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/ F' k; `1 Y [/ G
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; x" B7 O5 O4 F: C
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 F9 \( o* Y" U& Z4 `: [! n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: u! ~ [5 N( j% J: b, Y. ]answers to our pointed questions.! ^ z1 Z/ m9 t
0 I, }( W0 `4 e6 D/ z3 LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; U8 t9 f$ {/ s! \7 h8 t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 f9 l# L8 G" b" T2 e0 S: iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ q3 K' d" [3 w- E
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. o" H3 l* U4 m) X- }9 J9 u& oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! Y3 ^ D( T7 x! {# q5 t4 ~* j% l
medical schools." x% i9 G0 g. J5 ?+ A9 l
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* n2 n( }- z7 X& Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants t' m; p+ i2 C9 x8 Z4 {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- r8 q$ L' L8 A; s7 o$ M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. `; A9 S" ?3 X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
/ y* l7 s/ W- \8 ]% b6 N! s# B: y& ~# eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
& ~) F0 W* I# b9 Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 `3 [" r5 F+ W* F$ O* Q8 rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 d0 t0 f8 W( \: q, j' B3 d9 xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some! a4 G9 y n1 C3 `9 @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 a# s. N4 r& [# h; ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! Z* ^( _' l* t w2 i) |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 F6 r0 c7 E6 n, C
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 j0 V" R$ [7 |1 u: t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
' ~+ ?6 b6 W' G$ `' e3 }6 {$ Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& G' |& l; C3 c, K+ j2 w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 {* b# ?5 g o8 `1 h) `) h
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ ^( G% ~2 C5 s8 s
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only+ }9 [; ?& n) {1 a& X
charge the fee defined by the state.
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! @2 z- p# U" C: f; IThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. ~+ R$ ^9 l4 u \+ t/ w! j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' F6 S2 [- _5 Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
+ h: h0 l7 P/ J& Y$ jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 G4 `( o3 I, q' N) f- J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: Y( v; w+ s9 n( F% yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- j. f3 V1 E6 w1 d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( F! u" I8 I8 M% T
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 o+ v& r$ Z! \; {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: \# E* F' Z9 Bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 ?9 u9 o5 V- \# W
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 u3 j8 j% |- S1 m0 C& s) f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; }) k) z0 }7 Obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 g v! ~. J. B" C" _are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 e7 v0 }7 z9 n3 Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* E0 y& Z& R \9 Nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
_) S* \4 L, Y% v D& m40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& o/ P7 j) T. d* Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 j: x/ B9 U, k i4 _best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* x R2 q. t; N# A& ^/ v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 C, c: h- |, @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 `4 `6 {; M0 h5 J, M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# J5 T: v+ _- C* W& a$ d) I We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
