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
R; y" _9 U& W7 `/ h' o; Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) ]' l) C& K) o+ j y( q5 J% g0 c
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 g. g' q% N; t/ C7 s; V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" y1 N5 \9 C9 N/ h7 wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) _- q# e0 ^( z/ i4 b45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, ^" E s' i2 B1 R8 f9 X9 qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( U8 m+ N c m$ M
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; W8 F; z% d- |. @2 X+ [0 g3 o
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 [8 k' ?9 _0 S6 P* F2 F6 @
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! P, A6 z# [8 {: T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' P4 @# T, I- X1 D
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' t# r8 c% ]& x
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 ], W; f$ x, N7 a9 L, C3 lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 d4 p7 ]. ^' jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, [7 U% {* P+ `* Z6 a' I
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 N- I" a0 W3 ~0 X J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# Y i! E( T( Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 S* E) A/ Z* b7 R6 B" wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 @. m, a* ^' U0 u
5 W+ W% }/ x) N; n b! [/ v) EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; r3 j! b8 {4 h0 a: W! `" M. o0 ?private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( @( q0 Y/ E j3 H3 ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% n7 g5 ~. X5 m5 H2 d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
1 [9 W6 a/ o- h; H4 kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# \% t% Q6 ?4 q! z, n! ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; t* `% d* H( s0 I l+ L6 x: h hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' C; w H; v8 T9 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% q1 g H4 b6 R/ {. i* j: l$ O va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 o) F5 R/ |9 hcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# l6 V, j0 b4 m3 zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 O+ f b% n8 r! Uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# f: S: d% m7 v% Struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( F& Q0 B* T# y, v9 [1 I1 rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: V3 z0 d! V, Y' N( V% E; M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ `" H4 c0 _% ?schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 ]4 {0 a; A0 z" }' N6 H) H/ Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* A3 V" ]% \+ a0 Q; g7 etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: n( M( W0 G2 T9 P+ x/ m: khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 z( T4 z* r7 C4 g/ X5 s- P+ P
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' T4 n$ F1 h! ]$ z% e# A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ?/ \% l3 t5 O: P0 b v
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" L Z- s( E; D7 e5 a2 i1 m/ Rare spaces.
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# i% F5 t1 l$ c2 m; i7 gThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; D3 z/ ?$ `' r8 M Z- Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( V7 z! N1 H7 y. u
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% a+ r1 K% `/ K3 p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& L, h/ W( `! M" _; w) u t/ hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# H: H; K6 T2 U2 T6 y& \9 k
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 _) y8 Y1 M* U. o3 q9 r8 c% a. \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" s) P. {! u" [) b4 tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
, `& ^# T& l0 Yis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 P; W( N; R0 j/ X3 Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
