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# n3 D5 J; [& U: X6 n* o, P# |9 L. U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 `6 `2 E& M0 S( R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' e x/ N0 z! u* Y$ W4 I& y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ }' ]7 v9 D0 G; U$ xanswers to our pointed questions.+ e" Q; G% `( X0 V6 M4 P( X% H, C
( B& F) j( C$ E9 F3 {; z1 q, pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 U" X! w. h) Y4 p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! H& x% k. R$ x' A8 g: |5 p9 fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ M6 z7 ]0 t1 N3 b1 @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! s( }& }! {2 P, ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: s a; P; y1 x' Z3 Imedical schools.- O9 S2 [" n& G8 P( m
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the2 W& b% J) ?5 U6 P) U, N& m. e3 Y' f
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 `5 _( d+ t+ Y) |* kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% L% F' e8 g- wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
# N* ]9 R. q% u g1 v, M" x( iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& b3 G. x( S8 R( Z2 yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: o2 y' @& L. h( J4 B$ Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 ^4 B5 d5 _- L: Y/ N0 ~3 {* u6 Rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: B- E2 e( s3 [1 K8 {, Rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some) J5 n8 |0 j4 o7 B. @" @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 e9 Q) v- T2 T$ j
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 G$ A( y2 K1 g* h) w
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 R$ w/ G# |+ D( {1 O6 } j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- U1 `6 s% E# |# d% L6 T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
$ f( J5 n; H0 e$ d0 ^- Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 I8 i5 d) E# i( y! I; E( H8 P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
9 x8 d# ^! R* T' Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 ]: X& F; o( C' o6 kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 I1 J3 U7 I3 x$ Z9 i
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 y- d; J9 t8 g7 e5 g$ X! B9 qcharge the fee defined by the state.; X8 w: S, n! T2 M( o
* {& _( }% E D6 ]
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* z9 O3 P+ e9 N$ G- b) ^9 v1 g2 {$ Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
" x) R" G4 @* \. Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. ?8 k0 |- K" J0 b" |* Atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: \* f6 K1 L& Q) b$ [9 d' l
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 g- Z( W" r7 Y/ d; X" V, o7 p- mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 c" D( h0 }. N3 ~
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 r5 z o z# Myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 v' U9 n4 \6 }$ u) l) N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% f6 w4 D6 q6 `, j' u/ K( {
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& {( g. d4 C$ ^; ?& w
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 @) z/ }) R! [' s; [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
) Z) n) i' R/ g0 [! Tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 ~9 f" Q4 g# L6 k2 z' [! }! b
are spaces.7 K6 v' M. g9 `0 \* g+ v! W/ c
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi I4 K7 \# z+ W
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" m# S- j/ F% Z& w; b+ w# Y, E1 n0 F+ \own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( K; x U' A5 j- l- X& R$ U40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 l x: y4 ]9 |* [6 ~& }1 Zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
B- f1 ]# j1 ~/ }! X2 g+ W0 _best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( Y& l# D+ S7 J' n, r n5 P0 Pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' q; N9 _/ V& w% r5 Y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
( M, R3 l- \4 m. R" R. n$ R, w pis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
9 j3 f) u1 e( u b+ A$ u8 r We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
