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
. X% `& c: r2 E* D) Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 ]& R, V, E4 K& H! l, ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" ^0 }4 R! V# U' a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 T$ c% O q1 D
answers to our pointed questions.- X. i9 R2 C: G4 f7 C
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 ]4 @6 o6 U- m0 K45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. F- Y( i" x$ M, g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 L9 {. j" w! O0 efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, d/ m& X) X1 ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, h- {. n. Z$ n7 A+ l1 F. L
medical schools.- C# Q" e6 C$ r; h
% i$ i+ |2 i* a1 Q# n- @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
3 B8 w* k3 K0 l; y- P. _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! j7 h* U1 K; B2 ~" _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
6 L- R t7 n8 cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
# M2 a2 }! o! Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( p6 a/ T) ]& m4 X8 xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There8 \9 |' E7 G( K
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ a! b; u! r- l+ k
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 S' Y4 e7 |( Q, l- W/ @
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) D6 ]! z3 M9 h: I$ A4 _( wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ v; O8 a% j& Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 K) Y# ^) n! T/ f, O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( @! v/ J: w4 c
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. u+ u3 C: G0 N) T* C; q2 {% r* d
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 S/ W! y/ o7 S2 ~- Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 j0 `/ K, |: @divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' t9 u- {& J( ~
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When J4 S- w; ^ e" P; b
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- D3 D7 C: j0 @4 h# P0 ^# P
charge the fee defined by the state.
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' X+ Y! [1 o+ u, B: m! p$ BThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, M# c$ V _+ m& ` k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. \; S% b% N( E+ f4 B7 S
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& \2 Q6 `7 a: dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 X9 C: U8 f0 V( J* I. T7 q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 ^ Y9 \8 f+ [. d! O6 h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ D. z" p' c5 K) K' d2 c8 ]1 M
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 a4 S( H: O! d% h# y2 o" }! w9 ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ z; P# B6 H H
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# @# Z' _# ^/ W0 s2 R) B1 M! F
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ P% f ~/ |% \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* q/ k) N4 h/ [$ u. R2 xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' r3 B% p! X6 d, V- q3 ?( s
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
! N" |" R Z5 G% i1 e% ?8 Xare spaces.
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' _0 p: Q# T. s6 ~7 L0 N: V4 x: aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* z3 G' O% e' l5 {2 q$ M) C% {" xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ l8 m6 ~2 d7 U4 z# f9 o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 k8 `# s5 e8 m) D" k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# f/ ^# Y' h# n7 Eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( K# V1 d0 a! J0 g2 _best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
1 E7 ^( X( {% S, W8 u) k2 ^$ pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( L O8 [5 u* \/ z! I" v/ s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 F' C% G/ k+ s: c3 O" R
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., h' J0 n- [8 y6 w/ h1 ?+ P8 x! F3 w
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
