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
$ M7 E) [7 L3 Z; {0 ^5 rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: o n" a9 B" |1 U# t" q4 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 B/ q5 R. D3 M5 n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ p& Y, D6 y- r i" R( p
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* K$ N4 x3 `7 M& ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. e& y) B4 p$ K; O) `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: l. G2 d+ t+ Y: E" g6 b% o% k1 b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" Y% n0 e! S: W4 `
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 p! t, q* [: x# e4 u1 Qmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! t- ~$ ]" ~+ b6 F1 u' Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% V) v9 P/ U9 G2 |6 d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 I6 i1 ^% K( e4 q; |9 [
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
- e0 r4 m' }" w6 ]1 F9 ]) r4 qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( G0 {% Q2 `4 m0 Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 y4 t: y2 u8 i3 q! kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 D" z( S. g6 ]4 G5 ~# [9 i1 rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 I' ]$ d: K; }" i$ ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. c) J' F7 {0 {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ W+ v( I p" P) B; \4 I" K8 v
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ e7 F- B- g* Z- Q1 E) i7 c5 [* N
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! H# x+ _& `" t6 O: k2 Nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. [+ o) W0 x+ Z# ?4 g7 g' I
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( y' O: P9 ]& `3 A7 Cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 `# Z" T+ O& J" `sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& B/ f, k9 E6 {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 c7 R0 B. Q0 Y# r I2 L4 E2 jDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 e/ j) _8 J+ h8 R/ r+ ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 T! l' n8 Z5 ^& e! _3 C& c
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) P) z" A+ q! e$ Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& p- y) p% n& J, z) F( Z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- v8 r3 }/ S5 _, a w' j) W: K1 Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# i3 t0 j& Z9 n7 I3 E3 d/ Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 F0 D7 }2 W6 n) f& o4 W% h, Fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! ]3 ]& j% O N1 C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) P% n) x4 S5 }& [* G9 C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 X2 O: s5 m) e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' \5 A) s" ` z1 a O: Nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 p) Z2 j5 Q# o" v1 L+ f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 I& H! H; P9 l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 }; d% A$ _0 d5 u6 p! u, `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; Q. n/ s" o, e% |7 Sare spaces.
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$ V* s) M' Z. i G6 c& J: A2 ]There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ Z1 m+ N. Y; _
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
0 X# j, I! d5 Y& Y$ H4 sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& b6 h8 k/ W" ^1 y$ f8 [1 _$ z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) Z. L9 l+ C; E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& I/ \7 A' \% U Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 H' L& a, G6 P
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% F9 j8 y# ^1 Z3 T5 A; X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 W: q. P. n. ~" G% j; qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! n5 b, W2 a; U$ G! U
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
