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
3 ^1 Y; D( S* C/ v% tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 r( A; T5 z' q5 J2 M( T5 M6 P+ z, Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* ^; ^9 v8 b7 a k t, ?, y' b"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 I5 G+ s2 U) [! U7 ~1 sanswers to our pointed questions.2 @9 r5 M1 Y! A3 [8 _7 h
# v5 `% I. C. DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ r3 }. [& x% ~( H& r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) i; L5 c' s e6 Y/ j, {out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: p2 u2 A& f0 h& q) pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 c& m6 u, _; U" p- ? ? z8 o
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. A8 I0 X& R. ?. m8 Tmedical schools.$ W7 R5 ?/ h, F+ S
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the- R9 r) e+ w6 a2 B1 z. i8 r# J5 u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: s; N4 O$ E: c; T7 b2 B6 @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 J3 G; {; ^1 E) i! @& t- Y! {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" y( g) a/ H& O r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 c2 o8 z, |6 H" N- c3 j& uover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" B! O: I/ k/ \! h, A* p0 _5 e* b$ Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& L1 ^5 m8 Y% o- u0 Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ o z2 q' Z+ c9 y$ d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" L+ @) w: b! j& G# z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. S0 L0 x& L! ^2 x# [
) ]9 L& H% O) a4 y6 U3 i1 cThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 k7 j& C; ]9 P
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ g7 b' G4 |. ]6 }( Ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; Y' z& i8 C* G- z( f* N( f9 `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& r/ H# v7 S" o9 b+ X; d2 n* h( mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, ~* k/ K3 o! c; b3 B2 A9 n; u' D
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 U; s% d+ s' L& Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; W9 w8 n. _8 q- @) gDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" w) B( r1 P2 ~, I7 G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 i# v: P7 Q6 Z
charge the fee defined by the state.
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9 e7 G! C9 O7 jThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ j6 o: q, R) X6 |
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 l& k' @% M0 G( Q1 m7 N6 s% V6 v' O, a: ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ I8 T t6 l. R2 c/ R. b5 gtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) G4 v& l3 M5 t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 m# p# N$ s9 k0 L/ Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& B7 D& Q# U/ {6 i8 ]: A0 @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, d7 Z' H" r6 X, }* S2 o, F
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' |9 k/ W1 D# N$ Y- L! ?/ p3 X- Qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 x! e- B; @1 V) B& ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ V7 I: {7 e& g- J
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( e; b# E7 {% E# M- t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 ^/ z+ x" N. O; F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
1 N6 s# | D! }; }2 d2 t2 T" S4 l$ D, dare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ b& z! k8 N- s# B
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 A5 D1 t+ G% h9 t P1 aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
E' I3 F# W* ^/ K+ d- l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- H2 Q3 m! l, D. {parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, u* T9 A5 B8 V) q4 F( G: ?+ K6 `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: [- @3 V- r% U8 R+ Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 i7 r' P1 ]$ e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 g8 _. q, P# b% U6 iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( U4 R( a; v; A+ @/ @% _ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
