我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 b1 Z9 p+ F* O% ?& ?) H
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- }' \) i- C; I. Z: {on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
6 Z/ w: P, j, F2 J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
Q, D7 D: y. a) p/ sanswers to our pointed questions.
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1 `- g H2 m9 Y; S+ ~" gThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 \4 B) c& K4 N9 P7 r, N, d% n45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, o) d6 L5 X! [( j4 \4 tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 t0 u! D1 u3 }( q: J; Hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) H( Q3 v9 F+ \9 tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ Q, D | B+ S+ d. h$ E9 b. Amedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 n! k5 j8 v* {
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants h# M* b: t5 Q. r' W* u! M" d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( l0 X; H# T$ lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ J/ V5 J+ h' d3 C1 D2 ] j& w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
X A s" b1 K+ T) K" g" a. Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 e/ g y( Q X" m2 b1 k: c) {. Y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 D! P$ N7 r7 E( r. Q" k. bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; O3 P$ _6 ]& e+ ]8 F' G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 p4 S" m) F; X, }6 V0 t8 Psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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! @8 q- s& B% L) s* J5 [$ @The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 G2 `) u( A8 T p2 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
) p) s# N) D: P+ L0 [0 jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& f. r" i6 N; y7 ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ [6 ~/ t$ X/ Q5 `thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 q8 y: Y/ B" g* _0 Jsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# H) Q# ?0 }- M' {! j; j+ L& w1 P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' Z2 U* a' K" |9 t3 k, _& m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% U# \' o% o- w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# |- E v! E/ \3 U6 ^: W; a5 ^2 }; f
charge the fee defined by the state.3 E' t; F* u/ S6 d9 [: m
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& E9 [. I) ]+ E. ~% T
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ R ^0 {1 S8 Z9 O9 d$ J4 v. Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% P$ J ]! g' t; _truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 F8 i8 r9 V- y8 y. x4 e
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 _1 j& @% q( H) U V
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' a9 y, `2 g8 s" k0 ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( \; |( c) k: y' Q+ Z( D3 Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, i- l4 p9 k9 a( r0 X6 ^
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ S9 \* s. A, m7 B3 |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ u4 {8 S# H5 k( ^; \6 u; p
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 L! i. t( Z/ W D5 I# T6 y
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 m* N* E8 ~: }0 Ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 \5 l1 @5 F+ z+ f% |, L l: gare spaces.9 k5 e* U U* b/ R5 t! ^' {
7 K8 D8 g/ A0 u# ?* VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- L$ i" m9 O* R& ~" }! N* c# l4 l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- G) e1 A2 t$ P% y# \% r8 D
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( W3 D% X% ]5 M8 B, r3 z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 x8 U0 @1 }: k3 N
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% N5 R) e4 Q& l3 v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! ~' _ a; C/ U
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ X' X9 W4 U$ O- C# t2 R$ {1 l1 I5 ]
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- T0 h& {1 v1 q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) L/ S9 q' q" ]. ~# E0 i. E We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
