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
3 Q2 q* ?+ J( N( q4 I" wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 K1 }8 D4 w, o# o/ @on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 B" P T/ ]9 I/ j* \" `"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# W- y$ m8 ~# uanswers to our pointed questions.8 M3 @; j9 Q3 O5 |' L: z5 q
, C: }( |) O9 P/ q8 _1 c2 \3 OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 z9 t) z0 ^& D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& N1 \3 f O( }7 [: ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) }+ f3 c8 q* d- \' O
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
^# Q1 E5 n, dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' \5 b- ^+ ^6 R% L
medical schools.$ z& Q3 V' p! X
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the' q$ a8 s* ]4 L6 n8 l+ ^7 R0 M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& H6 f1 D ]+ W. T! I) C+ b( M9 Rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* e0 i( Y+ V2 _$ m9 O) m: ^assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( f: v9 z6 T, {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to Q- g2 ?, l) [2 i9 w; O3 B
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 S; y" K) }+ L. o Z) W5 J
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ L2 `) X9 {/ Dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! O6 M8 `8 C' ?shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; c, X7 m4 O. y. d7 `
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ f& [ m- y. w* p5 `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* |" k- p1 H/ M, y# N0 w* O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
?8 K' A3 o* l hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) A& d: e0 U- Z( P& ~9 kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 D' Y: O2 D- N$ R/ D7 x2 ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 M q% _5 @5 b$ `/ F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ c# b u8 E% N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& u1 r1 O9 g+ R8 }& \( ^. n$ \2 L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only V$ p; i4 |( J; E7 K. q
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( v1 q' p6 w5 [1 i' S: `on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 U2 {( }; c7 dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 C) X7 J3 _% Y0 @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; k& e6 c$ f3 l- E( p: q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 D- S6 {8 k$ {, P( a5 u7 B. d* l* A
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# P# Y# c0 y' y. f8 R) ?# _( I
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. n- b. M$ v$ M1 R# s. q' k, l/ }8 eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 u+ P q+ E: O" u2 jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, q9 u4 ~4 |% C! I6 Ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, p' X; i! |# O. E# X1 }: c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 i4 @! @% C4 }+ F9 @( b6 f5 Dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- g: U* N& O: K2 l) |
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 r/ z e/ _2 x& x5 bare spaces.' v$ U& S5 }- P% }
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) H1 R1 `; M7 \( K, }3 l" Uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* V0 T, D5 z3 L. b3 pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: j6 K* e# n2 p# W; }% O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( L; `4 [* ~2 v6 ^' g0 F. A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 g* K! x" S. j5 D; F, Bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 m, d" C7 h7 ^& _( b: W1 l/ C
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; w/ U8 \8 z& q9 g7 ^car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 p) c/ }/ m# j1 m" Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' \- A# h& ?7 H) N7 L# Y
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
