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
; r' K: O3 o% ^6 ^( a/ M. Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 @; S' \$ z3 D& d/ A) g8 Q+ Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 e f' y" s" I/ h; m ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 }$ e. k |% W q$ Q$ l; A, Ianswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 h, e/ U9 n1 G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ Y* F k @( T: I) K. Z, r/ Sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! t% h+ Q, t2 |* Nfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# S) |& Z/ N: S! T l; n
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 ?0 Y9 X& q6 o: k
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' c1 B+ J; d& Q- Y. O. y( Y+ i( U, Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- E/ ~1 c3 ~# a% Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& w" _& |8 B5 ?4 R* ~/ ]assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ M" E9 Z" u: e9 Z8 Z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to r: w0 l C1 s! H0 N
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 g& V) Q+ B ?1 x6 n; Iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, B7 M$ P( q% O: B* a& |mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 y' @1 j$ s, V0 e" Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ ]& w5 t8 v; E; A' i psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. Q6 c+ @ a7 O7 a. Y3 ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; N8 G% n3 b$ f7 B4 r
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- L: i3 l. Z( ]: E; ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ T2 ~& i) Y: U3 H6 ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 W, N3 M# v7 P. H9 b. bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
+ @0 Y5 B' g4 x# g* }5 r# {* jsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 ]( w. E' m9 Y. H0 p) l$ Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ @! S8 a- h8 \% e6 ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% W9 n+ C) w, k3 i+ Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# E5 V/ N" t9 K- d
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% @. ^. d& M3 r- z4 X z4 N+ d) j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& y7 x+ T/ d- z$ Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
+ Q' r7 f/ O, r- o- ^truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 @' v6 S! ~; D9 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! B7 ^9 c2 `# Y$ r9 U; U; z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, |! |" P; S: |# U2 ?3 g- i$ Q% yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 |& b2 M8 ~0 t5 s+ G, N4 r* v$ A4 w0 C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% e% C m; T: O2 D$ I. U' C$ c' U
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* A g c* U7 i9 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ E, `' |( n+ Ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# ^' M1 }, U7 x$ f& S4 tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 ~6 t1 [) E$ t) sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 U9 k" C5 T2 d e3 q! Z: u# `are spaces.
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' y# l! p5 k4 M: g5 G4 e) c/ X, ?7 E* lThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; a; _6 o3 y5 w( `! E) Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) P$ Q; [+ f3 X
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 E% r& B, D2 ]4 r' q6 h6 {7 {40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 h& z" k) a0 d5 r3 v5 v8 n( j, }: Y8 qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 w9 f3 [2 O. ?4 _( ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 S- v7 \% E& Z; K- A+ `
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! D' m* S- k% U% O7 S/ ^; Kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. ^2 P v7 Q& M# Z4 X; cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) ]8 ?) |( X! _ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
