我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 U# A$ C' W! X
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went" B9 b$ X1 ^: y9 U; O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 c) Q7 M2 i0 Z* l7 `' I+ }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# k$ d& d9 ]) \; B$ X% Uanswers to our pointed questions.) A/ p; T6 {9 j; F
9 y$ i$ Q" `5 X* H7 n
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) X3 v4 \' }* P2 K* s' d45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, L- m8 M! j' i+ ?; p$ z' gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. d" h& l3 v7 w7 c& ]free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 P/ O X9 ~5 d8 w) qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 @5 d7 b0 z% }6 n6 [5 X& } umedical schools.
! h# B0 w& y2 u; P& f+ g7 e5 H1 u; p
y+ N: I m8 Z! R( x" S1 F) YEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% i4 d: t- J" ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# u% a+ _5 `% h$ t. b% Q, P5 ^, \- _1 `
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 W* y5 p Y9 L, \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
% B, O9 R& n" D' G2 [, Nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 ~; H" R+ I, ]! h! kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
@% K/ @' N* Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ R/ H! x4 a) l0 G' V' D& fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 }" D4 e4 h1 X* J; _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: r& H* L. v/ r" {, F$ Q. q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
8 S |5 `' K, K" K' }+ }/ g" G% H8 c0 _$ A! ^- P
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 ]. v, Q' d! t5 w$ O' `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" Q: _5 n# M& z( ^) {9 gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 q. ?+ d5 ~) U8 ?( |& q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& _* A" l* v7 E' sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) ~6 J, S, `. F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 I& {7 o- [5 X
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 H% p: B& ?7 k9 e2 k1 P7 \3 |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
, }7 t; g" V+ l- qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ {( A9 c- c' z: s8 X- Kcharge the fee defined by the state.; q+ z/ ~( G' ~, c& z
; @( l# k/ l# Q6 t# [5 SThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ O% M; b0 m$ T$ z; `0 x3 U+ uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' b, T- J' X! Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; Y# c$ B% g4 @' o2 k* M Ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: y3 B& O: \3 E* C( V: ^# {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! R& m( z$ \7 y& Uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' ~/ O8 R5 `* `9 S$ ^/ q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 T6 \/ Q& E) _: f
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 M0 U5 C3 l- k/ D' P; O! h: v' jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( |/ b- J5 Q* f% j( |; X- _! L' J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 K M0 T; i* c Rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 a l/ P. e! z' e0 j1 _9 f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. F5 t1 ]$ A: N @' D% y1 gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* z" }) j: E% q \1 T
are spaces.! F/ x6 j# w" }0 |% a n
2 a* R: }* U: I/ v- vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 C: u. {5 U/ s+ o3 x: dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, B* W# u6 g0 n7 r# x9 |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 n2 ^& D( \$ G4 n# x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. g& l' f" r4 z9 G) f2 A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& L: r) |$ r1 t" m
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 L8 e, B2 _0 X. \! |nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; d" h, i, B+ j o: Q& f
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; k) J: C$ h- j& t; w5 g: c C; A2 ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. U/ t, M# @! d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
