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/ g3 j7 [5 s P9 `* M- b% ?; K
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went0 w) S" t: D$ t v- k' \+ ^9 y" t
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
9 _; f( k' [# t9 }3 w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 l- b7 A" G5 U, v( b1 {/ S
answers to our pointed questions.
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- k; ~& I- W# ]# N% l( K5 nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 Y8 L r3 E( M) `- X
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 ~$ _5 m0 x8 c) m$ ]# @8 s# \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; ^; f' E; {7 S# {; n5 L8 Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 P) ?3 P% J: Z: k* O3 i; \5 R/ bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 |2 \) b% k! j5 ?' h- ^( I7 ]medical schools.2 V/ r2 l! X6 J/ \
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 Y/ j0 M+ a0 p, K# R
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: D2 ?1 l. t f7 B: o7 i: g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; p4 D/ C: o5 Z; ?& s2 b: ?% aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ ~! N5 B# c& c) }9 cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, L+ s+ G9 [1 R5 R9 z: o6 |" j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There S8 g& Z8 K" _9 ~6 I9 T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" A( T& \" U$ Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, K& b8 H/ ]; v2 ^, R% B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 j6 C1 w4 e I& U5 F( A. Z6 f
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ E+ @! E" j9 g/ Q; R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( o" `# ], f4 K; o; c+ Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 v, H M$ m9 `9 g! q* Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 [! S1 _, s6 X/ ?5 J% m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 r( W0 b, o" b, {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, Q3 U( M, B6 U/ ]9 `' C* q: V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* A0 p0 V; F k2 B7 U$ T" o- hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 N' l% @5 b5 [2 w& @- M6 q. {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( k/ n! h2 O( ]2 f8 }" Ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; B5 {# b$ M8 dcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' v) Q7 |! w J7 _
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 D w5 H) u4 j1 b5 T* n0 B: R7 ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 E6 M: Q* v0 j V X
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, L' s! p; @ ^" x5 h8 f1 J! jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; k, r8 y( P: l. w; h+ ]4 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 ~8 y+ q" ]8 g6 l$ h, w+ E2 w
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- T7 _5 U( T5 _; [: y* ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 \- U& d; i% n" ?trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) G& E& G; u* y* e2 |' ?+ x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
8 h; ?# ^/ W% o, Lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 o, k# o: K Y& e' d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 G6 C" q3 H0 A+ I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 R- T. f; J; {% I4 H7 g2 G4 l) j
are spaces.( s' [, E- }3 c0 w; f
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% H7 [( y7 u. b, M) F9 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) X& W# w6 B) i( I- [% m3 ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' i$ H, J9 l; V ^9 @2 ~$ e6 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' d" j1 V% k( U6 j* }1 \' x t- Zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. F3 d( b/ F: A# Q7 pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 W) y( E9 z$ n4 @3 R& x. w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, G0 C' X% { f0 V
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# {8 J1 [& e+ \is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' f/ s6 ^# w% D1 b6 j We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
