我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living6 |* Z" ?& v% S% J( {9 D
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) C$ q5 q/ i) }4 l" H% c4 x. I
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 p/ w! E+ f# j; M8 V V2 F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ l+ B; h5 j6 |, [$ Z: V# `answers to our pointed questions.
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9 y- t% d5 M% Z" ~0 Y; G2 @The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, e8 C7 e! b, M; n, U& ? I8 e4 S# _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% G& c! b' T/ W3 ^$ F! vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
# x7 \$ w* M7 y1 vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. O7 D6 J. S/ }& H- u; N3 d/ b3 Xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 w' _; r6 v: C) a; }
medical schools.0 j5 b, O) n8 u$ f. z
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 |6 c8 d, H6 w7 |- Jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 d4 B; {! q8 J% }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, z+ ^, N Z) w5 j3 ?8 e, f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 N( x+ r8 ^5 f9 D. ?
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" Y, e( d* @, r% l, Q3 `4 Y; [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) l! w. [. @& J8 m+ V8 }3 |
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 w( o- w3 J* ` x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 ?0 F$ P; X; T! q% S) d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' v3 z1 w8 d% f: M% y. u; U( ]
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 _- m2 V7 A7 n9 W) q8 M
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& J* w& l% z( w: D' R+ E! c
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 X8 H3 r; r, X5 z/ x0 b$ t% c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
, T+ I; `# v0 n, Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: h4 T2 T( U& h/ C/ j/ A1 `8 uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% Q. ~( B1 u6 B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 C0 X. n( R1 o9 d* J
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; _) Q) r5 _3 N) E7 L% X1 k( h, K$ vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. Y. D4 H( K+ Q/ p/ Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only+ Q; t9 L. z& S6 H: O V) g
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# \- a# v! U& K1 P4 q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' s6 y/ b6 ~! A" R$ R Bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 G( N: ^) U# T2 }( U, {
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) V2 @( M. O$ f: i8 d* N! a, T v% xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) \, m% t: s; s& c+ tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 u3 `6 o( ^7 F/ b6 Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ @8 O4 ^. R5 M* e f! G9 Q, i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, G) T! h' r) U) I8 R3 Z* P# O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" b1 o/ v) R# |( p8 P/ Q2 y- d
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
" Q% F& e& g% E* T5 ~' q( |2 Qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
" z) u% ?: ^; B6 \1 R) @" {to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ [% O/ k( L$ h. S0 _( v, Y; M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: |8 k9 C- @4 T/ dare spaces.: Q' G; k m, k, _# I/ {
" h) j% X# K& OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, {2 g b& ?# k3 k) b Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 w5 C* O/ E, Z$ O. _own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 A1 g; E; G) T3 p! f5 |! G
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& ~4 B+ _$ b$ u/ d+ ^
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- l& }, q: r X5 y7 _4 u/ l' mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 O# p( ^) ^/ ~
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; \) O) ^) [6 i3 b+ Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 C/ X9 N. x( s9 J# h" `
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 C' }. R- g5 i. Y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
