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
" I& K- f/ m7 e# a( I4 K/ a: hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 W2 f% w& L. \1 R$ ^0 Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,5 z% [$ z; I( E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 O' I9 a/ E; d( z9 s0 _) k! H( X6 Wanswers to our pointed questions." i0 N( q. C: a
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! u' G5 j: _/ ^: H1 q8 P; y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" [; z8 C, D0 w; k3 X2 `out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: }7 E8 f3 [% K' X2 W( Z# O# Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; c U7 @9 T8 B* U2 i( ~
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
& R, J: {2 I+ K, l' ^ y Cmedical schools.# u* G8 D1 A( c/ M" z+ S2 p
. N' C" O' q# ~. UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 ]: a" Q6 H8 l Qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 d Z. Z. }6 o- \0 q& U# A+ B
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years Z/ [+ [" c, H% P( Z" t. |& V
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' C) l& _: t- k9 n) d# Y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) |# Y$ A: R0 G& b1 gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" X, y! `8 j E6 pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 _0 |# Q( Z9 Z* E! G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# e2 `& v# l5 p- Q- s' \1 m' w6 ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; V+ [, T+ y4 ?# I$ ~ G6 lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 h" Q7 M' B5 ~
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ h5 G g# `3 g2 hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: o# W+ ^6 v/ \! Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) ?) m6 y8 \4 m, @have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ f, p! i/ s% i3 B/ z% ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
' o' \ D- P7 x/ zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 h" c; M8 w% r1 zdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
: q: q/ y+ I" `9 m% rDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' p* ~/ E3 [0 e/ d6 ~
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
* \. g/ L- a6 ^0 ~0 k) qcharge the fee defined by the state.7 v( @, ?3 j8 o, |8 o. |3 n8 e
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- ~* k( A9 g) a" Y. W, `
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 W6 m1 _, V) V. `of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# v7 F$ c% F5 |7 L. d/ F% w2 ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
\' V# f2 w- o3 ?4 k* n4 Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! V! R) e' ^8 S9 v* G* b3 H0 ~$ ~# f; oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 x( _$ n3 l& E# ?/ r' S+ |4 Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 B7 F/ R% T7 h% K- q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( V( i$ T3 T0 }. N4 N) |8 b. gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- a# J) o" M# X$ P+ B& qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# F% Y5 W7 O8 ?% a& D! \# F8 r
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 O L/ q( n. k7 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! e# e( B/ A T& @; R
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; s3 t$ n" y; d# t1 d) m) J4 J
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 n. P8 f0 X+ B4 I4 a* A( K3 z! Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( f" s7 H, _- ^/ s7 v4 Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 t3 K9 b) I" f# o- _40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" Q7 x* S- d/ T, b" D5 B" O
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 L+ |( S5 v! f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) N( \- p8 m- r2 U- V6 b. Pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" K' r' @- ? T# K9 M3 H8 hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- ^0 B- i1 ^) n3 K% j+ t! u% L1 x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 {4 T$ D8 B6 D4 w) e5 z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
