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
# O5 V! y }2 u/ W6 ?6 H A* ^1 @9 B A: gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 u( c+ f; F7 t! K9 r# U t' n1 o `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 D5 S8 D) i' v2 Z( s6 S# r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: F8 S; D9 U6 j8 oanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,* L8 G7 k8 S P% r* }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 P: E1 {0 o" X, f6 Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ v3 ~7 P! T! b! Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! B( S& Y5 _3 P ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. m9 f! B7 W* p& wmedical schools.8 Z2 S* u. {& v& o. m. b
# y+ M+ l4 f1 V1 cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 b3 y' q- f. l8 o# f* W' ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; M, g& |! M6 p2 Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" U: B$ P- I- q5 d4 }* f& dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 E" |/ U0 O% ]) _- n: His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 g; P) {/ @1 Q6 C
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 Z7 T! z' r8 n; j8 Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- q* R6 t$ x$ Z" T$ e
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( K! O# I- I0 P) B- Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. {6 w6 I; B$ n$ e7 Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! ?# S; O) u7 A7 U- o
7 C0 I) [& _1 A) [, i& }/ W4 n vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, P1 t6 @7 h3 h M( `0 Lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* T4 M1 e( z6 }# [% b! Asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& y: b* M! P: s3 ] d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. c/ v7 [6 K4 R' fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& x( x5 l) | a5 I4 j$ h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 A% B- b+ l3 ?9 A0 G* h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 n! K M) l8 R4 B2 Y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- B# V. B7 O) s: _8 i& ~ |1 P" Q& n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# F/ s3 \/ V ^! p3 |; C$ ^" Scharge the fee defined by the state.3 f& R* J# I/ E' r. s+ B
3 h' {; n& Z0 ~. M( ?5 T sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ v& N) Y( U4 p9 D7 I
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 t0 F4 P) g' H) d. W$ T& eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, ~0 M1 A- P, g* b& g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel U$ Z- P1 b" Z7 }" v, _, f+ F: x
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& D" i [( u' A7 H; e' x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 s% e% p& g$ l. ]* Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* s$ U( m1 A/ S) ~& x" {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 z1 N0 a% O/ s) v% l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 C1 @3 d, F1 b7 o% A: B |hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. o; }) h' x e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 a q" `, V0 e8 ]' L7 I* Mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. J+ |$ v- h# b5 O6 Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 }! m, u. z+ y
are spaces.
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; S l/ g1 Y9 r3 j3 FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* ^! Z ]9 J5 ~2 `: g
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: q) `% {7 W" a* H( Rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 r* ~, z& k/ U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
/ {, f; X! l1 N! xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 V" c! Q+ r5 W( z' \8 m- ~2 V# }, X: V
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. J$ X7 B9 t( Vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 k# G* u% z" W7 Ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) [2 m2 H9 u6 `is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. H, m6 r7 U! ?+ _ y( Q' m
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
