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ l2 V! B. C! @. F2 z. R! E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- r* h a$ I; D4 X1 Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 {0 V: D* I) w- X) H, Z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 E2 b) v' f0 k! Z/ C
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ B0 o& s% u8 g& B
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# }: [! Y: q8 B3 X/ M& s: q2 V8 @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 @5 h% U' Z7 ~) f" Y# u3 A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# }- `9 X$ C$ y1 M) I5 m- j- f6 w$ M
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& D& C) S' s0 R8 Gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) Y& g. I: F6 X: u/ @! A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 A0 v& y' d3 ~2 z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 o8 f: D8 w% ]* J7 Ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- w. S6 ?1 ]7 B7 d2 Kcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ m- i" B' g, p- s% Z7 Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( h" j5 p+ K+ H; G' E2 _of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% M* m# W. ~9 U/ j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" j: P* w0 y6 G$ w+ L
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# B" v1 C" C5 z8 F
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! M3 ]& V& S" Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; U" T& V* G; B* K8 Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- x6 r( U; t5 B' {$ Q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
w. j" U8 Z& m5 ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( Y$ l8 i P" ^ g" W0 kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' h' n7 X8 K5 v! t6 K( k" t. z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" a" s$ O( N9 k M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# K$ a8 R9 q1 v( M+ S1 @" Jare spaces.* S5 j) }% W. i$ K" q2 o6 s
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ Q: L3 Y/ R2 {* t2 L$ f+ W8 ^
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
7 w5 }) a$ h6 Nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; q2 Y# X3 B' k1 L+ [2 ^) d
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 }6 z: M. b- V7 ]. Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 _0 i& Z& z5 N* p" e0 M) @best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
, l0 o2 l' P) K7 Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 y! Q7 p: l# j. @! jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 F+ S9 ~) p: n- M1 L& W2 N, |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" ^* K' v6 D* k2 }' _8 G6 Y" ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
