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
+ a/ }7 K: j' q" F/ v! hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 g: t% N. w& r4 Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 K# Z+ L% T# B; Y# N: E6 i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 r7 ?3 d% f! R$ \/ T7 Oanswers to our pointed questions.
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4 y( I/ s2 g' _5 ]0 ]; A+ VThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 h8 Z3 C x- o# S1 p( K
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 d3 b' ]3 K5 j1 {+ f* k; m
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" B+ V) O& o8 r' t- h) A
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- ]( E ~2 i$ P% tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 @# a' _1 }) O' T7 Wmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 f4 M7 K- J! O7 H& bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' I9 V' r1 i9 {+ \to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( S7 k8 G! R* P; Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 d6 U0 u2 A9 L/ H% K2 [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# E; M7 K" ~! x
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 p6 z1 F2 s7 c' `& k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* x( q! I" H; F! r" X5 F. imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 U) E, U! Z( U" A2 Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 C8 I! Z) J& b5 l: J6 o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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( b$ B: ]& h# V+ I( X& J7 EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. U# h9 _. n; {; D; r# m i& Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 X V0 B6 s! A2 ]7 I* o$ |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; X7 K& u$ J) D' N! I
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# @4 u& _0 z2 i \2 J5 k7 {thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 A1 q2 H$ u* U
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 J9 w, n3 p3 |9 R: e. Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 C/ T/ \! g! U) vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! A: W( l/ z' A
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: F: T$ [$ W* u) \4 b7 B+ g0 [charge the fee defined by the state.% D+ E! J) M$ g
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 `: A6 |& W+ s- A6 j% j7 @0 \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' e- j8 l6 _ g! \" C8 t+ l6 Sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- X5 L7 u: ^9 Utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 G$ n$ @, N4 n8 ]+ d, e6 Wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 y$ g. Z: Y2 C7 H8 F V
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' W( T6 @% K4 R: mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" l3 R9 X8 Y# O2 [- V
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 |9 }9 F/ \! U1 y7 ?8 H H% Y7 Z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' u7 A8 T; |# m. B; B s% \0 x" ?5 e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 q9 k3 s% ], dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' ]+ U z# f8 R! t( ~0 B! k
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ H m5 ?: O/ Q0 U1 ?8 c
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% s/ ]2 b1 K2 H) pare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% Z) I4 U& y. X1 f8 |8 K6 nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 m. u$ V, j4 Z: R1 W0 U3 B* N4 Yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* V! |; E4 ] F# k* r40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! v3 n" n; D9 L T0 j' x
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
* \6 v5 s) b. H: X! H& ^best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 f& X/ g% a. {! }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 ], c+ J$ j- E( J/ Q0 t5 x
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. t! K. F8 z* U [; u! M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ }$ e- `- C/ C4 r9 X1 `4 S We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
