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- j7 Q' d) v6 K% I0 J& w, }* N
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, m: C, i1 {- E& [% Y$ g+ y( ]7 pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# N, Z4 H& K" E. m' u/ P4 S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* G! q" D! z' L0 E& q6 u0 |answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# M; {) H* f- h. H9 G. U45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 w* x$ V" N; n4 f, p7 ]: v: N( e
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, V+ L" d: \2 |2 j& E3 M. `) b lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' ]+ E+ c5 d, f' Cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# ~1 ]0 X3 J: n6 y ^
medical schools.
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: h" w* G, _6 e; rEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the- a+ s* ^8 `$ H/ e$ v
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( b0 W6 c/ i! j& B3 ~! R
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# Z, i- U9 N4 G& L
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 R/ N, w( S& _
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- D7 t3 E8 l8 J4 b9 v+ q# _" bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. r7 k" _/ X4 M$ H
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' x3 {8 B4 W/ S" }- c5 `5 Y. _# _) h6 Tmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: z. g) [/ g$ p2 Pshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
|1 g4 v9 y/ r0 c. m* |* ]sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 U y5 Y9 ^1 e: @; B$ x: J% P/ X
; F$ M) l" @$ ?/ GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( [; {4 `" G; \/ Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 p. T# e8 ] b* Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ I0 V( R, v+ u* j
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ h. p+ n5 ]% U' j. V. d
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. n- H l" ]: ]9 p. m. r) j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: W' k, [ {4 c; L$ H7 n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 f5 k+ T3 A2 }8 p0 g. fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 q9 q! }0 i; k' z8 x9 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 q! C7 @4 o% ?% J2 A) u/ ~9 Q4 a# acharge the fee defined by the state.9 R8 {7 |' a/ f3 y8 K" r8 G* {
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
K+ E n( f( W% Q" y+ }( k$ Y( n( i1 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 r9 O t0 ]5 k1 s
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 l8 u0 D" z5 u% ^0 p3 K% S: O- E" ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 j c! o/ C% s( G9 vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 ^; A' G. @$ p1 r+ S$ z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: M/ Y, ~4 e9 \' e
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; P) ?) e: R9 L
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- O9 _0 M1 T0 g: F7 K3 `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( s1 e$ s: R- \3 {8 ^5 l* Ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* t; k& L- L3 bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! Y; y& i! b! B! G: @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, n3 e2 q1 _' o) d
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 I8 N; [ N5 W5 ^# @! G# k1 C
are spaces.2 w0 k- V/ J4 t, C1 L0 Q2 w" j" o
, d3 s: ~1 K/ i9 j8 H) @There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* b L4 d9 \7 t m }- c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 B) y7 w" s" s: Q e' U4 H
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ p- y0 }, G; M; b
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& Q% j: f8 d0 Z) K: t: Qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 K0 h7 R' S0 w" M Q, U( |# M5 w3 F
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- x# c3 H0 z3 ^! a* ^7 Y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# R) h% B& A s( ]car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; ~1 [3 v/ a0 h; ?% Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% c" O$ p0 y; v7 N4 o X3 U
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
