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
9 f+ L3 `$ I$ @, v4 Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" D+ ^! N1 C5 v ]1 `6 _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
E z! R! ^! B8 N8 {& F, c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' q! _( ?2 K8 I$ y/ |5 j
answers to our pointed questions.
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l* I& ^+ o) ~: d$ Z- g0 i: B3 H* _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, K/ `! d" }( {: i5 D: x1 K; B5 }/ b7 s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; m$ v1 h. D8 f, @; ^3 c
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! r. S. d+ |# R5 w% I; Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 x' _/ `' P7 K( R) s6 q0 D! vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# [; W! {3 E- V/ Tmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 z; V" n' t8 T' _* L# T8 e+ Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% I1 E( }) u/ x" c8 _: {to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ j) W, G' v# v9 v# K% aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- K+ h+ x6 [8 y: M) k# N1 Y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 @: s( a7 y; `over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( P H W, b' @) B# V( }; i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 @! j9 n- C# z1 |8 Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 D ?- e$ J9 y4 k3 |2 zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, I4 r* z* a3 q( r7 U0 Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
8 K. \+ e( y; Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 j8 p& b& q! w! i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: h; v$ h% m2 e; C, Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 C/ M/ Z) o8 [
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 k( g/ V4 P5 H9 R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ ~; C, U6 s: T: t5 r# n# X/ Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; D: d6 A' L4 L" c$ T) Y( U3 @
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& m* {2 W6 O, l% E% {; @ Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 ^) A9 N; y/ z
charge the fee defined by the state.' N! D( q$ ]& G* }3 u/ }# d* Q8 b
2 a' P* g4 U DThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: s% v$ N$ u5 V7 C! {4 Mon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 Z6 W% I2 u% K$ a; a* F5 fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" ^6 n/ p& ~' i# \! Wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
2 @0 N: ?* M( | Z' d* y: hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. `5 ^3 }+ [% @
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 e2 R8 D5 t" U4 S4 o, g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: I! i x4 @3 d# D+ j
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 ? M: a3 K2 E! g8 u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 x: w( h9 p5 M. \' |8 Q/ }7 Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ Z8 F% V, S" W. ^people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want T& C$ z2 ^( m2 ], k& V* Z% k/ _
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: Y) u1 K* s- }; r2 [buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there r' e7 D/ ? z& k1 V1 o
are spaces.+ d" C7 W5 O& ?+ {, R
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 g9 \2 N: ^- |- |) B7 w: A
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 {( K& J% h! `$ rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ G0 o8 z1 K. q; C5 U# d' v, B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. Z" B8 T2 {2 z; C K6 e8 O
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# C1 X) I8 F: I% f3 Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ `1 B; U1 q8 `/ { _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: ^0 L! ]# ^9 p& c6 T: S) |+ Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 a4 i% W8 D( His a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 P: _7 ^( ?0 `! a% \- w2 X8 V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
