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
* W C+ A4 B; d$ Y& Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ W$ }8 ]. e! E8 ~2 U0 von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* p/ i9 k6 T0 c4 p& t# u8 G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& R5 n; t) r0 ^3 F
answers to our pointed questions.0 F0 k- `% q. ?& q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 j$ c+ o" a, L: q/ m: x! |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: l2 a, j3 W4 X8 t* g, `( r& K* e
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 R3 a0 @% l2 {9 c! rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
9 M5 u+ v: [8 E) F+ T$ Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ k9 F" I2 L; t
medical schools." x) D: n6 D- o& p
" n2 ~1 ~0 T2 \# d! y3 F# `8 q ?8 gEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ ^7 W$ e; e/ ]2 y2 v! I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& N. J M9 p. z G8 Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
) [2 B1 N$ `, I1 hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 r1 Z% B C; m0 J. m, @
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 S) c+ C5 z% W$ L* x
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 V8 ]- y: w3 ~ h; _- Gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
9 I3 i7 [" A a- Cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 @' m: W7 z, G9 I$ X4 w2 ?$ J
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ [- S/ J1 |1 \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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3 f+ D% j% [# |- [% OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 ~/ o T* q) f7 F, K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; a+ ^, ^8 h: Q; ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ ?3 E* A+ F) t/ D' }* ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; m$ x+ }( h8 @* z% {' P G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- a0 l! W3 g# t z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# j3 U8 l' [/ ~1 i% @/ n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% m! r1 w2 @; u! L% WDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 }/ I/ ~, A: J: [9 r* D9 }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! k3 S# C$ Z& echarge the fee defined by the state.
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( k: x/ ?* _1 F$ K9 k: SThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) S* \* }$ S2 [; ~) o! n g: O" kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* [7 h! \7 R9 M! V, v5 ~2 b% @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 ~# r6 }& w* \2 h; B- l. ~ etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 J1 {' S i5 ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 [/ q+ o e3 Xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( @) K4 _1 b# j! A q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 m% z, p5 }1 D6 O5 Syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
x* ?7 T# I1 V( ?2 ptrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( s! V) {* W5 v) }9 k5 K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 ?9 K+ V3 m6 B* [
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 @/ Z( e" F: p7 b
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 W% H: v) t7 b: W
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" |% q9 ^* ^. Qare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 D1 X; I9 E% q$ h5 @1 X0 {to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) l% F1 v( X0 H, |4 Lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. Y8 S, W1 c2 |, l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. z H, K5 a& o; Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 |% n& }9 z+ C& r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& p* ?1 W3 p9 i3 n m* pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% C, p. ~) E9 `' l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 m, x* c8 |( e& ]# {, ~/ |8 Z8 |3 |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
4 B5 k8 C# d6 C- F7 o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
