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
6 J- D6 ~6 L6 \. `: n vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* a6 z/ F# Y) l- B* `0 O9 mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ }; m0 ?! m+ G$ @+ ` C \, t"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ y8 J* _7 Z" d) h5 S
answers to our pointed questions.2 E' J5 k& h4 H8 }
2 F, I7 z) {3 _% k, Z" ZThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 }5 I2 q: L& S0 W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' c' Z% g$ f, \, `" Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 Z9 B% Y( T6 k6 j; S. ?7 k& e' Xfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* }/ w9 ]3 e4 G$ mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 T) o% Y" f; }8 Y* F5 Imedical schools.. { z& a) s1 D5 ^6 Y6 Z' H2 |7 `
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 E4 ? v+ H/ b/ j: y- kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) z. E1 g# v6 h/ ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
6 R- y9 l. `7 q9 Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: H. Z' S0 M' } @- s) e: Dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) `8 Y8 a8 u! l3 M; R, z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) x9 V8 `4 Y/ p% w
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) \& a8 o: ]* E+ w) p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 A6 y+ n3 Y! U1 N, s# @0 ashortage which the government is addressing by converting some# a. |" h( Q1 j- y. T- c, Y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' i+ M; I$ V9 ^
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# O$ i j& P( j' }- f. b) Y ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 G. [1 c) J( Z2 t7 L
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' z9 I# H, ], R/ T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
/ j$ |1 q ]+ Asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; Y! _- ?2 a3 M! P2 u
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ P5 B7 D$ S1 M8 F% Y5 }. CDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
]8 c. I8 \' T+ q/ a9 r- Na lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& ?/ z; ^6 L* f7 qcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
8 R0 X# K7 E) \: T6 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 O6 b7 O+ K8 G; H d8 dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
8 ~: D" T* _) Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
2 y# k ^2 L& ~$ i( O7 w ~' gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ N* w: A2 k8 S: g/ Xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 V/ c9 O7 y7 j; }
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" r9 O) x5 X9 G; n+ T! _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) V X7 X3 d4 D" k- c
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 d2 V; y9 ^9 W- W8 lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
" e W3 Z% E! d4 k1 S0 f* Y3 bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. c( L3 X" E7 F3 t; M/ z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! z; Z: ~2 f/ p3 n& ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( D$ U. @# |7 o+ d
are spaces.4 e& O* E9 }" ^/ x! D- ^
& i2 S, v* ~/ u* Q, E9 h X% Q( bThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 t5 j% `4 Q9 ^9 ?
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" b8 t; O8 O9 M0 L' S; x$ Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* C. @# W* E! B- t" K) e: o4 y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( S. b W! E( q' H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 g$ g( o7 C# z9 o: b K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 D: c; H+ R; w- A: ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 }9 a9 k5 b# K. N( i) v
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
j) G5 O7 ?0 c) R/ Uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; |% u5 {2 F. l7 U- k# j We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
