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# I* g/ A" e, f' Hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, V0 S5 n" \9 k& b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; X8 N. @3 C4 U7 h1 u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! x- e9 F: R; L3 w8 q, ]$ a2 }answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: w' O9 V9 s2 N5 v# [' G45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* E5 M4 g! x+ N5 d* F
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* \1 o& Q9 E* K& M6 ~! O+ bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
% H" f8 E" |" P; }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
& o+ c7 J& T! J& |medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) l, b% m, }, H6 Z. Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% u4 d1 N0 F. b1 t
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! h' J; R% q8 _% c' R5 x
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& m8 E, J2 s# i: m5 z/ I5 _5 L! S" Eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; [; R& Z4 [. `) S0 q1 w% F, Fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ b0 E/ z! Z; i8 k9 ~
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 U. p' Q# T) C3 T7 {. { zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 Z& ~5 o& B o a' w) j! c8 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- D, a% m5 ?: @sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 p9 @. h! H7 K8 n$ m
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 X" ~- o$ ]: f1 a
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
) f4 a- L, O3 f$ Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# b" @; r- ?/ [1 w1 w7 A x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! \* R& c4 f5 e! Ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
K0 _/ ?% f+ {! K3 `1 [ ~sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% T1 N; @0 E7 N3 l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 e1 a9 I& J" a8 ^% v9 |0 WDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 T6 W8 x R2 G: l/ s% g( \! \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& S% C) n' _4 @1 V0 [8 C9 mcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
P4 @( N- j4 j; u* p5 o4 c, v1 z; Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# d% C- n4 U( l2 c2 b+ @3 yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 j& ?( i: o& f! e8 @& S6 {truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 b4 G5 x% \& J$ D6 [; d; _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& K2 ]& @- }5 _; Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 q: u5 X1 [3 {0 L! G- h) Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: v" t" B' {) I1 j9 F
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 a: ~. @8 m# [/ Q8 f5 Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 w$ S7 D* b# B% a" T* ^hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* _; F8 M, _: K4 Y; n. Qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
3 V+ g9 F; |/ b; \$ N" |, K2 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ d$ {* L) h% a! V$ Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ w: Z6 V; b2 |2 V- D4 [
are spaces.4 M5 X: ]7 m- V# c
% W/ r+ U" y' j5 J( iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. d1 Z3 [! k9 P% z3 b( d1 Eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they Z6 i: Y' \# q: {% L* [7 k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" g) a% n( m' s8 @3 R( g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; ~8 m# J) Y- G- e* M. X
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ x4 g5 ~# v g- S8 T- c% D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# y6 X+ w# D" f7 m5 i( t: [
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. ]4 B/ c. d wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' m9 T; x; F2 x4 Q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ t" u6 H" a& W3 h; f6 t We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
