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* v9 `1 V& j8 V$ B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 }2 j" W5 K* U! Q* i" y5 k
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- ~( K3 O B1 q, X7 S. J. R# Y: T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* `7 H. M$ C, ^answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ { S1 R$ E% k% S& A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 n3 T, s- b) }' G% \out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 `% X4 e c O6 U0 S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 N# B+ f! N7 n+ T1 ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' C' G, H2 W9 F
medical schools.
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b! r; o% g5 r. [/ vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 f( y/ j1 A$ T5 L8 c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. V3 y2 Q' l# v% a6 S5 `- U0 l1 lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 M3 D I: r5 f2 f' P6 }1 Q" s0 H& Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: Y4 k. L% V8 P, b
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. l) Q& D) }# O A+ z0 Uover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' `, G) G0 G8 f( s4 y: [. Q. K
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 P' P/ `" I3 P
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! @& G- ~: @, V
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* \' \ m# c, H2 y1 e4 a. l+ v& qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 E. a+ X+ r! u$ A l! ?3 b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and S; j) @* [2 S' x! \: a" q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! k6 ~3 T1 R, S8 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" l- j( j, _7 m& \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 m* H' p. _' ]5 d2 o% [sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! V w1 \/ R. bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 [' G" v0 z+ v- C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 ]; D9 p9 D4 {; O) j6 Q0 z
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 b5 U$ n! B6 B8 \. {, }# b3 k; ~charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ E. [+ L" { Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type O1 C8 X2 ~3 i3 I# N1 Q* l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# N" V: [* v- h4 w) V* d
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& y' o7 }- G2 l) L% n7 t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" b. I4 v; S* Z; W) d9 c( D- t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
J, M$ g6 X4 a+ V0 d; P! a. D3 ?schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 }; o1 ?; p# n( ]' N5 e. e5 Fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: j9 M7 T) z2 H- R1 ^5 Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
D5 c4 U% _$ m; ^hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
, d6 l7 f6 U% o; `+ ^, |5 [+ hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! i6 k4 C# t8 S- y2 F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" I7 i+ q# _# T, w3 Wbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( A$ B$ v/ x" F6 zare spaces.* u8 m% D& R' W( C& u) {
7 [$ m+ b E% i( s% H6 eThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi O% J; A/ X3 ?2 L( r
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" @( U/ a V/ ]2 V- Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 k" j/ Y9 T h, y+ U0 Q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; b7 r7 m- g7 y" Qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 E$ F3 ]. I1 N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ V. O' S" h' A5 F% j9 n. q3 q" x$ m" ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: U& t0 b% B% w8 Q# Q# M: Dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' s- w* V$ P% p$ I* r
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ m6 @9 E! f9 g9 {; z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
