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
8 n. D- i3 c! z3 q* D" U. Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
1 F0 z. ^7 A, J+ w0 K! ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 i0 m3 B8 O1 W' U" w" F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ b6 Z5 {6 B+ y& oanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 y3 n/ s& H% n! f) Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" A, u; g3 ^4 m
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 c) l) ?: Q! \6 gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! c( g8 `' r) I' lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 H# E; O- y, P5 o- Q
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% x1 {+ A; r3 i- w/ Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, i0 k7 ~0 r. L) [" D$ A" g y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
2 N/ e0 c. J1 M& j: massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& _% ?9 F$ z1 G
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# w. T) }: g( A1 u7 g; V t
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" v J ?/ t6 E) sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: T; {/ Z _3 @7 p: R
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- R# |% a/ W4 g6 E9 b" G' Gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 E! R7 t: n8 T k4 d0 @sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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7 V) N5 U: ^+ R& T2 [! L- JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: z8 p# r0 [& G( g; j! {' }+ k6 ~
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 @) y1 T1 _/ Z& p7 k: G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 I9 f) U* D8 z3 W" P8 i) }, E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% E- b% C) W" K) o; {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% U4 E( \4 S( n, nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- @* {2 |& j6 I" ?) U4 p# J z, E' T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! G$ W O' j5 eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ I3 g% H6 q8 d& {
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. E$ y; Y8 _) i
charge the fee defined by the state.
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' K* m- u! ]0 W: I& [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& I1 M1 `* x: |5 e: `& b; }
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# h4 s( D& a9 k3 ^: c: M5 Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ A, J; Y; }6 U2 ?
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ P2 H; |) [3 T P- q: c6 o# d7 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the P3 F+ ^. C1 Q5 o6 ]6 `
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% ~" |1 W; N: s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; r7 I! `2 f+ D4 u. n. e% s. m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ k1 V8 _% V+ f2 C! K9 \8 W" itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ k( u3 U) E+ c1 H! x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 B8 X5 Q' N1 K# Z% H, _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* M* m g& }! G' s% J4 L0 tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ^( L0 S0 o; K1 C5 O7 s) m+ V; n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there" J T# g$ ]9 s
are spaces.7 v0 `9 p# b. F
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) s" ?" _' ^0 K [1 c9 d- v# Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# J" p* B& g# ` Q0 f, {5 ^own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 K& p8 o4 C6 M) M9 l. F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 _5 z) |0 o" B6 d' {9 T
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 p! K4 m# O- @) m
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' t, n$ g' @5 I- l! H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 E% A3 z* [( S1 b2 x$ Bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 Q) J1 i$ a% d: B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 U1 t. Q; h f9 a/ I. @
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
