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
- @1 ?* k& V/ U! n* D. Z2 M1 ]standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 t4 o4 u {2 S5 E* W f
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, H6 j8 s% ]3 L: q# ]5 e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ f2 P& ?7 h1 V9 E+ G M+ P% Tanswers to our pointed questions., L- Q, ]. c/ x+ x/ y s
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 L& Q1 x3 k" \; D; I
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! j3 ?# L/ }- M% Dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is* Z2 N) g4 r$ r Z$ W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: W+ n8 a9 n9 B) z) {
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: j! _4 L8 g2 |( E( D( |medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 Y3 o1 {- t8 j- N7 X/ }9 ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 z5 P- T$ k( z8 w- sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( F: `! q% q7 y0 jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ ~* A J9 C8 q$ l. r/ dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: i1 X. b/ i- D- z0 {
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
V8 d1 Y% N* A! Z. useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 _7 b* E2 K6 M* Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 U# Q$ ~) o) \/ m3 s6 R+ ~' `: h5 Vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
S& z6 k& a1 r" w! h" M$ X2 fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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& w6 ~$ u, A" nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 _. g& |8 ~% xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ A, o! Q: C8 K2 U6 L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. |! ^9 R$ L3 C4 |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( [; Y/ z" T. i3 w' ? Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 `( _+ ]" s: K; ~. vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 K% f% d: V5 ?1 }; U B7 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 v; f8 O# L; ?& k D8 p) p- n# W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 b. E+ I" j5 W E" o8 Ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ B; O* F& R6 @7 M; U
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- C$ X3 q/ @7 d. u% w4 ~$ _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 n' o# x5 O6 s+ l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
' ~% E9 [9 ?, n6 X. u2 \truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, c* O) D9 N3 ?+ I' l/ ^2 A: b0 }8 Y
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# p# K0 d- H& `; m
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
: t9 T/ d% _) F$ A: tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* p$ a& l' w- `3 R! W, t- ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 d1 D3 E3 ^) ?" t& A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# q0 \3 \; `& g/ p. I. \hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% [0 l, a7 `' O& B% q! rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, _) |9 u% Z5 b! ?$ K& O2 o
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& {- a4 M3 Q# j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ \' n* ?* ~5 w5 n
are spaces.4 j4 r/ T; S" }. S: g6 r' F
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, G9 p5 J9 m6 z
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# h% x7 Q0 Z7 P. }( ^% i" m0 ?own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the9 S% f! c% ]! \. [5 o, z( ~
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 V) Q; \9 E5 c ^3 e1 b6 i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. `3 M! \! |+ @# Q4 [3 lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% Y3 ~3 n$ F: F0 p; x9 inice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
M7 c/ k8 t7 I9 N+ Fcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 o9 w2 w$ [, q! f+ O, {is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: N+ N$ R. u+ Q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
