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
* J3 {4 x' t$ X" Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. D/ W a+ y. O$ O; X5 }! \
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ V; w, A5 \" U. S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. M9 R) ?- v& J
answers to our pointed questions.9 K1 m6 J! b' V3 J
8 W9 ]& Q a! ^( }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 k% P$ r- p; z9 N5 \/ l c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
+ ~! ?2 r2 @! i5 |( j. D. wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 h$ D- b" O m0 y" X; n3 }
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
% m5 b( {) M& N k rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ g/ H; n6 |5 q3 u, N) z
medical schools.
: W. M7 j# B& v1 t! r, N! e3 g) e6 i0 P: @
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 a# u4 ` G/ Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) E d4 C4 r# ~; Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( W: [9 c1 e" m3 N, Xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. X+ h3 Q: I! y- d
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 H0 F+ N* w6 b* I$ q; X' \. O' Oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 w6 K) m" ]/ U; [seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 h# B3 x& s! W& X" y1 h8 i7 Q( x8 r& b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 ~. c( F( b0 n6 Fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ F, W6 J' F0 y) x" K2 J4 Z; D
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
! O1 x1 C" o2 F4 M2 f5 R2 B% B6 D/ b7 w) A8 U: V
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
8 U0 H4 q. y% k1 j, i2 sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 T9 |7 k4 i+ B! p: I# n9 {
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ~# E! ^, B# P% x2 ?( ~& Z( `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) u$ F; K, A6 Z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
. `. f; q W. t$ Q; ]sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& C2 |6 s( P( w4 ^$ }- |& i# b Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 I5 V. a- m% t" _! Q- v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) \( x3 L2 {: z( J' W! aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. F& w% R" c' s7 z3 ucharge the fee defined by the state.& A; Y9 G8 V* {1 J* h
. M- @4 B' N0 S# z! HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 s0 K4 ~) O1 t4 G! y$ _
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" G) X& D: Y# ?4 O" i/ l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 a( a) g- ?7 o& I& O
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! U: p7 c: `" A7 T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 ^3 _# }/ R1 o. z5 ^; ]# Y% Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 X( r- t: g6 U* rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 [$ b! h& I0 C9 h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ X7 \6 s6 n9 t! `: M# a/ ]0 n) Q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) B' J/ m: h- chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 {& i# v2 d# t3 B4 R$ X- h6 j( L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. O4 U! M% r: |8 w7 D1 a$ n
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ @7 j K' W. o! Kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ }% `, D8 D% Z9 S: y% T" h" _
are spaces.
9 z1 B5 L8 O4 o4 V+ E: \7 _% \2 ^; w9 G' y) X6 ?
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 S2 ]0 N' W' r8 Q6 Dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! _# b1 k5 F0 a2 i/ X6 ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 n$ L4 Z( I: C8 |0 b4 V
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 s1 u* A" T4 W% Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 F5 |% Y7 Z; p7 R: ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 R# m! ]3 W5 F/ n7 ^+ @& m1 k8 n" w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. S8 c- h" L/ |
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ W0 k! I Q4 B4 Qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, W# Y# u5 a# ^: l We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
