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
; f2 C; f+ \ b8 q6 Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; h8 O/ z! N; J* v9 G
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! o. q- Y8 s$ I9 a' c, g$ \$ ^- S"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; x4 @0 e I% F4 _. ~" a y! p! kanswers to our pointed questions.
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1 G: K( d8 ]1 R, D% qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, K) ], O2 t/ M' \ t/ g
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- l) j6 h! r* L$ ?/ w( C1 q P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* o. w. g) _7 D' h: S- s$ nfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 i. v1 k4 x$ ~. U4 ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 D: J* k' c2 B3 T0 Imedical schools.
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9 T3 p1 L4 }5 gEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; i9 [8 J( W- e1 Z5 a" W( @8 s9 Y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
" S# X/ q$ K0 C; pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ N# D6 i% J/ I
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 M- a9 _. ~0 U( z! ?* O4 cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 e4 s# x# \+ ^& c; R, M* u; ~, \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ H/ V- W* U$ x; R. L7 V( Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 L6 F' S0 }& h0 c; R* b) Q3 @+ I' ?
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! a4 p, l n8 z9 sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 P! o- Q: Z2 S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# i" g$ r) |' [7 m+ T3 P
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 s, X4 D: o! i4 x
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ Q) p' s2 c9 a5 ?- B F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 i2 a- v* B8 _' f; i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 w! P4 X/ r$ k( H8 r% vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, q9 w% A! U# ~. u" e2 k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 J' ]2 F' H8 f [5 N
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. R8 X* {6 u4 c, ~* z$ o$ a
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ w& g/ k1 d1 u$ K& |5 ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 ^; _3 j% X3 a4 h
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get; C, e) k' y0 B ^
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 \% X. r5 z) c) M" A+ q
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! s+ \5 t4 K! \9 L& v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, [/ ~& x R H( useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# N- q( p3 g) r' Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 Y( F# {' J( p3 c9 Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, c, B% K$ U; M" ] T" l
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# B) `4 [/ _: p- E6 t( |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) r1 p& m1 @& W, n8 Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 {: e) R! X7 H$ vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. f0 E3 D) Q, G2 u7 {% `4 ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 }5 u6 B' k! l" j& d+ [buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! w1 N& w) P$ {/ M8 m) l& `
are spaces.# m8 X0 t6 k5 n9 r! P& i1 g
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 f: a7 j. W) J1 Z9 O( u6 D+ Dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 @% ^+ E; J$ }2 {
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 h5 {3 n/ q0 p; ^ g5 u# z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' m' ]: B/ d; L. K0 @! S3 k, Sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. G% U& { G. l4 d U
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! w0 l$ o5 u! x3 A9 a O$ `
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
& z' J9 `+ g8 u7 L( ~( Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 d* V! l0 @. A2 t5 O2 p$ Dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# R) d0 U" U+ T% [& D" P
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
