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
, U$ x, U& G/ m" [' d3 ^standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% D! m# q$ y, u* D8 Y; i9 y( k0 Y: ^
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# L0 U! `/ L6 o6 C) U4 _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ m7 n( h- H9 G0 i- }' q9 ganswers to our pointed questions.
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/ M1 E8 K' u5 L* KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# `& }* t& ?* G& A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ |) ~, l* ?3 `* Q, Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, T' ?7 x2 h" R( ` Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! x5 C- y9 I+ t& u1 M( sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; w7 _, \& k) i3 r$ hmedical schools.
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6 i" u" ~, r R, a t7 c+ |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 U( q' ^% _( R" J7 m3 \$ t
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 @* Y3 B- ?, Z( Y' T8 @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: f' r+ t* u) C, D7 t, r5 n& L7 M3 {
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 b% h e. W& W9 y9 jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: c0 w9 |) T3 D4 k- o
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 K5 Y0 ]' R8 X* d9 G! xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 `( W1 `$ s+ H& Y7 [! R
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" j4 j" J k5 g- S8 w' h1 a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ b- N6 m6 i3 r
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ V8 a' E# I9 D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% J- _3 ?( a! ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) y3 t* t1 T# C& a. ]9 ~8 s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# f% X) i. k0 t. ]4 a7 Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 Y: T9 K2 R( q+ h, d( \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 ]! V" A7 f; V4 n% O7 r' Q' ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* K3 j1 e5 D. I' A* r* m# |2 c( ~
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 O w. `$ {5 D( x+ A0 s" [5 M! `8 u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 p: p3 j9 L& k' J3 j3 P4 mcharge the fee defined by the state.9 `- x. c" v: ?& B6 U! J
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) b% z1 s# w. T1 k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% E B4 Y K" } @: |+ M# J2 ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" ?# ~+ J1 ?- h3 v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 `$ g8 w( ?: O; J ~+ t) n, J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% K$ n* U& S5 l% C$ P r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, p* ?7 D2 t& eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: V$ F# }$ C* ?1 u" n- a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 q/ a6 D6 n) I! V8 `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, u' q- A! H7 h. r2 l2 C7 `hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that p. P) l+ ?6 {
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) c/ W7 w1 m8 {* H( t; _7 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or x2 `1 h: _# U% H7 o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 m+ `5 X/ v# R- S
are spaces. R# U" k6 s6 I! a
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 d2 i+ v p$ r+ i2 `" s( E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 ?8 W4 F6 u3 W: o1 e4 V. [, P) oown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: v% ~# j6 q. t' k" c- o7 K40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ i, N; t- u% |* d
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 u0 }; R/ L* U! L( [best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& d+ k9 D1 K9 }$ \& M% ~6 znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 b/ ^9 y' K& X! V
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 m% G' f+ g$ S0 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' o4 ]) w9 z% Z/ P+ z7 R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
