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
$ F8 w& _" c: V( M0 |, A( L( Kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 f, p5 Z5 ?. V( A; Xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ p. u7 a9 c, g- \"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; o! d# o1 v: danswers to our pointed questions.6 e5 D7 Z- U; I4 x2 |( [
) K6 J9 z w* r f& M4 Y9 tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: }# K Z: o) q9 q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 f/ U' r" X5 R! z8 @2 R8 l" _) vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! u* }0 ]. D; ]1 f! x: |
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 k: P% B3 Q! j) e9 j$ U0 x5 ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) d5 K! k* R% P& E4 D* Mmedical schools.
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/ K7 F4 ^, C" v, j j) NEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' v* Y. `9 e4 s: Q# ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& |5 H7 t# E+ {5 l* E6 N
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 j% `% J" f/ I/ }4 _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
( D" o' p) w4 a; T" b( Bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ j$ M+ U9 u+ u$ u
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ A) y& [% F5 q) v1 oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 {: i; j% `7 I% Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 J1 ~2 U' p$ |# I6 Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 R1 c5 f6 K! K+ Z# i6 Jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- _; g* E3 O& i5 h
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 ?# f1 K' |4 O* }! e/ K+ e
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- U4 m9 d. R( b, I- ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& I E4 z, c; Q t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 c6 F3 O$ T' X2 u" t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ X% R5 Y+ B7 ~. s% ]8 s* n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ {' G* }1 ?3 s% S* K2 a- ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' \ W: s) _* D* i6 wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 [: @& z; o8 M6 t
charge the fee defined by the state.+ [) L* U8 b9 d) M
3 `( V2 E4 W3 u% Q7 r( |! S {There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' h9 c" c# P8 H9 ^6 D. h% Y7 Ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
q p+ A0 ]' L4 w: N% Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ Z! q( a* ~" C6 B( b7 M8 ]
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 Z ?9 X, O! X6 M; j5 |$ c$ `0 `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- U+ Q+ S) k7 V8 w8 S5 Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 E# t6 z$ ` Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 |' F) m8 s3 v2 R
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. `" f" X! T2 F" ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" H9 @9 T8 K1 J. S6 ~0 H7 s1 Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 x0 V; t* `2 Jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* _0 I* i: Z. L
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! Z# L+ f7 r8 j! D% fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# C, j+ @3 @+ x' O; E8 Hare spaces.1 u; |8 T" r0 B/ d, K
' B4 O% G! B: U& S: C2 y4 ]
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" z5 i& j. ]# d1 \/ lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. P% W4 p) Q( X0 K' n) h9 ]2 z' g% K6 e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( Z9 Y9 g7 @( f+ E0 I! M: ]# v+ W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: z. P7 O9 ]* X7 _. {* j
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 }, v/ n# Z7 a R/ ~% I; ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 y0 y" y$ H. @1 g4 Hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 z- h, Z$ L- d
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 F8 V7 A5 B8 }2 {+ @4 z/ n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' V( Q# |% C, C
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
