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& k2 } {, n$ E. V. G- ]& d* i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, \4 K5 N" P _9 R# j0 C6 don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" O# w# }& ^5 C* V7 T+ D2 x' f) |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! x8 F4 F% i% J+ |' n* u
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ G$ a: ]( a/ k0 h6 y) q6 Q- P5 r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ S3 D- z' \4 T% e! F* Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
) d2 o1 ~4 }$ P7 ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams }6 ]2 e# l `6 ]7 X
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 C7 k* t" w5 p3 u6 v; S* Smedical schools./ t8 i( G6 v% |8 o' C2 R
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ I( t3 J2 |) N! {# Z& I0 Ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 g6 J) o; u& I0 g5 J% W: G: c
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! Z; o) }& u6 c: {# N( D8 ]1 B: q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! {5 G& ?! B/ @& q/ |, x" Gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' i. Z, t) f9 t3 J7 {$ [- o4 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ R5 n; j, {( ?+ e6 G8 e! I. iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; h: y* q! A; v! fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 t, A2 T. b$ O+ J( _1 W5 N; Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
h. W; s( g( A! _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. f) T1 F+ q9 F$ D5 A. G) |$ \; nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" y! Q5 b1 _7 Y* @' C% y* A( X4 Ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( h. V5 u, x" X2 j/ G. p; @ T+ H) ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ ]9 r" w" G. X5 G+ }. tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% K6 p1 c7 _# k7 I/ |1 `$ S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 m7 P9 f; P: Z! R4 n* M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; C. y: N1 l/ a" a# \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ y$ @$ L& j5 ^% _% \! O8 v7 b! Z1 D
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 o1 A& N" B0 p5 r- o; j% I
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! ?4 g+ @! n9 _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: L; o0 ~+ U P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" m) O$ y. s8 C d
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 o' K% q5 v/ T: z F' cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 M, i8 V3 w. W5 x# ]working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 E$ q) p% T# Y3 m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ P c: r# X" g+ {; H2 n4 Z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! a* P# c0 n* @ h; F5 ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% m: s9 M+ {0 Q8 |+ ~
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 j/ d* M5 P7 M( g% E( J& M$ J5 b
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ u8 {$ y. b6 o( qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& [5 n* s( a! W/ n+ a$ ~; f
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( `+ C- l* z, U
are spaces.5 U% A) @( ~- T
6 V0 q$ f' r! @9 M0 ~, m* PThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 C, ^, p- P) v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% ] h" w$ y% Y8 u2 H+ m3 {/ a
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( \) t0 l' R- E- z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different- Y" ~) v1 A3 c! U$ P) L ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the T* k2 D( S3 W5 ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 O! L5 L! p7 R9 F. F2 Z( mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 r! D; v4 t2 d' N0 icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) d* V5 W0 b4 `( u7 z2 bis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 ]: K! D7 w; O0 i' w
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
