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
/ Z. i! W8 w' P- v, W' _3 astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
a7 G% |& A8 ?" F1 \; ], s4 E0 Ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 Y% }" i: C3 j) ~" z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: f$ L. f; b Z8 o5 Wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 g6 O) R3 T7 b45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 \5 @. A" ~+ q qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ L4 h( M) H! [0 hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: v& L- \* i# n
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
K4 L6 x) [3 D5 h. j8 q% Dmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ Q2 m I- Z& r+ [
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; U6 f% }- A; P2 ~) M+ b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ D. v1 I* o' hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 \. \1 z/ m8 g8 _& y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
/ D) z$ i: w& x# c' h, @ }over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There: t+ x. j5 G, Y5 \; Q+ B
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& J6 j6 R! U# ~. y0 ]" o- A
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# y: n* w0 U" C' ?) j, s; ]" wshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ l+ n. L# @: usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' T& g) v1 Y0 M- y0 T4 f1 _; z
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 K; k; I8 \1 {$ u/ E3 C
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, r# i& N- Y$ A& x. Z: G/ ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 z. J! e; ^6 b0 g& `" ?
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* J- C7 U d8 \ ?/ v
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby i8 ?0 }! U3 [9 r( Q# g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! T/ K- s: ?; ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
j% a4 z7 l+ Q/ I! B; a. ]6 tDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
e$ b( l6 ^* {) K2 l/ Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
* w0 D# [6 D. l$ ^& ncharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: K- B) j* B- ~& w, T, W# @
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 U6 N( e# C% q8 c- U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# B0 z. A! p4 A. Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 n8 o" B% J" qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ T! f5 [3 ?( x7 r. F9 f' R. u
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& h1 C, o9 {3 [' Q) H+ F8 w& ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, ^& u) K0 I& v" g' _3 d
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ Z. q3 B7 t" w* g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 b1 @7 X9 S+ p8 H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, A; S l2 y, [: M3 l6 N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- U) ~3 y0 ]+ h. k% W6 {7 _; jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ]; P" w$ [+ m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ A: S7 |; q: ~. l9 ^
are spaces., j$ S: ~) J4 O' F9 K+ L
# C/ _! U. J: N! j9 X. BThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. R+ p4 t8 I' I3 B7 g! Fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 `* W# O) n, q9 v# {own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 Y5 r) [3 s! }$ p# v
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) b2 a7 M1 b9 E" a: Y- Cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& j3 f# V" }5 i3 v# b4 S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few. e1 Z. Q8 g9 E$ _/ \8 a- g5 n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. b% g, i0 U* w U0 j% G* L# f7 F, f( Mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 E+ A' E4 x: Q$ j0 i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( I n4 M/ @! f& D. V$ L/ Z6 c/ z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
