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
5 O6 n6 r8 z1 x7 s" S8 ^! L; m7 N* ]standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went/ f+ P% ~6 l4 N4 w
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 F: m& V9 @6 w1 c# O7 ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give Z x# d, L8 e! P- ?5 u' ?4 {
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 _2 H: }6 a6 C! ]1 h+ f" u) L3 L& i+ O45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 O$ v: q' |# T7 Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; M3 _* _& z. c8 tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
$ L' l% M$ ^: {( Lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 Y1 N1 u5 k/ F4 L& f: x6 `+ ^6 M5 U4 Lmedical schools.8 Z% M. I7 H7 u% o$ B
/ {; T5 E$ t* f, w7 kEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! y( o5 u" q* T% v* U4 ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 N, u! K) N) N9 u' G
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& o1 l- [/ M! }, u* bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 U9 N: i& P, T* o. O
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 p1 h7 A1 c' v4 Q# x5 q% a) }over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" ^* k- N, R: ]. t, Y/ Q. k1 Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 [1 S ^" x8 t1 I, u1 Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# f2 j& U. I' ], H! oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 {7 ]9 Q) I1 Q1 G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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! w5 g9 F& w* Z) Y, k- NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
[7 B/ V/ M) P( cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 `8 Y; L) ~; M6 {, ?9 z; isupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 z' h" a' R! ]5 _# r2 o. v ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 M$ b7 Y% g# Y; }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" L" G+ g [" }7 ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& |! ~; b& i$ u7 n& S/ V" g6 Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 l. I: S4 `# Y# G4 p* W0 N3 ?$ hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& D' |" w% b! ~- _5 U, h& O9 N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' D: r( N* Q3 w! Y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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# |' H' E' c) r$ [- z! ?There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ ]3 t P0 S4 H hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- V0 L8 V' q9 }& H
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" c N% J" ^% ^9 y7 ?: N; J! M; wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, n& S* i- z$ \: A6 W' {4 ^+ e6 T% h2 c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
% T ]; ~* \$ n( [* T( e0 G+ O8 M; j" kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% {1 D. c' z7 w) }: p
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) |+ y* f1 d) Z# L' `
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people q. d7 b+ v9 j5 I: H1 D
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ y6 ]. t: q8 J3 t ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 C- f( q; T3 R* ]4 z apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want [, ?, c# ~* k8 s6 ~2 ~1 V$ [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' g* P% k0 u8 ~( W$ t, z- [' V
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
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( u& ~+ |4 K) o5 _: y C+ iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* E3 M: x# f# G% G
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 i. A, U: b- U) r9 B* B1 o; ^own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) M& A% T7 W9 M: M/ G40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 _ g5 v1 u( M- M. g, N8 \ Z( ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
, {* W. H9 i/ ?- i( |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: G5 O8 ?/ J& B8 m: V. V4 ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 k+ z5 b4 G( W& u+ g/ R. V' n v- rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 U; q9 F: e" ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. E: ^; d# _+ S2 X) B
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
