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
. S' s& u2 A4 \7 m, Q5 J$ n; vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
1 g/ j. T: M' o5 M# ?' h; \3 Ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ r5 X+ O, |3 ?2 i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; J5 o$ A* E |
answers to our pointed questions.
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/ h6 F P0 g& P& ~3 T+ g6 n4 SThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 G' ~: b9 [: O, f45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- P" `1 V; a& X+ sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 t+ u% j8 Y3 Z- Z \4 h" a9 i( ~/ I
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* q, A' F9 } f0 p- J4 qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
k( w5 g: s$ L/ a' r& X3 Q" O( _medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the: X! p W' y5 o# a3 T* J% r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! ^4 {, Q: f0 ~3 [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ w! H% L3 e1 w L' w" Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
* j ]3 b* e# F8 b6 ?$ @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& d% z7 b. z2 }: ]! {
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: C7 O1 i+ U# Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# {/ ?/ T3 h3 k6 d. u' X( e3 rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. @. d+ ?0 W1 l) Y% Y. W# q r
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
" N) q- a9 N$ u& u& Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ \& K, e7 |2 Q7 h5 \
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 ~5 J# H# ` v! Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# U4 e4 h1 H0 u W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" M; T4 l- `2 w% o8 h' D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! L; B: ]& T; b# |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% X) H+ b/ r3 r
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ @" u l/ e4 |' i) u3 [ b9 \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) V( I& ?7 `9 M! V0 ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 s- c( @6 v7 v4 \6 o
charge the fee defined by the state.8 x( [( h# e. k# _& T
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ V$ Y9 N% e5 z% m. z7 Q9 j1 ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 i. A8 p! J) ]' }6 Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
g9 Z" j7 @9 K" m3 i9 ]4 Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 f& L# U$ E8 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 S* z4 M0 y" m; f$ h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 U# K( J' g+ U/ m! R1 Xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 C8 i- [. g M+ H2 [& y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ X! s; D! W9 J4 O0 J# S# Etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 h0 o' ~9 R2 k6 b% whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( E5 W, N. D3 m; fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 k) s' L' {9 U" s, D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ F' \, O' S/ F7 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# @" m; P( X4 _* P/ Jare spaces.+ h3 `8 Q* u& _7 C4 }) o9 Y) H
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 f9 c% s u* ^9 G. G$ a: \to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! k+ ~2 F! Z1 B7 v+ Q2 M$ f0 x5 Y o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
L5 T& H v% x& L2 d40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 ^1 ^" c1 N- v" e6 nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ }. ~6 Q1 l! ^% }1 D% P, o0 \
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. |$ r2 D% z# Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
B9 \9 L4 q6 ~5 Hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 e* T+ _0 a+ P. cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( s- n5 L- I- g. _5 G9 L s5 ^ R& Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
