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
9 o. |. `8 D. X& b. x6 Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: m7 H& l: E2 H1 h4 n' Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
& ]: q; o* M+ V$ f. J$ n& c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give U0 D+ Z5 |' ^) G
answers to our pointed questions.
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" o* n8 M% |8 H# c; J5 a7 `3 BThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
" o3 X3 j. u$ Q( G1 W7 j: @' f2 u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 p3 ~; L. M/ E" q- Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. x0 V" g9 I6 O/ H" ~6 ~/ Hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 U: |2 o, N4 Z& z/ R4 mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
" w" _, H$ {0 i% D# omedical schools. m. k j5 P4 U% W
$ v# S' G/ Y+ d% EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. L& H" X9 g6 A6 Y) s- Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* H( r; w- R% x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& i' t ~2 ~1 D: ^( G
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
- j0 w$ j' J- @- j$ N. l: Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) L3 }5 D; j" `* R5 Iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' Z6 T. Y U4 w6 z' t$ i6 kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 x7 B, C- f) A) B2 hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 @ o' y& F- J+ O3 ^shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( _1 v& Q6 R- v8 Y7 U
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# C! \# q! F: u; f8 L: I: ]2 z5 s/ ?private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 a, P+ i, q& @9 Z: f: F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! e1 a& k% r# k/ ?" J( \( ^have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 H \0 X, p( h( A/ g, ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 _. x1 t; F2 F e- F' `, H* t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% Z! G# ^ f) ?$ ], L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
& L. x% f' t6 \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) m3 X, c7 @ E
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 b$ ?. @0 x, \6 }0 Gcharge the fee defined by the state.
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. w/ n+ H3 p" M$ {/ oThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ s$ o* u7 X; M- S: Q |
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' Y, v. S, } m, [& @of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 b; [9 w: Q \: F$ {
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% {5 k! v& _ C3 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; J: l* ~0 Q! D$ ~* g% d) L$ R/ ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 R! F0 b. \2 H9 ~9 \5 h
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ T _+ h0 Y. cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ l# n* b/ u" U8 E: V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" T! u. t( P: @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- _5 \$ g* w1 Z% X
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 U% a+ o3 B$ `6 Y7 @7 w0 Rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! ] v7 `, d9 Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ J2 J: W7 Y! T+ y9 n
are spaces. _* Y# t. _$ A5 s' Q
) }! f- x& s& [* u f+ k% I( JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: z1 P2 b; G' b0 f8 x/ sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: r5 q3 V! O1 P: Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) o" j+ R$ @5 _ Y; n5 [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( L1 U8 s1 m, n+ S& J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; @; }) t. ^( {: m# Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( ^+ ~" A7 \8 s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 @6 u) D1 z8 o$ J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" c+ }3 P) R" j$ p$ }. z1 i5 t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* b8 a* k5 ~+ L& ~% x( `
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
