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
& K9 X/ ~2 `8 `standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 t0 Y$ w. N1 d8 N' D- Won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
5 o V. M1 B6 c/ x5 r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 M" ~1 \2 p9 v. l6 B% @% hanswers to our pointed questions.8 \# K" Q* r, R
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,* Y( E | m5 `, j
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- Y: g0 J5 S: B
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 ^, X; P5 o9 I; d* C! k
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 c) l6 B! H9 ]% }* o7 xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- n6 f, |4 M% a3 Hmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! A. c+ @) q% O- S& G; Q( j4 Qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; Y9 @6 L7 e& L1 F& `, I. I3 }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 a- t1 l2 g6 w5 K6 f) w, }1 _assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 L" i0 a9 D1 y$ m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 R- a% P9 g8 k6 V& `over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) u" K, c$ P+ O/ }- Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and r8 s7 i5 Y1 Q3 d/ H
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 q8 J' |# ^6 T
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 c9 ?) j8 E4 K: s# t" S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& _& {) i% d* }# X7 C* e% {
$ n3 ^2 j0 l. y* \4 {0 xThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 U; a3 d/ k7 g$ R7 Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! I# B3 I2 ~& T' j& @& w6 W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) Y1 j! M3 _, ?8 d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: g5 t: P$ f0 X9 ]& o' s
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 v6 \8 ~; \5 e) w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 ]& b( h1 N" [! Z5 R2 zdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 f( P1 j: R: A# v1 D3 yDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- R' y- L7 K4 g- qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only M8 V! y1 w! h" ^$ J/ ^
charge the fee defined by the state.$ _2 L+ o* s, S5 l/ g5 ^
- x4 {9 G( U/ Z5 ^5 FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get }% p$ Z7 s& p9 }/ B; G2 \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
R0 t8 y6 u2 z. [0 P6 e+ a8 \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! M% m& a) H" A- a8 V+ p/ a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& O. Z% |! ] L, c: K, h; Aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ o3 e" Z3 w' D. \) `' I" C/ S) e
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 e' I7 A+ h5 X9 K
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 t* q" g2 A+ z9 o- `2 Hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 P# W6 n/ F& t' O# t9 a3 y# A4 w8 M xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, ?( k' J: @$ T5 m& X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( Q( _2 H- J/ s' ?( J- Zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& g' g+ ?0 j9 Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
% @& f5 w) o1 Q) D, V$ Vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' Z0 I% S4 l: x+ E/ ]
are spaces.
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9 x6 F% `% I# c0 i; v. F) H! y$ ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 ~) p. O1 d: h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: V* Z. [; Q& Y9 l2 [ v: Xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* t) B3 `2 t3 l" q+ U ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 G+ G* Z5 x5 f |9 d; D
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 a, G: E1 N% E% k9 \
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' x0 F2 V- U- \0 x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- x* W. e) K0 P/ n% Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 q5 E5 A6 k3 U1 u# x9 y. Yis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 V7 b7 D/ A% f: q1 s( Q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
