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) C. S; y5 r" ^5 L+ {( o
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
& L$ l! ?& S- ~ o) F. }on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 A/ P( y! Q: f: Q" Z6 p6 S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! ]# C& H. M9 L+ U: A( x2 N
answers to our pointed questions.
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7 g b; W6 t2 W& J5 ?' nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
z! Q2 n. w* J- i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" ]( `& z1 M& @# U3 s# F r/ ]; K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 n7 K! z0 o! i0 {# ]free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: R7 I/ @9 N! [* w5 [- f( Vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 R& b: c5 c% V' smedical schools.; f7 ?! \& u1 c @! K
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; w6 r) r M5 J& m
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' @3 W% ]6 ~. ^ _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' t. i4 `0 E# u
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. o$ t8 u9 D6 }& _3 D* o- M7 v
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; y2 z; ~6 c8 E; ~% u- G
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; J9 @3 z$ z7 m- C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) l8 A. ~5 G" ~# l7 P% t+ B" K, \mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 d* N \7 j3 N% z3 a8 a$ @+ E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some, ?& h7 r7 u; d T1 a
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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1 ?' j* H2 i5 }' v# k& vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 X7 T6 s6 h8 O8 @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( I5 }: }; | j" m& t' s8 a, usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 L6 y# K( ]6 Chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, W( G" f1 k1 g( N, }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, J0 X* w4 S" S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- C0 K: O# f) y7 L. m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- l) i( | m8 vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! u W4 X5 i# k7 P6 M- B$ G7 va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 v! N3 k g4 N9 `: }
charge the fee defined by the state.
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) Q6 ^: e/ v( H x. FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 E2 q4 P: _! p3 k/ c; ^/ G
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( v6 X' \( z: U5 O" ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( M7 C) \4 A: d' [
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) E) ` Q; X8 @: |6 p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 V0 f0 W3 {8 D& |: \4 a. F# x {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
H. U! n% H7 X) o: G, h, U9 M6 F/ Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 b- X V. T7 J; c" X, K3 lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 X- b2 H* g i! }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( u( g( x" u+ c8 E1 P
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: i# p! f$ l- ^# _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- I& u1 F/ s3 j7 [! W- @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ ]9 \1 {; d1 a4 S, a$ H& L0 rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* Z! h, ~( V/ o1 y# _" \
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& P6 v6 K4 p, K/ n4 }1 [! {to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
7 ?, n" y: D0 B% K2 bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% {6 K0 M- n5 Z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 p, `5 N% u: u' oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ T- m$ y. T* }5 O" e5 ?best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 D9 g/ ` e; d, _" L1 ^nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* h. s$ F9 o: z5 [car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
L0 I" P; o3 K) his a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 ^$ p# r. D6 p' p5 O) R: ~/ J
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
