我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living5 m- W- @4 y+ _+ f0 [: z% J5 X& {
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 I+ }" n1 M( Q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
6 s+ s3 ]. l: ]0 m: u2 P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 d2 E' t0 B& Y9 V+ k2 a9 i3 danswers to our pointed questions.9 u, u; Y5 B/ h: t) P* S- X7 {
7 U n) G# x2 G! ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 P) W5 j- E; ]1 r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' N/ m( x" ~' L0 q' \! [+ n* Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
" b5 K- ? U) efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" n! j, h( [; n v; j3 Qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) e! t* J b- wmedical schools.
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! ]# m! J6 k- O7 p+ v, U; X9 z6 g/ \; ?Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; @! c8 D/ b+ M Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 p9 a2 y. z9 T% {& Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 m* I) x3 j; e. T' @ [
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ ?& {) R+ e d7 j" e; z) Y2 ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' h$ I* k6 L9 s& t7 q5 @* iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ J! P. R9 Z) [* o+ Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- L- F& F% S* n" X# V0 y+ A8 ^mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 o5 M' U4 o# k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ x) l9 h" P( n% z/ ?' F) P+ {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* p! [6 q I! O
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- @. K8 D. J# `4 t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) k+ g" T7 g! j" x# J- e8 O. yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: J7 P! c. _& _& e
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 q/ {. R. U2 n Q' b* O/ m- Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- G8 O& w8 v. K1 l3 I3 I6 ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 Z) o2 J, \- C1 ^- J# c( O
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( {5 k4 \) H* K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ @' y7 H# S7 tcharge the fee defined by the state.
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, ?7 U9 N- M9 L1 q0 _There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' w& ~1 f1 Z! _1 G: u& ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' ?; p6 L$ U& L5 P8 ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 T! `) T" k6 l' h+ M2 Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 r# E" G# A5 P9 u1 e/ J$ y" h
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) x$ x. e( `9 @ W! hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- {" ?) W$ U4 h7 |/ M+ Y- Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! u+ h) [5 Y+ D/ g
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 J! d% u$ ?8 L& g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ k4 ~% W* q" S7 [9 j, m7 g1 I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ f- p6 ?8 x0 j, R2 `people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. z* W. R: d3 A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, q/ ]! A) _9 L) B0 P" _" H+ Z1 s
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 Y, \8 B, A4 b+ n, Y9 L0 @
are spaces.
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- m; q; h$ a& `4 V$ G: }( h- pThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: v- J. ^! b( H* I. `2 pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 x& o+ V0 P3 W: p, q vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 G& f8 X+ Z- {1 `, E40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! D7 b5 ?3 [2 q; [7 X1 r
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) @3 v# F' j5 n' E9 ~
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
, x5 x3 b# i. b4 R% ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) e* O: C" \' L5 D- L4 ~% X. z8 Ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it i! |# Q4 V: p! Z9 X g# q1 c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 M3 F- v# R# x2 x6 n' ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
