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& j; u$ Q1 R& L2 |$ H6 Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- Q% s% o5 R8 H5 R0 r- @5 A t
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 Z9 t& t- p0 z: r& n; F8 N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" H3 v- m* V) u. t6 s9 E
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, K+ T! J7 p+ p! j
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand Y4 O8 G M- w5 D7 m' r7 D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, s% l; r* i7 g4 [+ {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 \; d5 n, h* `0 K- b8 {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 d3 x% Y% _7 qmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ N. a, \" g3 d ^ }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ e2 ^6 m6 Y. ]% }: c Mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& L+ [+ n) J! h4 L* D- zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. ~1 J; k& O7 \3 D* c
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to m5 b- f8 ?# C1 a! [5 k
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* K# B5 [5 A$ g( R& O
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" u4 ]- \, v8 x9 }5 F9 R1 T3 ^
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: s& x# M p: E: P7 Fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( Z9 f: Z8 m! ~) z* B- d tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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4 V* g5 O5 M, f4 c+ z; o) r3 iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 L5 y% Z4 t0 M. y; q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( S2 z# j" o* G5 b( W7 G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: {% l$ j7 U3 v8 z% [- Dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 J7 |# s4 [, a* |$ Bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- z- F$ {, H( W9 M8 Hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ G+ g( e9 }) M* i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ h# D/ u; ~# }' n4 B. qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& @- x( ?1 C8 ? m Q# o! qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( ^+ {' b' y/ u, y2 lcharge the fee defined by the state.$ h" c. q7 W% ~4 l: L* [
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 l7 s( h5 `2 h5 b( w( w' P2 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' h$ {/ n# e' D: l6 @; Wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
$ p4 g, t; ~; R7 z$ X0 O( C8 qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 E& L( `, i1 D3 Z% P" r8 Cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ N. e; l P9 N v: Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 h6 U8 l- E; w, K
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ m( q+ q5 K+ R) L' ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" [3 J+ ~7 H. P# I; K. z" etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# [, n0 N7 [4 c8 o. l6 U! `hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' O2 s% t9 n: t5 |/ c+ j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) }& X o( E2 n8 r2 g I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! ?- L: r9 E( S, K0 R$ w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" |' P F: ^( ^4 H3 r5 ?3 G' Nare spaces.& S1 y; ~' |. p/ D, Z2 c
" S1 y7 h+ D. LThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 b Y- E" K3 i# ?# Q4 l2 }4 P- E U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 S& n) e- h( V; I, X S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ U( u8 Z. Z5 z# Z1 n: P: [
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! k4 W* U# V3 F e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' w: N" D1 l9 C( Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* y0 h6 S% ]. f5 A# B# p6 Inice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( I/ m3 f- i* v4 f# G6 M$ b
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- Y' i# T: O4 H- O4 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* G! `4 Y' S2 Y% a4 V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
