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 {; `5 K1 A( c) l o, l" \standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went p' ~6 w3 b: D' `) p
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' t4 ?. u6 I5 t: N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! g& m+ F3 p. k4 D% fanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! V: }: W2 I. O: E45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 a V: \3 _# M+ m W( Hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is q- K8 i& g' V
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# A, f7 j8 s$ ] H# D, n& zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 d5 H+ d9 W' N# C4 |* e6 ~/ E
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 A! k. p N9 s2 N, F
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
9 B6 h+ V$ e: {& Nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 t( y: O( }) z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ A: M7 f/ f' nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 y/ L( G9 h4 |. fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 c0 w" ~- V$ k* |* ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 M* F4 M- f0 ]! Q3 }( ~mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 A, T% _- n1 h. T
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. |0 o' |' c% n0 Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- E! a. [2 p; s
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# I1 L' _3 F) ~
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 ?# s6 ?- `& G! I' |& xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) V# l4 W) W) K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 }) D1 j7 V; _2 P" G& Esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! d5 Y$ g3 E; |" ]& fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ M" n6 ?3 X+ Y- H3 C: B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* z$ S0 y K$ {3 n8 x1 _) O
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, ` E/ `. `+ b* Y4 ^
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& S- N4 a" b: c- Y2 E5 G; |$ G( Hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, h3 H, f9 U; w8 C
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 W W3 N2 ^; U2 J: \
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" G- A+ y- N9 u# |
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 x" j6 c6 Z* G* n N2 h6 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 d' X% @% E) y8 h" _3 g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* M* g% \; b9 u/ r* I; n
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" J( F6 J' {7 f5 a) \. n! _2 Qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, @4 M6 d, U( X1 D
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ t% b9 Y6 w& o `$ s# n
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 I% t. t, R9 B& F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ N) \# g# i4 I& L$ e$ h' _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 S1 Z6 p6 }' ]' ~& k! z
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. U4 f- l7 k7 z+ Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, E( a7 G2 ]6 J3 \) \" E* ^: F0 t
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" \4 C. K/ a! r. a" U, b: H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. @& s# q/ P, aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
/ T) u4 Z5 Z' l. g2 X1 U, Lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) s2 S! Q! _$ A Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: r) n+ x8 R% Z& ^/ g2 y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ A O7 @% ]7 @2 D0 c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 h6 O& r9 N- n% r& B6 n1 `
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
