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
6 [ F X% s. P" Kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. n( `3 H/ |2 S' Y9 N ^on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 J; A0 q# W+ G6 P' n( I8 L
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- c. r% t8 ]4 Q, B
answers to our pointed questions.
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3 t* q3 r3 ~1 r% J4 _4 K5 c3 ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' o' E+ \! D* y: p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" d0 H, f2 R+ p% m
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 r' T; J; h9 d& m) r: Afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
$ f5 t9 U( n5 D5 z0 lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# k; ^5 G4 V2 E3 }, E$ v9 B0 b7 Zmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; Q0 r" q; c6 x' Y Qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# z) g {* E9 T7 V1 j% m2 Rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" W" Z" F# k E' D" h) a- Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: ~ L& B7 q) m: Q) c) }5 Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 c" u8 J0 h% q$ M$ Y* e1 \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ T* {0 W) j3 ]2 Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 c0 E. l' Z; R0 x* ]# S7 H* v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# o! o/ U. }4 \6 t( T- y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
" n# W$ ?5 t- C8 }1 asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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- r4 r( {- i% \8 _# t+ L% nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 V( I: D' N6 y0 E% A' I& H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
5 |& G. X0 _: l4 f: Y4 E+ S6 p0 vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ K& Y# z& J+ y# t: \have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 H5 W. z" v& C5 Z+ ~. l- p0 P, I0 Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" m) K: F1 h ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: D0 \( [, r" I$ P/ v2 gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 t/ f6 H7 V1 f, c0 s/ cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) i& W* w! L& n# T8 \* W" ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 q' }8 p! c) Y; ^, R3 x
charge the fee defined by the state.% ^0 r. G/ G. t! j. m
1 s4 S# m6 R! NThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, U: c. C2 {& C( G8 @1 _+ f4 }
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: X7 ^ T- s% _; J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 y. H$ L i) ~' k7 ?) o& v9 D- M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" N0 L; {$ h6 e- B H. S2 _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& d/ W0 F/ B& l5 jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 a" j' w% s( @8 M5 D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ s! Z- O V& _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( h8 |) ^% H5 S' a* J
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( H9 ^, `5 B+ [0 ?8 o2 c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that( o7 x3 [1 l8 z' z2 a2 l. i& y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, S& |6 s1 R( c! ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ h. k6 K# V' t% q; ]0 Nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% B: X; C: R: Dare spaces.3 m! p9 c( y# Y! q4 E g$ r
+ H+ b& f; c& D" h9 U. YThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
`" q. D& O# J) s$ Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( I1 P( K* ]. u/ j7 Eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) [3 n* ?7 |: i& S( C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& l9 l4 i9 y5 A R" I
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, D2 n; H5 e, i# K. K+ r0 {# N! `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ J- M3 ^& Q/ d9 v/ q) Fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 W: b# p9 @% }) G% g& c
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 m, Z+ {3 i# ]. M. K$ m9 r+ a" Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 t3 E0 J- Y: b7 s, C
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
