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- n( D$ F; |: I/ |. C$ T
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went# m5 u; R" y- T+ ~! m# A0 L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ k1 ~* T- J5 N- _9 r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 Q9 s$ r: A8 v% p+ W9 O4 }
answers to our pointed questions.
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( }, J% {6 l! f* U; P8 ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ]/ o2 ^& G* O
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) C* h1 P" ^# f$ N; `' J. _! rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. [; q1 ]$ x: g2 ^* p ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" u, g ~8 F x; o+ T0 hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 ~7 B9 {3 F: Z7 i9 Lmedical schools.$ j1 O3 D1 E: {- c/ m
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ V) U, b' z8 D* v( b$ |2 Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 T& D$ P# ~: Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* C. G. d- ~4 s$ H5 P4 X- ~' _8 Y7 f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' u) d" t! s6 o+ u
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# X4 q% @/ t8 L4 w. u+ T' ^, n" Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. w( f0 j* W `$ w- K4 j3 Useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
k6 s8 m$ B. T$ a2 Q8 Y6 Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ c: m7 m( Y, X: ]5 g3 U. q- X
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
p! u* s0 q# R. J/ Rsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* V: |/ A8 @! L. D" t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: D: H2 C1 t: o% t* t8 S8 V( g8 Nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ W* u! I; E# I
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) v4 |3 ?. W' S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- C& Y; z( E' D' z5 A8 Z7 z/ K
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! R8 M% ] t: U: [, a( f0 n" p, R
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% ?6 W9 ^, l3 }- Q4 k; o1 V
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; X: }! H- T# d" ]9 M% \- wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' f1 e' F& N# l8 j A+ Ccharge the fee defined by the state.1 b( m- n# r$ Q! N* \
; l' O9 p! ]+ u" V! ]There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: E! o! M0 V; c
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' C! u* L+ a# j% |- Z/ Y6 V: f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 h2 B G- A0 z2 @; }& {& k8 u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
T J0 ?0 m1 H7 R) wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
2 x7 u& z: c7 Y; X' x( \working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 c3 C I" ^8 h" k5 Z x
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 \# W5 A( {& Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" j1 w, a& ?2 r% O" g- U1 Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. O& a6 K: E7 W1 S. J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) h4 q9 n, R9 l+ Y' V" S* Gpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: B8 U" E0 U& V8 ]# A6 r# ~" E$ u
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. `, E8 W8 r) |! c" D+ f! {
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) z) J. ~# V0 _. S$ G! p$ y% V' l
are spaces.
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% m( [, c! ?+ w( HThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
5 F( Y% ~7 |3 {$ X: s& Q' Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
, w; A2 O3 @8 g1 P9 Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 M6 |; t' p4 a; R1 w4 r4 E) \
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) M; U0 y4 N* U( X$ I! @3 i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
/ I# C8 w9 b4 h* c5 k' gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
n0 ~0 s$ m! {; U Y. V6 ^& Pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. @, _& C2 x1 z* bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! O( i0 D! m* P- T) g& W
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ A: Y# @5 X. P$ I( D9 ~ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
