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
3 W0 |% d+ Y8 d6 I1 Z9 Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; O( E U. h1 A, {1 R+ g. Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 m& ]+ h Z! `7 K7 {% w
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" c# c4 }2 ]) w+ M: u7 i. f
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 b9 X+ E+ L" X T$ r: i) {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) y6 N& b9 Y" qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. X9 n( M3 O( U# H& i; K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ n( ^% F$ K1 V) c e3 H5 [- s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 o& m/ Q q( a; ]( m9 g6 c9 wmedical schools.
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5 ]. q$ o* E# E+ ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
\: R9 D5 O1 X2 _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* \5 @) U+ m' d& R; h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 G9 A% l0 z. N% K4 c- }8 ^assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 Y. @, G' |$ { z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ B0 g) A4 C w& @' u: D3 gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) C5 u9 I: K" z* {; ~seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 _$ e2 P7 s3 I- \8 f% R8 g1 z! _4 C2 p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' {* x: Y H7 Y5 Z/ b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" c! E- Q4 l! J! J
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ D M6 c3 y; q' g! R+ q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ v8 i( ~) f9 }. A
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 B8 s( Q1 |" B% k+ Phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ l7 H9 A' X( u9 v; l, s1 Z4 i
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! p' k% n% Z9 \3 @4 @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 c* t% H! F+ @/ j) p1 E
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 ]3 ^. }& T! T3 x9 r
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 `7 P, h0 m# V+ }) H& L: b: C
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 E v" V1 l' C- G6 V; Kcharge the fee defined by the state.
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3 J# c G x5 W. h1 N) CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ _5 |$ n1 _* N3 `5 Q5 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) t k4 z* H: v9 Z9 C* pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" G2 \/ }. {( E' f+ z* ^; ^3 P
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) b4 i2 k, V- p: m* `3 C3 S# w+ gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ C% i1 ^7 U/ _
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ w @9 v( ~: i% Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 D$ D5 b' h& x2 o$ }you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 b0 i4 i% c, l& s1 Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ u2 H, ]5 R! x9 o- x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 N% i C# s8 R) j& qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ G0 z, j1 i; r( d' Q4 ?" Mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 o/ J8 N$ S- L9 |* ^: h+ z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# y+ l6 |1 ?: @* z( L5 D" \
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 N; v/ |3 k' o" _" A& ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; z+ u7 s/ A4 {+ G
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 D% b9 W4 `$ D' O, V; D- `, O
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 `* J: k3 P" N7 \
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 |8 j+ T" V7 K: Vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 o8 t- _$ V1 Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) z5 n, {) i: r/ Z5 Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" j6 u, I" f ]8 S1 ?is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( e+ T: o8 f! B$ B0 `- z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
