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
: F- O$ F7 @7 p Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 A) d7 ^( o+ s7 v" r+ Q, [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," m+ u l/ P5 v( ]
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& d n5 i6 A% a: ?8 }answers to our pointed questions.- t. O* Y1 c6 R9 A9 R6 s, q, O
& z3 p- A3 D4 K# c0 x
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ H3 q6 [' j& K7 G0 T& f7 U" x3 ^, P45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! b4 @9 W9 d7 e0 a6 c) p/ D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 E: G+ M$ ?# B; T7 [9 zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& W; g5 W0 [7 S; dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" b! u. X% X% k9 x# ^
medical schools.7 z$ \5 e" C+ i/ ~+ I+ t1 G
/ o8 K1 @7 q3 A1 d. `" h5 |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 K' K0 y: _; S" Qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 n/ D' v( ~& J @
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 M5 k1 S9 o2 l) m0 U( nassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 l! A' y5 v- L& m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. i- x% o' R) u0 {# t+ I( Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" ~7 p1 D' L7 D$ I4 R/ {: kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, ]" k6 X9 `9 B' {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ {& b, `6 [, u" M/ D2 e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 U L4 J# s. O4 E( s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ A) Z9 g" B( Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# J% _# o. X; W/ r; l( H" jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% W' N( `0 U6 Yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) [3 t) v& d7 I* w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) t$ _8 p# |& d; X6 @7 N: Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% U3 M! m% ~, a" v. L$ `3 B
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 }* }: b# \; m% X B" Z; Y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- ]; _' p8 ]* ]- wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% S- r# E! J5 X$ W, a, S
charge the fee defined by the state.
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: X, }+ I# w, Z0 cThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
?3 L1 {" T* V/ Y% b3 g0 Son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ g( d% r8 [* ^* R
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: U. Y2 {9 k. |+ H struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
\1 }. k6 |+ `3 ^: w& \seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ R2 }8 ] ]. T4 J) \working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on. Y; t" {0 [. H5 O# \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 x% a* U& o8 r( L9 k( G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 k- p/ e8 m: T! G
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% s. P$ \/ F T6 ^' \$ f$ t
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; m* a2 F7 G: d# X# U x+ D; B9 E
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 n! |' N2 L+ o8 k
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ i2 y) w9 X% E/ L: k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 h0 d- p3 T8 Q+ L4 ^2 \
are spaces.: l- b) U1 Q+ J4 x& e$ H' N
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: a" F" w; Z0 v& O6 {3 Wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 L% e" J: ~/ Q7 F1 {" qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 m5 e+ K, f2 c: S- |9 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) J2 W3 g; d8 P9 l1 A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
/ L; I8 ]. p% u3 F$ Ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" k3 l$ @3 R( Z( X @, [" z7 T0 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 F& I, z7 s( z- A* o
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" U* v/ ]2 j3 ^/ Pis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: ` {4 x; ?) Q8 R+ N4 k# n. ?7 K, ~ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
