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. K9 D0 x/ K# L7 L- u% Q! ~; L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. o. {$ h% ?2 }6 `+ M3 A5 M7 don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! j& i4 l. P W! X"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 t& @% B$ x- m8 qanswers to our pointed questions.2 U2 E$ ^! y; u# Z% f8 q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( r$ ^1 S/ b# M; x* c9 k45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ U6 V& Y; W, t+ X3 J" u& C( G
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% H7 _( [8 f# `5 E. Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 @, p5 [- \- v) h/ |# U. P. N$ S8 V' _7 ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 y6 u/ B9 H; |( p; \+ \2 O& gmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! l2 W% K. t# E0 Z3 R! Tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 O- N. L9 g; `6 w
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; M% V( R4 h+ L' _+ S% j: z/ a
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* }/ o. P$ k4 ?& @' R4 M$ }, T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 x5 ]# G! q4 i2 V3 Kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. A% n, j! q: @" Eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 U- E$ e. J# A; C1 O: S* O; b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; A8 P" q0 s7 i% W, Ashortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 D+ g( n. D3 }/ R+ K, m& Ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! i) T: ?4 F/ P& \. P9 w
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 }+ s4 {! u. ?& j6 ^' B# ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 P5 @1 g1 ^) X8 i s. |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; @9 u% q5 z7 p4 c& q/ a$ ]& I8 Rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 G& U* K5 E# y4 P) C8 b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 ?' d' }/ Q3 w3 W. j% {) S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- J* }. h% M6 L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. W; d3 R8 Q; C$ i! F6 F) l) S
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 p0 c, t& l: H! [8 Da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 ~9 P. @/ ]! h+ c; c s0 ?7 |
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 L! `4 Z- H4 T# x8 ~1 F! pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 S- z/ E" D, e4 o- p
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 S4 N8 h a! R: s0 \! k# {/ r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 J" D* K1 b5 E# s
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 \" e8 c ~1 Q# e2 L$ b
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ e1 A$ [4 V) _2 s4 k$ @5 u& o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- R) d& w( f8 x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' W' U3 ~/ |5 \3 D: Etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. V- b2 ^+ W6 L0 P% X; F8 mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' N: }+ W% t5 }' B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 x/ b) d2 W) l' I# A3 r) d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* I4 _5 N6 ?* Q: J4 H
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there: b) }0 s6 B' @, Y0 F
are spaces.
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9 ]: K0 H/ ^# L3 C8 |4 x+ yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; Y2 d& x+ r7 i1 B' u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 B6 p9 r; q+ F1 H( j' ?6 H
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ A9 k' [: d. S3 |40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' X4 l/ q9 B" }( {& Q0 e: A1 @
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% G6 a. S$ a$ h/ W2 Rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' A) z( b/ Y8 K$ p% Inice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 u3 a' f* J m5 t, P1 P( W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
! g. K7 K' j9 C+ Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. |: b9 R# F H' E, o$ n We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
