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 S1 `6 N1 A( X. N3 ]3 r# w7 Estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ P3 C& X0 e6 p- h+ ?
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ e, t ?4 c& p' C2 y; }& W: C! ["George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ S9 I& C% t2 Q8 l6 h# r& N3 u+ S/ K
answers to our pointed questions.
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. |( F% {) ?4 F4 IThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* |9 o4 k! I9 x45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 L% m, E# n; V. Oout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' ?+ }+ _4 f# r# ^6 o: i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! F/ e W+ O# n+ _5 V7 wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- d: W6 p+ r4 a9 m+ cmedical schools., ^1 u8 \8 A8 `+ V$ [
# Z7 k: [# D& d( S: a, QEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 s l, t2 |9 _$ {& A7 N+ T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 P- H9 X- ]4 d4 z* r ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 u+ X- p. y5 e9 yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! f1 a1 f. D3 x0 e( H Z+ Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 n% X4 m6 i) o5 T# W+ y! ]
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 {3 m9 y8 m, s4 U4 s1 j) _+ cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" v) Q" d0 J1 j/ j) Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* g5 @" k3 p% X. G$ p% K. ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some! e; c2 w- e4 z. @4 |) I
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
2 N' G/ k0 t/ S: a. C' u& S) tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# B! X$ R) l3 F- B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 |& P4 x' |+ u( W) l+ Q$ k9 \0 E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
D" V% s/ c* ?- D1 v% Qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 o0 n, Y, w" Z. J' Ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
% G- I( S1 E5 Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) n0 Q8 N3 v& k3 M
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 t# s6 w) }, G6 Z' K, }' @
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 n6 l9 h: V5 H8 N, gcharge the fee defined by the state." f% n8 X7 C7 i% b. Z- b _
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: \, V4 ?$ V7 E/ p. b! u$ Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! Y0 a0 i* L& k4 a
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 s. v6 t/ e9 l2 {- {3 H8 I% J4 j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ y# Y# ?: \7 [* D: \, x
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 g' y2 f( \, r0 a$ F6 d0 ^1 F% w
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, H2 F1 Q8 l! }& w0 Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 J. R( ~# o& r, M! M/ h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- R" c9 u8 N; k2 k: D6 gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; @+ R; n, `0 g4 N/ j
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; S9 z7 W* T9 Speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( U! u; C! C. c/ J6 H$ Y- C# D4 F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& c7 R2 l8 y' o/ D% Ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there L* l X4 ~ Z( d6 i9 Q1 J" q
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 Q/ v# z9 [' q5 D: uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they }3 F$ l, B2 V& T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 j }+ Y6 R2 X, ]% P0 Z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 Z7 v" s1 {) S1 ^) o4 K
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! A- I: L: s/ W# N( g% e1 mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 K, H1 p+ l1 ` ?) f5 Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% i5 Q) o# [, b2 Hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- y& d4 e, B/ D2 S' Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ G- U/ D9 N( }! a( P7 ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
