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
( T$ q6 j" n) R# K# Z: u3 j, P6 _8 {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 j) G7 p; K1 p+ r' y) Z7 i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 ~; w- a* A) z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
J8 M8 S' E/ |. panswers to our pointed questions.. K+ ]! v7 H# H# S6 x( Y2 p
) n7 _7 ^% A$ N" {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
/ V/ R% h( M/ g7 T$ J0 o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 r' ~5 T: r* iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ `/ ~) f0 U% cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( ~* }; ~% b% u+ c5 l9 s& C5 \: Y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% m4 [7 j) Y. J" o; e) T$ V" Z$ Z) pmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 ~5 R4 k' E; c! X) [& H5 ~% ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: o' N+ R& X+ H# u# M* W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; A a% }) A" Bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- e& D' M; \. [- f" ~ B3 H) A
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ h; S7 G# F# r7 o# B2 Q: }
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ P7 u5 }8 k2 A) p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: ]0 N* c# H6 R; v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 G- ?% F9 m& l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ c9 ?! B Q( E# g: i, z( T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 d6 t: y# M- S- R9 E
, E6 Y4 a' ^+ i" f; SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, Q- s$ L7 C" ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 i$ w# j- V6 j9 u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 @- R# I3 R) j/ Q, g8 q$ ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 G& _4 |! A( l, H; |9 n0 Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% n# l) _/ n: W, T) Z* f* |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* V) ^& S3 F( q' V% s4 `0 rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. c7 R6 U2 j9 r; O: z% a
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ k. Q; C( z7 X5 |7 j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 B0 v1 i1 q/ d- U
charge the fee defined by the state.
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. G# g7 U4 H4 n8 V4 x' e- fThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) c5 B" Y- J/ V, h3 L; a( ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 X, o. T- l1 |# z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, L% `0 r! [) O7 q; l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ r+ s3 S5 j% T3 P% s% _8 i9 @seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, ]3 P/ `4 g* I; U- N! kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& B7 l) M! u8 u- T Z: @
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 c T- F3 r- i7 Y" @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 E9 h: o2 I# b( {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" C+ C! [8 `8 E- i$ a8 U0 D6 K$ ?: C
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. \! B& b* |0 L. q$ J" zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 c$ r) E5 `7 `4 a6 I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; n3 u. Y x x) O' F x# Lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ a6 t" y" f0 hare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! | @, z$ g: c1 j4 s. U1 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ {2 U5 p: S% _% @" [" b
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 w1 V9 `& Q+ e8 [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& H+ C4 `& e' m0 r% l3 L( l
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 ~( J) [& k" T3 }* J2 b
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 f- x+ H- I3 hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ [% i# [/ s" }; P2 }. U: D
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 \7 c# u/ p9 _( k6 k3 D
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 |) k5 ~/ I$ r% Y' Y9 O
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
