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
( z1 m2 b1 G. }$ j U3 Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! G9 @/ q: g1 j8 h; a3 [% c: I, ?: ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# t, i* _$ H) Y0 e) Y) g1 z5 Y" V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' t I, Y+ R! {' D4 x1 m
answers to our pointed questions.
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3 r* X3 p6 p* r1 y: d, k: i/ M5 mThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) E- j& n; s$ W F3 ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 j5 c* ^. Q/ m2 u4 D6 Y( g% r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 k' q* C- E+ z9 Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 j# W @# O- B: {' Z! Pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% T1 L8 e4 J+ jmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" U( b2 S8 |/ Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! t4 ~# ^$ h" f5 m$ Y2 mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 C8 H% E3 K3 x [: ^! q7 ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 V9 {- B: S5 P! ^- G* N: V: qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 k3 \9 I x/ d e3 e" m
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: M5 V+ ~$ R: b% ~2 [seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 |: I+ p) W7 o0 Q. q" h* ~ J: z1 a
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) p9 b; ]: l2 ~4 vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 m; v! \6 ?$ O) n0 G# u; C- ?' f. ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& q! ~- X( C2 z) d' N" S
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
m4 y+ u+ }( `4 C2 T3 Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 d% `: M6 L4 W/ G* P, k% N
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* W9 r- v9 N. h$ Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# H4 R R% U6 \$ ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 u6 D9 c9 J1 E0 U7 J$ J& _! ~9 X1 M" v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 j v" Q% @. i9 j ~( c
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# j0 Q6 }* j3 `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! J0 Y7 O5 i7 N- d; f) c8 Ccharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get9 i, r* U6 \# R/ m0 v
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 v# }+ P. v1 C. T$ x4 r
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ Y6 G8 |$ w- d5 o: S% O+ V
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 H g9 T: U0 G) _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 n# w' I% E. K% O& \. W1 g, m
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) k- i5 ~% E$ c5 q* W' I+ Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 Y" ^4 d& j% m/ v" xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ M9 ?# I/ G2 G& |& H' X+ U3 ?6 ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" N a# i& \ B3 d3 L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 {- ^" J* f( j5 r! E: Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) J/ D: N% a2 v6 A6 k* a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 D! q& I2 X1 f' Y) r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ j! f* p' v) n3 k' k3 ?9 ?
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ l) ]9 T4 T6 Y; i
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- v* h! p& F) x% Fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. G; X5 f/ E1 k3 ^0 k2 N9 |40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ \. W+ z% b: H% M: _- Z8 N& f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; I" t6 i+ G" C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) _: a8 f3 K5 I! O
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. t) \1 U% p6 ?' \. a1 g- n* s Vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" L4 ]6 F5 s" T7 }1 e
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
{+ e0 X4 q# v& b6 a We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
