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
, l* {, j5 t( L. A5 Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) ]" x2 j: v0 Y9 \, C# |; Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, @) i* H6 t# E9 Q6 i/ w
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 m; o/ T# b0 `answers to our pointed questions.0 X$ f2 U# i5 Z* \
. M. k$ V& e! p: IThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 X: k2 D+ h7 v- Z8 ^7 o1 J+ E
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, ?6 k! Z- _# ^6 l1 d* c
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 p) K4 C$ b; d6 B; w Zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, M4 m3 o6 ?: x
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 N1 _* k; ~! V4 \! b# d0 Zmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, h7 R4 p9 r1 T$ ?government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* x6 y6 }. K: O2 F- h3 Sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' Z2 I8 f" c7 d( zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ m, P8 e) W r& i, ~2 o0 N$ Ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 |7 r, v Z K
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ t& n) o) \; S, |& eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 k* L% t* k' h/ E ^2 X
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk D1 B) O. G. \9 C: ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
9 s! ~9 _- I+ q$ P% s/ Z! Rsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) j9 `, N1 s V3 s( t! R$ H( r9 Q
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) q3 ~+ n2 S" M/ A, D5 h. I8 L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 y! E" X9 R/ v9 F( i/ Y' o
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' ?( U) ~3 @5 }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
% b9 P& E6 } z! }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, s! t! V0 p, _( b s
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 p* F& k; Z! w2 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ G& g, J" O q3 _, x: ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 A7 E* X, s) U) Wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) b! M9 F/ N9 d; kcharge the fee defined by the state.1 o$ X, H- c& b; Y* \
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 i1 o8 S; `$ C% h9 u
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
3 D* P7 C5 I" oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 Y' q5 L' F- S/ }( dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 E6 a3 C( k6 x. s5 A1 q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- n. P" X3 K9 l+ K# p1 ]0 Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 N$ U! O' i& }' H ^, I! B5 H/ I, G
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 u( S4 V7 P- r
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# Q. |3 b1 R, {/ r! Rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 e/ i! o( V4 V% }, w6 X6 v( V$ R, lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' C* T& a: F1 ~: \$ k# F0 tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ H) @/ }2 K4 \$ kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ H$ g# q; z8 ?* O/ ~# b, ?; c/ R) Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 u/ t# A: t3 O1 o: Dare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 o; {7 T/ s# Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* `3 T! q5 | G2 j0 [2 k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! o/ P- z& B% a( K5 V; l& w& g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; ?% Y$ c. a1 K- A$ rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; g* |+ w1 B6 S/ t2 {7 J1 y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( Y! @) r0 O3 j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 F6 f' z. v5 S% Icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# z. x% @7 S& n$ [is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; j# f0 Y- `- z; o$ t' R6 Y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
