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
9 T9 f; l/ {) H! [( Ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; N6 v* [/ g3 h" R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! ^; s/ C0 Z. ^4 w
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 W9 B: W9 L! c G8 t. a
answers to our pointed questions.+ P: E# z. n' B; s
& b9 s$ Y& a$ K P7 |% CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 }8 u9 I8 K4 K1 Y! e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! L) Q5 z* J& d, j' ~out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; L5 `! C2 g% V: dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* L `; i+ j$ Q8 i" |8 Wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ h A& p7 K+ Y( J! m1 R, M
medical schools.
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J0 x6 U1 R. Q" g- ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 z9 e! z9 X$ r+ J9 \$ x9 ?% O. Wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, Y1 H r5 _" V0 Y4 D! B
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, }. w) E5 A% c0 S1 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 S( Z+ s: o8 ~7 R
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, a( ^. F9 h! ?" B5 W+ A( n
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 P$ t, D# S5 n( q% h$ \3 Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' P; p0 D& h, R/ |0 P1 x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% l2 z2 l4 Z; d; {6 R. i% `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 ]& [' C& D5 ?$ W i2 I
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 N( p O4 J @! F( ]& q$ S
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ ]' X: r9 ~. k1 `: ], U
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* [. B+ J$ C$ {0 K( w/ c- x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. A& w; c1 X3 a8 V" o: i' R& }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% [( p. V. {3 F( ~9 d/ ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( n+ Z/ h& t% d: n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 U; ^$ k1 }2 b8 Z) {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# i* g' d {+ l, E$ D3 q3 ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: S" M6 F/ @. f8 i% P6 `charge the fee defined by the state.
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7 L, Z" O9 R$ f; PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 ^2 D: q) f) S( h2 Y0 l% r0 _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 H" ?% W# d# b- H" Q4 [& jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 d1 c# j1 s! e, N9 {) L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ F1 c* G d9 H8 Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
~; _) H0 z% N# Z/ Lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ } d( R7 H) N/ cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 v0 E& o# ~3 |
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; l3 J d t" K, m% `3 A1 F1 V: O) B8 g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- Y' H( B0 G7 q' t, f) yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' Z6 ]7 e' f; C; |1 { ~/ w& jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want k. u* B/ N# F+ {9 G
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) h; \2 h5 z U1 V4 a5 ~! y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% s( @2 Q+ e/ m+ R% @* f( ^$ q5 Yare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" L8 \* {, s2 p7 Uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 ]$ o* I( P' {" V5 M; e+ Z, \
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% f% X0 [' r8 G8 ^- m9 b
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 z9 l0 x9 N/ m- K+ }9 u! _ qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 Q& g- \5 n8 j F$ U
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 T. R7 z. v8 |$ l3 W3 ]7 onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 t: L! ] v- P: |% ]- j* D5 G
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ u6 v. e. q5 @3 q$ M0 J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 P1 D+ b- K* u0 k" F& c7 x( O
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
