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
0 _% C# J% G# n1 Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. t! G# e1 d- v
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
2 w, W9 r1 ?( S: Q6 }# K. z6 Z+ c& `"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& O1 r5 }! M3 q* W% m
answers to our pointed questions.
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* w! n' b7 I1 F' g8 \8 l4 A( }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; W# L( Y* k5 K3 C45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 h h4 @) _' w5 i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 E6 j6 f5 c; I6 C: q: ^3 Bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! E Y7 Y5 y3 a) o; v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: ]' m/ I; X2 c: V+ k4 g$ W5 N! M& K+ O
medical schools. V! w5 ^" w/ K
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 h' F8 i3 y, q# ^3 o5 ` igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: y2 ]4 W: P4 C/ }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 d( o, Y' u% A7 J- w- d+ }. G
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ x, T) [1 ?: T0 ]
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- e* p) j" |5 N% Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 w; B6 B- N2 z6 P2 Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ K$ r& S" d# [3 U; I3 J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' u6 M) p- @/ |3 O( ]- `$ |
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 v) e' d! Z( N8 u* e" @ Y( k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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6 ?7 W- _5 e" i! fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" p8 c. ]* ]6 O$ x7 Bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( }( y0 v9 E, V' L; m0 K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( V+ H7 E' n a/ S/ E( [( p7 I
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 G% G8 I/ ~+ J2 u5 w' x
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 `& C/ R( T5 p) e4 P( ~3 [
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: v1 \- N+ o' O. `2 k7 S2 Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
. j/ G$ _ Y7 } Q& |8 n6 F5 EDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 R0 I, t3 t5 @" W, I+ n9 W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 i; ]9 U8 v8 J5 ^
charge the fee defined by the state.
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6 _3 j5 A* L/ Y* F/ S9 PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; B9 Q4 q9 T& K' k3 I. s. Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* S2 ]& j) V1 \: K$ E5 e4 T9 O5 Kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- ~$ Y5 B9 C" ~3 x7 ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 g$ `" K- B5 t2 zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, x2 {% o% K) N3 p8 E7 {- j8 xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* s2 C5 `% o: _+ m( j3 ^6 k! s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 h+ F0 n [9 H' m1 M* V7 g I2 Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. W% c: m5 [6 Z2 H5 v; p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 ^% W8 d! X _; N7 T: F I2 A# Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ K( o. E/ i! S- |+ A0 ^2 q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 p0 T8 H3 U r+ N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; F9 `- c+ A7 sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 F9 \8 G( M% G( M& @7 ]- H \
are spaces.! v1 Z; J6 `9 Q8 ]
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi b/ N. m0 G+ O& D" g
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( l3 X: c) Z. Y6 N7 ]3 I
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ e8 }9 C2 Y% a; ^- E Z" G3 Z: [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 Z6 j& e& ^. ` |
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 c) B7 ?. {) @% d! N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ K( d+ i" u! p8 W0 g! Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! A& B; z0 |- mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 @5 S% @5 O' Bis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% r+ @% L) @' s- `3 F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
