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
- _1 J/ R9 S. I% s) estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 f A' y4 o/ Eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' Z2 Q8 v+ n- p$ q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, |+ K( I$ h- lanswers to our pointed questions.$ W8 M. o: a0 f; [! u
6 b# q7 U3 m( m+ GThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 S1 X8 i$ u4 h% l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 f' Q' m" f# @; o* m$ r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
& ~% Z2 h- b: E1 zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; t, A1 J- M4 c% Q. x. g, L
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- S R/ x N1 c/ umedical schools.
" x$ Z! `9 q9 A1 f
; g4 w# M7 j% e. qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 |7 ~( Z7 X; H9 D# l- W( R/ V
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% F4 \5 f! j7 R" k3 O/ }; G
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! ?( j' p0 v; \, y) Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 U/ I& K, K3 \ k* O; j0 |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 e/ c M$ g2 B6 ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 x; Z2 f0 ~. X5 n( Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 |5 ?. V* g0 Y7 K! T7 H/ v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 _: }" i, i; H/ x$ x. l; a& ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 C7 i0 N! j1 `9 H1 S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 _( Z; x. k8 L. P7 D4 m+ m+ l
" T( B4 |. n7 VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! Q0 `0 O c9 ~* p) d5 p
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- b G* R. N/ w9 Vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 m+ c6 m0 f+ x: o- `& E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 n; l3 A4 t% Bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, X* i2 D% D! B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 Q8 W c7 A6 v$ \$ Z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; ^6 V3 P' B& U$ Z3 RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' N3 p& X% b* ?0 S) Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! c5 O) y+ Y0 o
charge the fee defined by the state.) y7 _7 D/ |% p) j8 ?3 w5 w9 r% g
7 x" D7 U7 q6 Y" {6 u& ^3 GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
, Z' A9 M/ T$ fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 H! k4 {3 G: |of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 Q/ r8 j1 E% q, w+ ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ B+ A9 L9 a# R' S( k0 [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
% R) i+ S# x7 F, ?) |' Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: U/ O! ]' }" k& T# H( U# y4 _
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 F: {- z* R: l6 o! yyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 h8 }* u; _- I, Dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' ^. u% ?* q0 u; t- V6 e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' t. x o% d. {7 _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' R+ d/ A+ V4 Y) M, X& @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" `; _8 @+ \* M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 V$ a! i1 W2 k. Y
are spaces.
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) b8 @: M0 S }* ~; s( ?! Q1 ~There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
' S( @( X1 O; T' X# Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 E; N. P: L* c3 s
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; [+ f' t2 O) f* | { s5 M40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: P7 m8 l. b; f, a# `: T# Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% C6 U( R* {) r9 k. R) Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. c+ ]3 O$ y9 K z% _& Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of `9 g# |" D l% S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) p2 t. E, v7 c6 x/ b2 T: W8 O2 xis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., @% n+ D# N& u+ Y$ X) s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
