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; I/ l# @* v0 T" U- x/ A: C0 E6 y6 Q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 e3 p9 b& H" w X, h% _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, z. M' j, r. Q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give6 n1 F7 M( ~9 r1 U. r
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& P1 n& Z* z* J! {9 ~! a- q# o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( q! _: k" \+ p3 B- E) a9 Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 y4 p. c! W: Z$ l P7 w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 `8 t" h' d, W& P2 K k6 Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. a( v C" ~ _" O6 a* B- m6 Dmedical schools.% N' ]. ~7 [* T2 y" A8 e F7 L
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* w `# x* _5 e# J
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 ]! I, }0 ^6 o0 _- {to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& B7 A7 C$ C0 _6 ^6 o" M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 u- D+ ~1 @2 J. o4 Ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 L0 }0 \$ m6 hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 ^- e4 Q( w+ j5 \+ U8 N, @8 x* t
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- X9 S7 F0 M7 I7 Gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& z9 M8 o- t# S$ o! S; C' s# Wshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: x4 C1 _% p0 e2 ?7 ~/ ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 y) R9 y5 W% \5 Q
2 t* g9 a' k( o% S% MThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) `3 Z% {& B' _0 z, `7 d+ l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: F% H8 @% C" t7 t3 K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 ]& y4 O) f3 m; g5 }0 s Ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, u' h2 q6 t9 k5 w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 x" N# v" l4 z: |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) v/ o4 U/ \1 B7 |0 f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# S; f( U; e1 A# U
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% v4 s* |9 O& f: n( w0 \, C- va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% d/ H3 U, o" Z3 g( ^# g
charge the fee defined by the state.
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* X7 c. c% ?7 S9 t4 t8 k6 zThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) h: e7 w- G. n+ V3 B! ^# k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ ]9 {2 v6 {- ^; V. m. \3 qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, P ~$ T9 M; s' U" z" K. k$ }% struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& s% Z/ N" o4 W8 P. }& T0 E: hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# y7 b9 Z/ U2 `0 o$ d6 [$ Dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ `7 Q: _% A; l/ Dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
) L3 Q2 N2 u! Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 R( w+ z7 | J/ i! A! |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 P" p V1 [0 ]( c# g1 a
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 ~1 E( ^% I0 R" p5 b% M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 R' W; r9 e/ o* P! k9 k* \$ I( E
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 }* s2 h; ?2 e8 X' A T5 h' }
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' O Z# N# W) ]1 yare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 A8 ]; P) x3 J4 o# h ^! m
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" t0 |0 k+ S& _5 [; T9 S g, t P yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! x# \& l6 ^0 a+ ^
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' F& q: c' y; z& d- t) F4 ?parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 x3 X% h" x+ J, |
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 L" g2 ^0 y& w' \, I
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 _4 c* o* u) m$ i, d5 }3 wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 Q9 w/ o: G% n( u2 @, e" z2 h$ Dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 a1 W5 y& R, V, _4 r! w We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
