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. f9 D5 U+ j, f2 F4 B4 i0 q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ I+ J$ F/ F& B! `8 Y: q6 ?on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 n. p6 Y! p6 k8 S+ X r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 u6 W3 S$ ]/ `8 C5 [8 V) banswers to our pointed questions.
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& {* e2 g5 m5 R1 q9 Y$ A HThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% i$ W6 [0 @8 L) k" r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) @" l7 h+ h+ B% n* v; ]: V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: J9 s( ?4 S. j; G1 ]- N: l4 D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! u; H6 f( i" [# Q" Z, g% y$ Cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 g# ]4 } |/ X6 C' Emedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ }. P: P( X- A, r# S4 a0 |/ ^' ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( X: I: d6 l/ Sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# q; U: y9 B+ q+ d' [assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. M# N& }( e, ^' e* _# Q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% x5 C. c: k) V( X) b( bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 n* v; b$ E! Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* B: P3 D# l! ]
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- i0 j) F. {$ P: }# K
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ s; n% G4 F- d3 j% I; T# fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 B/ g2 b% j. L7 i" {! r6 ?" Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, X+ c6 z# z8 E: h" G3 Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! N( X& z, \9 }8 i5 B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 v/ f1 s; l, F, W
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 L1 M6 ^1 ~( B# A4 y$ i( @/ i
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 R8 R5 v6 Z- ]divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 Y0 K+ K6 l5 a5 c# T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- U8 A& `4 I* d4 i* \a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 t' k! E7 o$ J( L/ Z
charge the fee defined by the state.& K! s. t O$ J6 g% J+ ]& Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. B8 O6 A, R4 j) kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 ?) Z2 Q8 T& K4 `
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& M% X0 }. e9 ~, ?2 b1 _/ htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- b) X% \, F2 C) pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 J# I7 ], Y0 Y! T! iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" D. P+ P+ y; j ~, w
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! \; r: Z- z2 f/ x S
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# i/ c: u( P* a* d Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! _, J2 A7 e# g# e$ W1 |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* ~: |% {) I. }+ m! g! i3 e) N% Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) p# v2 p& d, }4 s2 j$ t5 h7 C! C
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# [; p% f5 I5 z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 P) A6 {" T/ D) s2 r$ o
are spaces., r5 {: y: Z2 q) T$ E
" i8 q7 F* o2 t+ t: H2 ~, T. CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 z( v; j. s; B( D7 H1 E* Z
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* x _& m' t2 Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! C% E2 B6 r& Y2 h q0 j/ w! H/ K* Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 J5 L; p7 s9 b5 o6 I+ k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! I+ ^: h" F$ ^4 e. Q1 N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ \- q. @! P2 _% `
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- T' \3 w2 G9 B- s; U7 Z `; Qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* h( H* ^, f( o. Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 u9 x6 l+ u% l! }0 O% p4 o
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
