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 K/ P* w( J9 Y7 c, wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 G9 c/ P% B/ H1 Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 C' ~! d6 j2 e1 I
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give$ m: y$ a% ? K5 w7 e
answers to our pointed questions.
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5 Y1 P: [4 C6 j B9 LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," |0 t4 T1 D0 l: D" R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; X# K# V2 S# j, ?9 y) Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! u; q# ^/ K7 a2 N% {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 b4 \: l$ |; c/ c4 b. H' H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: k' x" [9 ^- _$ x% x; omedical schools.
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$ g. O2 d9 u1 l( l. M# CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ l* o+ y, Z# |, K' c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% v; n8 N& g2 Ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ K+ i3 m, B1 p$ {) t4 a! tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ l$ o" D$ E q' i3 X5 R5 lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 D, h9 [2 m# \6 Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
P& L- x$ m4 D2 ~! i3 j, D9 mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
4 E4 w1 A- B; D+ t* B2 r: D2 u! zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* \ @: Q" P0 R! t! @
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# D0 Q# R( _0 r# e% y8 g
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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1 @6 J* M- c" M( p1 r% ?The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- U9 \) |' E5 e% H, b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' g P h3 a7 l8 f+ v2 @) t' p, Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. V# t8 ]+ a8 e/ L0 |- O; a
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ v, |. b- [" @7 \% _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! Q7 y5 U! |& w9 S0 y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 _. J( G- A( b% J T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- v/ M2 p- X: J$ r& j1 Z5 `
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# U3 ^# v, H9 @9 g& a: e y+ Z1 _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 f+ D& P+ }) I A
charge the fee defined by the state.6 I9 `4 ?4 H1 O9 P! w
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 U) y$ @) c; a) C6 w
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 E2 Z3 s% s# j* l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; k0 o# d" _1 N/ O, M1 atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: Y6 w( f8 ?3 ~5 I
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 z- b5 {' w" ~. c; N- Z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& J2 @# b) R/ i! b
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) z0 u l) i+ g1 V- A
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 s6 c- n6 M1 ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! z& k3 m0 q1 X K" Lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 p; c+ ^) d" h' Rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. a h% }$ b: u7 }/ Nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 W, B* ]& b, G3 F3 wbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: T B: s, b$ M0 g& care spaces.7 C9 V8 T4 h n2 Q( t7 J! O# J
6 Q% M( p }5 @( c7 MThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 C3 O- g0 E3 O( ^
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# _. y1 W- G( h8 u! D* jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: N" W/ P; a0 z. T* ~; z3 m% ?! ~
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 ~* m0 p8 [( u: E1 d7 g* F+ a) _
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' }0 F5 A z- ?, Z( R8 ^( X: Gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& M0 u2 ^5 Q6 e; h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" P7 [2 X K" Z3 L. p; e, Mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) f j {" F. _0 A2 q9 m/ c2 y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. t# |. O f! U, i* @2 G
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
