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
7 S' L% u6 e4 e: @1 m2 @; ^* }7 i% Tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 m( @7 N5 c# {7 w/ W( T* b! t& |& @
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ Y9 V, {' }3 g% Y5 }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give [- P; a9 q. ^( E7 X, N. B
answers to our pointed questions.8 H/ C# ?9 A. H- L6 b& ~3 Y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% l. f/ D5 I# E+ Y! o- U45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* k H" U, R+ s2 H% M
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 ~/ t z# M( ~1 n5 r+ K( c a
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! A4 i. Y8 H" u; O2 I7 f) `& Z& _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. u4 _% \4 t. \! \/ r
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ R/ \: V6 x$ g B5 a. e
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 S2 k) K/ U4 @9 N: ~6 x8 O7 cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ x# @4 |) M/ u9 C$ i( L
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, Q. d2 a7 l: N `8 h Q& t5 n: dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& S/ s* B) t$ n/ G. R
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There: o( l1 [6 L( Y* [
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and; i( M6 O7 m) [4 }3 u; q% N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) `4 R* x2 I! d/ x# g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" \) y5 f" F9 A+ D
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: x$ m, O, S2 I5 N' Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 X5 @1 [) `' Q4 N. p5 a' _- ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 ^. ~# b7 L) L6 ?6 g6 O- Shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" Z! X d% Y" N; x; t. Y6 Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 U! R/ P$ g" D3 M
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ c* I% B' q# _7 U5 rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% a. C( G T. l1 k! w# R" @- W9 C" ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ `6 ~: T* b$ W) q" }" `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 c- ?) h" O* W( K- f2 }5 S
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 y' f' n( {+ H6 son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 O4 M9 }$ A4 q% Z0 q8 ^; B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ o3 A8 W! G7 k& O+ M' Z9 R
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# z& u/ K1 q% F1 y' L. d) L: Tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: u8 d: X7 S5 V( f) m6 X! [- ~. J
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 I9 w9 n" N/ I* P# E& B( j
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- v' T ~9 S/ J3 Pyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 G6 C6 d: G; I! x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 i5 i' h1 I% S whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 o0 z) |; D) q( x8 g( b& r* ~
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 }" @" u- I1 |* n9 W4 g4 lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& c: m; _4 H5 K$ H7 r" h: pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& ^0 X0 y( Z1 o6 ], s1 Iare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: f- a- G5 H& I \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
% u: M, i* T1 |) E7 y3 Uown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- _; ^3 S' G' k: T3 n40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) z0 z) o4 p7 ]+ Z) s1 H: ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 ~8 R7 [5 W% A1 `! ^6 \4 `, ~5 Bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! i7 h f! ]" {2 `2 tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 m+ s3 N. ]* N) D G0 vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ y# i9 x- r( G( R% |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- R% d$ c! }- h
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
