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
* w J/ A! e# r% ?4 L" ~ }standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' ?* @8 H8 w% c/ i8 a( q8 bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( U$ K3 T+ L! M G) R
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& K7 L8 ], O6 ~answers to our pointed questions.) p3 |' O4 z: X o1 e
. E& Y" I) d3 [( x* U8 |4 NThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( }( Z, `; u7 h# p3 @/ [& v3 ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; D) o7 \2 n; y1 U/ {
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 W0 `: Y7 K* o7 s8 tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
b1 B3 `- G) k& vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" K% v6 [3 S" e0 }! n* ?! f- j
medical schools.# Y! m; j7 ~9 x
+ K9 v3 O( T9 R& }* x) QEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( u; s3 i3 Y$ H8 Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 m4 r: Q; U' S, ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- `/ w! e: l) Y+ m
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 {* C$ m7 G. o8 s7 v* j6 [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ L. n9 t5 m/ G) v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 e) w \, n$ L6 c* gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* T- ?3 Z6 _' L( m" V" X5 {+ t. l* H$ ]mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( j- X, \+ } ?; v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 C1 @1 I1 U+ Z# ^( m
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 X2 q$ ~8 S/ e# s U P/ sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
& {7 y6 f8 U+ A( |& xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 U8 g1 F$ I4 q0 X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ H! s- c- F6 ^$ X; Xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% F, c6 G2 u Y7 c, @: esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ r7 m" z3 J# ^. ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 v' v9 O) v! d, n4 h3 ^3 ]0 O7 D
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! v6 \; I a5 @- }: Y$ z) l$ Ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# L. C' m6 g Fcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- S$ @- z: P9 Q$ A' v5 l& q9 L
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ c( [# r8 b+ y' Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
$ \: x. u g/ q1 Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. a* A$ A5 {; s4 q, Mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 ^' j6 I8 l/ M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' h- l5 {0 a+ Y. f F, }schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: j% a# Y' @# m8 M2 i' p s
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 q2 A* ^, |4 T* c" ?
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 g$ t( n6 r8 f% Q. l! w3 j0 P* c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, ]. |; ?7 t! v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' i5 S9 Z, O' e
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& h k! ?- e! l' h% M3 Y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: v7 y3 P: S e- Yare spaces.5 u" h4 M3 j, ?0 m
% r: p- j; ]) G# y& AThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ ]: ?+ r, O: x/ P9 ~9 f) b- s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! M2 L4 D# {+ A2 A
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% d( z( n! Z% @/ w# L- [7 M: T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 y: R6 e. _7 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 P8 s. {# z, `- j, s8 `% t& c/ A9 Zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 [, ~( `7 r2 q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 C3 a6 v K* P0 c$ R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- e/ `! N# I% i/ |0 L3 `is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: [3 V; T: W' D- F9 e We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
