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* T( _: a8 y$ ]$ s! L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: B! f% v( N1 Z/ Y9 ^0 ^* j$ con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: n/ |$ C. W& d! A7 V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 B' ]2 W* s, z$ {( Nanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; j7 d4 T X$ ^4 \45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 k' L [6 d$ {3 y# V q2 Y: X$ Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 q! K) s4 Z( D" E& q) jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, X; Y& l) N' [" ~2 y+ Vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) C- S( G5 a0 T! c: amedical schools.! D* B6 S' B V- h+ N
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: j) R. P) i" vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; K. D& t* X% e8 T" \: E/ Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 [9 h+ r- E9 w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ E+ B( p. N: C( G/ p: r- Q: {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. x9 \" V. k. l6 pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* E {) ]. R$ Q4 c3 z% ~ x. cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 i8 T" d" D* B
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, J+ S6 [$ ]+ R" X& V" Q6 Q) kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some& J# a: K( u5 y1 |9 X6 c; ~# s! k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) J) ~5 L6 Q+ _3 h+ E
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* j) i a9 ~2 p! [7 {8 m& Iprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, h; `. j# ?( }- ?% e. z5 }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 F* g' ^# w* a/ hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 Q: }5 Q5 m) e) U1 ]3 U! cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' ~6 l5 A/ P: I% t4 I0 [: M6 q; `
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 }. b. f# G) y& ]
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 a2 D! p" H3 ?+ C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; O: F* I# s4 U3 xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. G8 S* {! c0 Y* lcharge the fee defined by the state.. u0 {/ E2 _; }8 d: U6 u$ |0 \
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: r ]" c8 b t1 c1 n) p! D
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. {0 e2 Q; L9 t* z0 _! B# h/ Sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 [+ x) T7 g3 B6 P" h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) h. V+ e- F1 m g" B. Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 B& z7 ~: I: I5 ?: aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on2 F( |+ K n* |4 G' b
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& L. t ~: w5 K. y' |) _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# k: k5 [4 Q8 h k7 h* J( ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
5 {* f4 q( u) p; X$ X7 f( {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 ?* f& N9 \7 K0 H- Z7 Y6 R& s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: g2 K! b: C4 _- a. K
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: M8 \( s1 U8 } b: U# ~
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( j8 ^8 M# K6 }6 h( n
are spaces.# e8 B% C3 t3 }* U0 z# V2 w
. ?9 R" o) }1 yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* @( O+ m2 \* y9 U$ V6 eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ x" d. s. T9 O8 Q" m2 S2 X0 F4 J* ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ s& b; l2 k0 y/ d' J! `4 P40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% C& b$ j( G! ^0 Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( Z8 r, ]" L' V/ r0 O Vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! k2 ~7 j+ n8 @% C' S n r% ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 q) Z9 T1 Y! i+ V! v: z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, _! e4 R" X: ~- ?: M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 ]3 n4 L( ~+ x4 J { We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
