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
" H( G2 N9 X- q1 p2 Y) W4 Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* k1 M3 \/ l/ Won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 ~+ _; q# }$ Q. G0 w3 J4 N( q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" n- A0 G; U7 e
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ \2 l+ H4 g" X. N* H! k ?
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; p7 X' U/ U3 G9 {3 B% @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, d( d! i8 \3 y4 L3 I/ g
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 {" @5 h7 I4 F' R hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) M% v0 c4 W: Q$ ]# X7 nmedical schools., L9 q! q+ B0 x5 b- K3 Q
]5 x- R/ S9 G0 b6 E+ M! `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* r4 G* H4 _$ k& |: \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& w( y5 D& \& P3 M7 a' Kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ b- j9 v. R p0 T3 i" t" t; Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
c( l4 F _0 L8 B! F3 w& ^7 T; o. iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! Z/ Q+ C8 v* `6 v, z& Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There: _- O% m8 {+ @* v4 O5 o& g' b
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( G' W9 Q* }7 p" D4 |% m
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 M ^5 R R: oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 z" \0 s9 }6 B+ P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) Y$ ?1 T( y# \+ e, E+ t& r- H. _
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 |. a- T5 t7 A# C+ Ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 [$ f3 D8 s1 U; d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ s5 h2 X6 h; P# S# o( Gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) o6 I: }& l* _. X. b: V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. [) `+ O6 c2 ~. Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& x- s: Q6 Z- {0 l8 _9 S8 ?
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- i( }4 Z! l6 j0 y% f" y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 x; m( C% c& h5 R! ~charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) g$ Q4 R ?$ w; ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 t" w% O/ ]( Lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- _7 E# `2 _- c2 p: F( D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 Z/ B( x1 @% k% x- [( D9 gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 T6 H& a1 g V9 A) @. f- h5 _: ~: Jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 O5 O# U; M+ A+ P$ h% m& s6 \+ [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
) {- ^! W0 P, X8 ~% Dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. {+ u/ Y. S6 [7 g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 n0 }* J" [5 [8 E9 j$ E# o9 `9 hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
4 D2 _! y% h$ ^4 C4 G# h2 I2 Ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 I u# t6 X! h+ h Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 S) n5 d. _* W, o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there |4 _6 ~: ^/ u1 ]6 a
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 h {6 a% L0 E6 [0 G/ i$ ^
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) z! Y i* n4 D) k, ~" s; G+ Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 m) G- B d; ~: L7 J40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 m- S: z, F+ C. r, [. C6 q; t
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the c$ N' N' [' j) Z7 k
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ n/ L7 t$ M3 @4 Z$ anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 B- C0 {: i I# C" W5 X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" h4 X( D& _. q# T
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# w0 \) U4 }9 N0 }$ @. g We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
