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
g5 h4 y7 _) K2 A( \: dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 o8 M# v. t& Mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 k' V% H$ L& e: d. j u/ `
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 I0 h5 `5 S' s% Z7 w* u1 I4 b3 uanswers to our pointed questions.2 u- H9 h6 u; O, k) P2 S
6 S- ~1 ^. G/ s9 F1 pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: T. W. }+ \! p8 @, [3 G+ A5 p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 m$ M) M1 }, ~ o! e- ~) X9 zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' @2 d# [' o" M% qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ Y) D7 N0 [- z7 _, e4 C* j. h4 N
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ V6 C! J$ U9 W: }9 m5 t# }
medical schools.* {" G* _' d7 t+ V0 H3 ]. v% H
0 o, J" O% h' d6 mEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 }4 \+ {: C" }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 O$ ~! E' r% C$ w3 O2 k# @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 l- `9 {+ X$ Z" [2 t
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" P3 z8 m* {( e0 d9 z7 i7 H
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" o: B7 ?( i* P. t9 i4 Z- o# pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' m3 p/ S5 ~: yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' ?! K: G8 ?4 ^& c& Y
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk4 f2 e( }+ p/ S( s% m/ I8 @: d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some! _! d$ b9 k9 Z: D6 w
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 ~0 e$ O; ~8 x( r0 q6 C3 C" V% y9 Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 l- x4 Q9 _5 I) L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" o5 c' D2 i: m5 p& n( a) y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ x" h/ f; P! Q( a& C' z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& i4 b) _2 W4 D& o3 S2 F6 N: Dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 {2 i5 B/ n. a, q; J, cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 h! d$ W, o9 b9 }3 s
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
0 ~9 k9 r7 y5 z1 Z. i- _& V& Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 x7 \1 u& s5 Icharge the fee defined by the state.9 m$ }' X8 ~) o
/ S! I% i: h5 C9 h" e& ^0 q3 \ `There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 R/ e) r) V5 N5 `% bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' g% }6 u2 U, O2 t fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 v- U. ]" ~: R2 a* B/ n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 P1 S4 N: j; f6 W: T( p, o' j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# Q2 I% n, I! h* a& w' Xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 R1 i) y1 s1 w+ c+ A7 G bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if/ G. D$ J7 U. K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& A( q' } b" S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 N) ?# x1 T" n0 H; J2 e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! p$ }$ f; @0 C. w- jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" n9 Y3 m: b3 U$ ?* m! W0 a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 S, X0 X/ G% X x- C5 pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 E3 }) V! p9 d' e/ a
are spaces.7 R5 o/ p# c: R [) Z
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ H' C1 S" g8 d. ~; n. ~! G
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: y" ]: E+ b& l- s# hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; _) F2 H) [& ~* m7 \0 k" H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 T6 S4 y. v, Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( s' N7 Y5 I, ?5 |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' ^% N2 D9 B* p. }+ M" ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 e$ D( C! i6 o( G% L
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# c' c) m/ f2 N# e! U4 A2 A) H% l
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 [! I/ R3 L) { We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
