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
$ k; D* o& _# o/ k7 Estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 {1 {$ K O" _) [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 a, \3 X. G6 t# B# a* H! e"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) J8 \& Y1 g" E1 N) B+ E C
answers to our pointed questions.
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" j6 u$ l$ n& @! CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; W& i( Y& B2 K9 A; O
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 v8 a7 s- k5 Q/ p: x5 g" hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! X ^7 H$ w; b$ u* K% |* vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. n2 V. M- `8 n% X& k# g' r
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' V+ k' r4 |1 b, o& U) \
medical schools.+ H" u l. c/ x0 N+ e( M
& w9 r" U, L( e5 b# g$ t6 f X5 LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the: z9 `, n' f+ j3 ?2 {3 E- H6 v; ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 {5 n9 G F" o! n4 m5 U" ?to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 p$ @0 H/ n5 ^ Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' i, q J" U5 W
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 y6 v/ F, W4 K! p. T7 J5 _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) m {! }) f5 @- e, D0 Sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
j# U: h, w# ]: Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. N4 a; e( j& C$ Y: |& Hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 x* p8 c9 h1 y L1 S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 m8 Z0 C. l! U) V% l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
5 \ |" v, ^- n. N9 wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 H2 q& j, z6 f+ ?% q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
4 H$ o2 O. z* o9 m: Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ {5 H+ T0 e+ @! e# W
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
9 C( | N- k3 G4 r: v8 J) odivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ t7 _: f) B8 o0 y& T3 xDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 m# U8 X7 d0 V4 oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) E! u1 ^' d! E- {8 H; V7 Dcharge the fee defined by the state.8 `; W1 K, O& o
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( ^( b0 o2 Q) c0 B( K
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 w; e) a7 c9 U& tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, g4 l. q2 y+ G8 q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, X7 @2 r' y+ F, X; _: `
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 y: `! a( Y" V6 I: W: l6 z5 s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" z) E; b) q0 r3 W9 i
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% \. F- P6 `0 F E4 ]7 Z9 N' E
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 W1 d' i0 V- G6 Y3 s. O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 c' E* D P- v
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 j+ ]' `; u4 v7 X! O5 a& dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ ]) P+ [8 Y* Bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% ]5 Y$ P- l' f" @4 y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 C8 i2 z6 {) P, W& G4 ?: ~) Vare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! p& @' L) v8 g. B2 t1 y- W, L
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* \( k6 L- V' q, J/ n0 o5 Town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 m/ Z* ]. M7 c! a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 m j+ I! E7 K _2 Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 T9 w4 f& n" P! x" ^) k. X
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# X B6 i; ?# L" Y9 }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" R$ C# f" i3 A) s( t2 L
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' w& G8 y4 k1 S0 z7 j0 w* @- K
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* c9 k5 P0 k3 P- z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
