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
- t6 V7 x; P1 ^standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 ]9 t% [* V: k% ]2 G5 don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, B" c2 |' r& T" {* B9 _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 j8 P z+ C5 p& Y
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. d. [ ~8 ]3 L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 k. r7 c5 k3 f& W: X& u0 \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& y0 E; }; r9 `: W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 I$ M$ Y, P& I% G% Z8 K
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 o, B( q' E3 s' K4 Amedical schools.: n0 l1 t) a2 s5 E' {. i9 _
. N4 ]/ w0 i& X. m0 vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- o# f: |0 q, G8 b2 e% lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 O8 a6 F+ Z' U' L( B
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
6 t0 G7 t' |) Z8 f# S. Z1 v, [3 aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% b4 F4 U @/ P- X8 S& t6 q2 n
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 q9 V' d( ]! U5 P- |6 J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 g/ W% ]0 ?3 M! M
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! O& O6 L" f2 i) nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ @3 j# ]+ y7 S2 M7 ^2 n' Zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: X# L0 ~% ~: m) r x+ {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' }8 \/ r8 O5 \
: G! z" n/ r: ?! R" |6 ?6 l# TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 _8 t- r* x: l# R2 ^- [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
& G/ G" S7 G, n' [ O1 B; dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, t7 L4 E/ u- e, @' q" \* ~4 t
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 l0 A4 G: }; Y6 L4 B" O0 K* K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 a1 K" a& h0 B# r$ t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ f- N' C9 m4 `0 ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 _7 B2 K% Z( p& Y+ GDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# ]# m. k6 n& V% a1 k5 u7 K* Ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
* U- B* h$ ]1 {3 N$ K7 O& a5 {* W" Gcharge the fee defined by the state.
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0 F# X2 z( V/ eThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 G1 {2 Y: a) b; v+ B# P: t7 {0 won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type }/ Q3 ? i* n- |, P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 O5 S0 O' G7 E7 K5 ?& ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ [, U+ N1 t% [& |5 M
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 Y! V+ K) w* N: b, w% D g; V; @working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, r" |; ]: z1 Q4 \5 cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 C8 H0 m) x1 `7 ?1 p! T+ ^5 \1 Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! l/ o- i% `8 Q/ m+ [& e) htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# \$ X: p7 |) x; u/ N6 d/ ~
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 p5 E; P g5 F% b( s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
3 R6 U; J T3 R9 ]! ]8 e0 ~' y5 kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
8 ?& }1 t8 c1 ^8 jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* A! c& D- O: }are spaces.: u% O+ l4 D3 k4 V6 ?7 t
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* n% `+ ?% K8 u8 z' b& nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
& a: N' b, n8 q' m( lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& n+ E }0 a5 p2 f# r5 n/ O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ d9 o' K, _# O2 D, g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 e/ Z$ V9 O4 Z2 i1 t2 p
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* `: A7 ~+ q+ z- s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ y8 q3 p) Y/ i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. N3 C8 o% G) N; i, ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 f/ \) g" X- i( F" B We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
