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% b9 }. u0 `: }4 ^5 a
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 C$ K, B5 H/ u l4 won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ] h0 ~- B. K+ e$ W) _, C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: F$ `& { g/ u" I9 Y+ F
answers to our pointed questions.# l% w9 w5 E* Z/ |9 O5 n
& m: R! ~/ _7 w. _* S, R6 F. u* Q# h& w0 ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- W% e9 w% m+ L1 Z' M5 d; q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 j+ V; r6 u3 `' h9 V! w1 e; ~out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% O4 w& |" i( ^+ B$ x5 n+ v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! G% v- N( X7 p& P4 w0 L. oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% V4 W8 a. x! s0 r: B
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" |6 W/ t1 Y; ~
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: l9 O: _$ c' a8 G4 G9 {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% v0 K( M, S& [4 }* B! Gassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ ~( L& {! B. a2 Q% R& H* T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
/ g1 ]" |1 h; C5 Z4 Sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ N. T3 ^" @4 r4 e- h* O# m3 O
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- C& e8 p/ _" A4 T* E3 w
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 o* m3 J" A7 g* c; j8 O. \
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% B' }, t5 {8 j$ m3 Psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 n; I2 K& y5 T9 K, _3 I
: P8 ?: t `9 Z6 U0 L5 gThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; L% _8 Y O5 Q! p( `7 u% pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# u! c; t! i2 l6 Z# a }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 A+ F1 T' v; J
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
4 q, p* _' w4 W+ s/ d% {& jthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* l8 u2 a6 H% I2 @7 y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; y. f) j5 B3 ]! q7 b$ }: }4 p% Adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. J/ K h; j6 X' q3 N- e- h1 S
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" u: c# G3 B. M: \% A% ]
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 L# a# j1 T8 t/ q7 k. g: D- |. Xcharge the fee defined by the state.
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: g/ x( i; }1 {7 O4 j5 YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ z! v- I3 D# W/ `# ^4 e/ H% @; \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& V4 T( j5 U; i/ F6 Bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: A+ c) \4 J( ?4 D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 g1 K, J H; V/ E. c- hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: ^4 S# C4 y5 M2 }working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 [" L. h6 \# u' gschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! j2 M' g) m3 j- t: L9 \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ [. m7 ~+ S- z$ Y3 G$ Z5 \9 D& T
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 \" g: {# `! `) xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 z4 q9 P7 A: H( f: q4 Apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ _# {0 N: ?7 j6 a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( p; A, y9 F: Q; ^7 obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( C5 {! }4 e7 A: |6 {0 Bare spaces.3 z, c" ~3 r( B
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; p" \* h) E6 y% n- q% w5 Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) T, J2 c; q* W# o6 X6 ?2 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ a6 I/ }5 R& U) _6 a! s6 N
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 b# f8 J" i+ K/ P+ u6 h! E4 L! yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ V. M8 S8 p: J# h. \7 C& ]0 ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
W! n% n8 w3 i1 R( @! cnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
, Y# x, W( P! N& b: N6 lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; o. ~2 ~" `5 ~' ~; N! Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* X& r# j6 r7 M- M+ m+ \# V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
