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
8 ?9 i; s! c4 g& F7 Y1 K5 X5 K: b& tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! V& p. y. ^, O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: w) V8 J1 }1 j+ X/ v: k
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* I% [' q) ?" K2 h( Y* E
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 D0 o- e; g* H* R+ ?1 Q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! v( F E+ q. f9 C) jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 ^/ B+ a0 j( T% |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: E1 J5 }! T. L- H/ W- k7 Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# M S% l, h' h& i1 l1 D
medical schools., T# J1 r, k+ M g/ I4 p9 f
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% ?+ w, _% s% |) a, H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% ?6 w, b0 W. v* F( [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& X J8 w: {' ]+ I7 @
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 l- ?: e G, M, X# ]4 K5 m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! T3 g% b: X+ Eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% G2 a, b9 ?7 v7 Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ A- E- ]' x4 K7 W" P
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 M9 L5 T2 S6 I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 o$ V' f* [2 w9 w
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 d& T6 m& Y+ |4 `
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( ~. Y/ F+ O" y2 T, U" eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" _, Z. B) y( D- Rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
, e T1 C3 I7 C& T3 |- Z: Ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' A; L/ P* Z4 u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( w0 N* r O, }- p7 fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 h6 w/ I+ e, g( P s
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
, T4 [) i4 B% U" K' D; QDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 {$ m1 m4 _. f" ~8 m) wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' S* q: L! F" n. v+ hcharge the fee defined by the state.' |5 K* L' P1 F: {+ X# R' @
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 k: H) x+ @+ {& _. C: @& l0 y# f
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; M9 v9 i8 l, ^6 J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 f$ ~1 W1 h4 |. Z! G+ R
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! t/ c" {6 M) ]seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- v1 a7 w" K' E+ hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ e/ O" S" ]) `" T4 X: F, i
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; s7 M5 T# S8 i; ^: Z" a" Syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- A. _: x6 Z" n! D, ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 s+ q( v$ D3 X7 O0 Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( k6 V- m1 M) B: G- p, d; i* ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 _* s& l! }4 l% K, a& B* c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 C. `5 o+ m6 o/ K( Q/ i
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 j/ n$ K V" R6 \& Rare spaces.! \- c3 w, \3 m2 A% y- _5 p
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 d% p) \! Z& i5 d" j
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
0 u5 u8 u# W2 T4 Hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the j! m0 I$ ~+ c; e$ n
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 N: m# I$ @8 G1 e4 z" ?! dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: d' K# Y7 H% Y! ?3 X R0 S7 `6 A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! J+ N% P; ~* Q/ E2 \0 pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" M6 B& l- W* Y/ q: vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 ^8 O" u9 G" K# zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 @$ b" P! T: [/ F2 E
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
