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
/ l9 l. z$ C9 ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 Y+ d4 J% h8 H; i# d5 Mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- ]9 ]. L' Y1 M& U% Y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ r$ j6 f l, f/ ]8 t
answers to our pointed questions.
3 P7 f8 q+ b1 h; t2 ]+ q0 W
# w6 d( }4 y3 X/ t+ [2 l/ FThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( x- |4 H/ N' O7 i' G/ Z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 H; U' I+ ~% x* x S
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( V% c. a$ \0 k- H
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 {6 w) N* I- J0 A8 f2 I" b I4 l" Mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 P3 Z; z) N- J9 D' j" ~
medical schools.1 t# _4 E* ~, p+ O9 V$ B
" m' ~- u, o2 r8 k( {$ z+ t$ cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
+ t5 G) J1 B, Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 F" M8 z( e: \7 U6 T4 ]% ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ i; ]' k) K8 C6 Q, u2 g
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 A) D2 j( i- Z2 v5 A2 q2 k; |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 G! x, v# _( d/ q9 Q! a6 y% j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 Q8 p/ ~/ G: K3 ?. V& s* g
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, \8 C7 t$ _9 {! j5 Nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
' {6 ^/ A* M) V# e2 {4 Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some! u9 G2 {0 m2 k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
/ W! o/ x3 e' i4 W
+ P5 @6 x k7 Q' TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' k; q; e Q7 h5 ~. D3 ^
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 p7 ^- x' J9 s+ P- q! I6 f7 ^9 y' Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people z4 _* {9 v. @' S. J
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# V3 ~# e: y- l
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 h' m1 P# {" |4 w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: c# S4 q& w; G. H: Adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
: X# @- I9 l2 SDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ D! {% M. e; B9 b- u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 }& `1 b @9 ?7 h8 ?6 _charge the fee defined by the state.& D8 l9 w) |" J4 r' ^9 u' W" n
& [% c- n g; F
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. q0 Y( k3 i% M' d$ w) bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- k4 H0 _' i, T* G9 c
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 J8 o- r9 g3 g- h8 Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 { X8 m+ I* S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! a0 N& M1 o, ~
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ z& R2 o% N5 w) S, Z$ x& k, I( K* eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; _* U6 l9 e0 f2 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: B: c0 i+ B. ]- T/ V! [5 Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: w y7 |4 {5 @1 g
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 R+ y; g5 T8 i4 s* dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ c6 G5 w2 ^* Cto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
/ o! c T$ R7 X3 H# p4 J- `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, G$ V! H5 A, Z& `. x: V1 @
are spaces.
* `6 o# e% b- h* N6 f0 B% ~% @6 @ [
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 x& ^$ L- Z4 ]7 f
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# H9 e5 f- w/ ?4 `- X2 B9 p
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 X5 ]& ^# m- t4 [ P' `3 _$ s1 G40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 Y) ~6 T# ^+ k; y, q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% G! g! K" m/ K5 P" N* e; p8 O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 P$ [0 S+ p7 ]; T, r- r$ ^. b5 ?$ |nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% t* P, n% k7 W8 B, p& @+ f
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 Q- H5 X2 v- m( F0 z$ a- v
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 L& M* n3 W2 n( k$ v We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
