我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 q$ O3 U. X" j5 W* L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; x7 L5 ?; f/ |$ f7 g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% p1 c6 ~) r9 e7 d# F% W2 V
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 E, u( v6 V7 ?' P4 L ianswers to our pointed questions.; E6 ?+ w# B/ T7 E3 D' M6 j
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 ~$ x' i+ G& D" `45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
2 y+ f, E4 g. ]7 _: [1 k" T, hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' S+ v% f6 c! l5 Kfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& }! m* f& W6 B6 \. {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ P" S# ~+ ?& _9 M
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# m. r. g4 k& x) N. ^$ Q) x
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" M: N9 j/ z/ k! F5 ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. o+ p- M, l: N, z% M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) k- Q/ _7 w# E) r. F6 M; m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
: Q8 B- @2 @- M' [9 j/ i" ]7 cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' V# d8 ?- J' |" dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 K z$ k9 O8 V
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 ]& m/ P: f( pshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 d- j6 u, k: T0 B% T& ?" K
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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; E' d0 X* W% x9 j: x- ?* b) y& \The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( }& C6 C' A! ~private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 a( u/ m7 U- B7 a7 p. e7 m; T9 ] a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. g V* o/ ]4 Q; h d: mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% e N( Q! K7 x7 |: E/ H
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% w! r/ \! P! w$ k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' V7 Y t. F1 ^, qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ r" Z5 U" }7 mDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) Z* M0 o" Q$ J J2 ^
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 M! ]/ E6 C" P% [, N2 e4 P" O
charge the fee defined by the state.
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' C: I! q; v3 W/ Y' n7 E3 D& kThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& `' w" Q% F1 Q! M# E h; G8 R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 u1 g: [3 d/ _( A" |+ D! @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 f: f; h5 b. _9 r t( d0 A4 v8 d% ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' K8 F: G# u. F5 ~ e* Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 t. H ?8 n: z" _4 G
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* @) m8 o! Y0 r p* [- R' w, Z" aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
' R' B, w2 G0 [* [0 Gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& U5 ~7 e8 V; g: C% B& Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 t# i+ g6 |0 m" e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 G6 n$ i1 x4 Z& G
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ B' G8 }4 v0 n( J m1 b0 ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
% ?5 }4 E! J7 c7 ]' `: {( A' D+ t xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; J# R& H# T3 Z# eare spaces.
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& _: }# y8 {! r: b2 ]+ @5 n3 a: nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; ]8 k$ `+ y [2 {8 x/ W: Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( q$ u3 q3 `! p& O, H- ~- Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 |8 m( o' v. m40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 V, s2 l- v- B9 f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# Y$ e+ Q* ^" w5 f4 y9 `best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 Z r3 t1 z" n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" n' U- u& P |4 ]
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! K# z* d2 J: W$ m) l9 G3 h
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: I- E# Y- f5 x _3 S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
