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
5 ?$ v9 F& ~% I$ jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, P% c9 g, U6 N: j0 `
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
9 _6 v! W( \* T* n1 L"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
( t1 x$ Z* P# {. r" K1 M) M uanswers to our pointed questions.
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. k U$ D! W$ r/ i% FThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; `( W. r( ], D% U' }* A, r: w
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 a1 n. V+ Y$ _. Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" M# Z7 R5 L! _. j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ E, }" W& ~5 _2 n' ?, ?- uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: o+ H# b; Y7 ]medical schools.! Z+ h# |, K. h
' W/ K' z7 A( r! G& [Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. m( }8 }5 Q, q7 o+ Q: k
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. }) A. @/ X! T& z4 e5 nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years Y6 Z+ p1 h4 P% {
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
g8 y: a O, f0 t) dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 w* o0 }5 G4 s! y" q- w8 Vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 \! N# I* E" W& @8 n
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! }+ w5 b7 o, u; e. U
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 V2 C5 k+ t+ T2 F; p' J% lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 [7 L2 n7 r; Q. U1 s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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T/ J8 n6 I& Z- |" o1 V1 u/ s0 QThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ o( B6 z8 \+ w* _8 k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- N$ j9 |5 X' X" R4 m' a8 A, k7 X
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people |$ G" \* k+ R, [3 c* f; x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& Z8 T9 D) e- f3 _/ l2 ^, t: ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 b( O5 ~0 W8 v, M7 R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- A6 k: M; T, ^- E: T7 A. Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; y5 f+ _/ v* V+ Y2 {
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: L* z7 b: m% B7 F; G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* B/ f- D! r, V: j3 C1 l
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ w. |+ G2 t" J0 a4 n
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" D" C" U, ^( b2 }: P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 _. l. |7 [+ O$ {1 w/ h5 T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 J0 S, y5 D7 I# n8 n' V2 fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 [: @9 t9 C nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" c3 p1 [; B! F% ~8 aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 u, D8 W: F; i( [ w2 Y: G2 s
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people O* w5 l' X/ u) N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) b( [8 B0 g/ Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 {2 L! g* N- R% o& h% bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 @. p/ j. d0 \9 m; N5 _
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 n3 S! O1 _ E* W7 }8 v0 C4 R8 Abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' {7 Q" g: i6 E" ~$ w+ W7 C
are spaces.+ e; {" Q' y2 X v
4 y: U3 v, S* l0 y+ V& g! rThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
' q" Q/ [ l7 ]to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ R! I. N) w' v' n7 v* `5 bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 j" H- Q3 \. Z8 W1 ?4 q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( _1 U7 ]5 [# t9 w/ ? S
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& H! Q' e2 }8 n! }5 w
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" w. ^2 e+ U3 }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% ~6 c' G: f; V; m
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% j* i5 u5 v3 a: f Q/ V$ ~% k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
5 c2 t! X' H- d* b2 h We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
