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
" |! R1 w1 @3 O1 T6 D$ {* rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( R; m3 }' f8 @7 A. ion a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
u, \' X. R. N4 z"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- ~5 r- Y/ u) |/ m
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, \ b: l; s$ S2 _7 o2 o0 A# Q4 ?# A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! ]( a u8 G9 Q* l1 v( E" d; u# \out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 y1 L# x( z. w( @, e1 F
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! f! U; I1 ~7 M h% t: t1 X3 T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; F3 [, l; P4 }9 Xmedical schools. r' J3 w& P0 u) Y" b `
3 l U- D; i4 _; Y9 D. l8 KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 j4 y! y7 G# v
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* y* X. t' H" s2 }2 `' C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 H0 R& r" e' y' l, Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
* s- M* \+ K8 {% Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 a, J& J) f5 n2 R- S" D
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 b x% G3 t9 N3 Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! k3 t+ q4 |4 ]& s" ]7 k$ \
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" y8 x& U6 ^! o: t: h/ q8 j( v4 fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, z& F% H9 I) nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. U- C3 N) K/ q$ Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" x3 T. v" y% Y' osupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( t5 h# x& C6 l: _8 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* M7 | Q h" L! E( j% h$ Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 o# Q* r6 s3 O5 e8 j/ J6 S }' ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 I1 s7 z. B% `# r. Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 N$ u3 k+ W0 U5 q, X4 jDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 }) [( Z$ x& q+ p- `7 a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ y& k3 p+ r9 D; P) scharge the fee defined by the state.% P: L9 W, b' X$ z8 x, X% G: Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: i% ~$ z2 V% Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# a" w8 ^' K( |; \: X/ sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
! F+ r8 N- R, Y# ?! dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 Z2 q3 Y5 T* L; ~: t* Z' B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 c* D5 x( e1 F8 K% U
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. W+ J4 f$ s6 @' Kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. l6 Y* w4 P+ T8 ~7 p
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 R7 w: c* k: T E7 D) P
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch b/ e5 X1 Q0 f/ x' v I% J P! a5 @
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 G1 [$ z: _0 `* T8 Npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- F/ k9 P6 [7 {! |. {
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% X4 K1 R# x7 J
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ U' t5 v. _5 `1 d7 gare spaces.
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. l3 t5 V4 V! ^8 K5 sThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 [/ T; ~! O F, Y! b; Q8 yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 v& ~9 [# O& j( {; ~6 d
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 y9 Q& h% Q/ a* v' c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: M3 L6 a6 w. i$ J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) l8 l7 t0 i" {. T; Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
9 K- S% o; T* s/ s0 [. ^1 jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 G& I4 K6 ]7 T- d8 P
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% w% T7 }; k* S1 |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 N( ^; B8 Y6 c/ \4 P. S9 H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
