我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living1 A1 ]9 t& i. o k8 j! `+ c0 k1 i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 b- `+ f/ Z4 C* M
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 e" r5 B* z% @1 c
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ j* Y- v+ j+ f1 r3 @7 O) ranswers to our pointed questions.9 `/ Y! t1 C) ^6 j: f2 ?; A' L
, G% @; Y q& J& W' l UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 z9 n. V% K8 j' I, l$ D0 D3 L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, ^! E& }. O3 n6 N' x' |out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, T7 D2 j' J6 O: B9 W; c2 i2 b" `
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 ` |# P2 {) v4 W
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; A2 t1 o* c. x) m) Umedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) ?/ U9 z- }3 _! H; c9 I" e- Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
2 K3 F: R b/ ?& ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' Z/ _) A0 K4 B* O, ^4 e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 |) b, k6 T. nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% l4 w [# u$ E' j' Q" @6 O: {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! s, j+ S- q( O# eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 b2 h2 `+ S' c2 emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% B. v' K4 O' }# u, J) F+ ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ e4 ^1 d2 k: L/ l* k; Fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* I5 \+ v3 s5 T% v1 @& Q" q
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- s' `( a) Q: f" x: B1 c9 X
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. @/ K3 Q. M# h- \3 ^! S0 S
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* r0 W* u6 p! N/ p, c+ s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
y0 e- I: C; c0 K' x6 N! T6 Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ S" X4 w; L7 p! d+ l6 ?sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ a" F$ i3 `! ~( @. }6 L/ \divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 i" K; u1 g- n" ~$ l. ^
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& M" S. X$ j) v7 j, G$ {a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 \6 e/ Y. N5 `% n r( R4 J# h: O
charge the fee defined by the state.6 p1 y/ s( e' r
# M r. o# E2 vThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 s' X) K& C/ H# m! T, e* D+ z! c& Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: W2 d: O L- J F6 dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
4 `1 b( f6 C' U9 Atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" o9 J( ?) ~5 D2 ~seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
1 Y$ S+ V- ]8 k& { dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 n( Q. Y; q- s) Y r0 | G
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
' W4 [' O. V/ Hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( g, t2 D6 g/ D) {( Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" v. G. `# `, R& n# X" z) khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# ]( b9 ^, u# \5 N- y- m4 k: npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
" Z; K5 \5 Z$ y" y6 x6 {9 k( @- Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' J- `5 r( o5 V: gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" m7 o( T- l' h7 V2 j1 _& uare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& \, A' |8 W5 q- z% T# O
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 e& T# o7 O2 }9 H
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- v5 z( M- E5 c, q& d40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 j: S- s: h+ I0 n% h7 w5 R; N) ? T
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' a4 A I) a& ~
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 o- d- a) [ pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% k @+ s. P: \, [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) P. l$ U4 V& Q" Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) d5 J8 {& H2 ]' y% m We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
