我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 S$ W; V- V9 t. s) H
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' V. ^7 u) Y# Y" bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. q( r( o7 I8 _) |' B+ V
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. X# y# _4 Q5 ?answers to our pointed questions.) o; R& Z! m1 l
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! i6 Y3 ]0 R9 e. f! R) x, _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
* i' ?/ p8 n' k9 X* {out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' m3 ?8 A4 v5 b- H% v2 \free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* s8 p' h- N7 C3 O; ?/ [! Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. {; T2 U4 d. O
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( q4 @8 z _2 m2 Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% p, C4 a9 f- J5 Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% f: F/ ~# b7 C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. F i- I6 V, W9 ^" a4 c
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* l# a* j5 p, x3 d5 w9 kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 Q7 x3 f5 y+ ^# }: r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ @& _( B5 k- F+ _( D% A% [. fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- l" F( F% a4 k; R* O3 o* e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 g: C; ~- S5 N1 ~$ Q, n6 ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ F2 b# |. } v& u/ {6 n' t7 g* [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* {4 _' O& Z2 f# i3 V( ?8 rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: s0 }3 n# O* a1 Q$ q! S4 g7 uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( @, d& ]) a7 y2 s
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ o1 h, o7 }- F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 m% z" U# h9 ?! H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 ?# D5 t2 a; I e+ d# `" gDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ K, l+ ~/ G, v' Da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
L$ X) q! d1 h( f4 o5 u# w* f7 S* jcharge the fee defined by the state.* P0 `7 N% k( I# o L' z# d* n9 v* p
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- M) [1 E3 w- m" a! yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, D" k4 q3 _6 l! L# Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- f1 w% T4 y% Y2 W. A7 Y) Y0 o0 xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, C+ p& L$ u: v* ^, V* O2 m
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 a7 X C* \: O( m3 l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' C0 S/ A# U1 B# d, _" ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if s: N' @+ s1 ^
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# t' y" s1 G E/ @( Z% Y) ^8 ^
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* J7 f, g' c# W- ^8 b5 }hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% G! ?6 G" e* z& s" z8 W/ _; Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ h$ D! j( y$ ]2 E7 Z: U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 Y, F* w6 X4 V5 E- v4 w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% F$ t; R d3 h0 z' m, \
are spaces.
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( U- L& |+ K. N( HThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 A u$ N* E: jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 |9 i; p# U) V& A' R3 ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 ^8 I" I; c) z5 X1 J$ w+ ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% B) r9 ?% E% L9 @parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: K' n; L* G5 Y6 j4 V# w
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- w. T) K; f/ e1 O" enice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# Z5 d" ~, y) E' ^* r8 S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! c/ S( Y+ m3 @ T1 V; E
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# {, \2 l$ g$ x. L: X4 f ]- e$ {; d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
