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# A0 j; w3 @2 ~( G
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 X# N9 v6 M7 L( W$ `% e, f9 F
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
) N8 W% \( J% n5 r# g"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' M; J* Q) k" Canswers to our pointed questions.
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. Y; K0 U2 Q- J7 `5 M. eThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; i$ t2 a8 N2 P0 I7 i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, s @# U! R: a- o; o- |: \. k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 \8 _$ Y) @; g0 g, ~
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ j! O& ~9 ~9 w* gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) Y1 ^( {- u j' y1 `4 D- x, _medical schools.
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, f3 N0 @2 F. h" V+ \1 @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! E; \; H* ?; |! Sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ D9 ?2 a. F$ m/ W9 ^: k `% Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ e& f: u1 s" W) G' s" m
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( S% n& c) N% u5 e& S( `
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% O: w; o4 C/ a% d* F( b% qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There8 g% d' F% `8 G' K
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* c; D& W% B' N3 j! b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ }5 ?2 [# L& r( z+ s+ @5 C8 m
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some/ o+ m! \" p/ z0 I9 N
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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, n7 q. m0 o" UThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ @9 u E" y0 f9 U2 n# D! a" Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. f l4 a0 [% \4 f4 O0 S
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 w) N0 [& A( ?- ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ }6 V& R; c2 e2 _! N1 P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) ?' @* `$ K* ^9 U9 rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' T+ P/ N3 _) Q, d0 ~9 r8 Y2 M+ fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 g) g; w7 x3 ?, MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 v- B$ F+ ^1 P# ~, ^$ a3 P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 H6 c' X* R* t' E; R" R
charge the fee defined by the state.
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' u! K9 w& C& o4 @ N7 gThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 |0 d8 R* R e: q" {on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) o( {2 s, P5 z+ h8 I, _) m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 J N. o5 S2 o0 }- |+ n3 d* [- Ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' K9 I! P3 a$ m9 w$ b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 V# u4 W7 W5 E( T5 ~8 Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* J; M) Q, Z9 m* y- H4 [! C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: p7 F; T- K9 R9 \4 Y, x: V3 t1 y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- j6 i/ V+ U4 l8 p) ]: |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) l4 A" s$ Q3 C- p8 H0 i. ?hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: n' U& o* j4 ~' O0 x1 | W% R, Jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ T2 A! H5 X3 Q% C3 l0 `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* Y" @% ~0 ^$ J" lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- ~0 [ s# _( \- u" I" @( d* [7 g
are spaces.( L: d9 q3 h; Z3 X) {' Y/ I: v% C& g
, m* s- l% |- g0 D) |2 Q8 e- t0 kThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' X0 p8 Z' c! m7 l# I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 b/ u8 ]) d4 O6 B5 T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" d3 ~0 G! f6 F( q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 m9 I9 O$ s. b/ [3 s8 I0 Fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
8 g6 F( x- X- B5 m2 t/ q! Lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 g( ~, ~8 b( |! ~; Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 L+ F+ Y# z" v3 q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 q( N! O- { C. o2 r \
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( |$ x- G' o$ H `% s We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
