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
4 P' A) |, r6 }: N/ astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went/ Y0 p: d/ {1 b( b) g, _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! j3 s5 B0 A z2 M- o9 u7 M
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 v( U# u2 v& o/ N( H/ canswers to our pointed questions.7 M) B( r2 J- c+ W4 c) I& u1 i
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. ?8 b% Q3 c" ] Z A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# `9 V* `! X$ y% m8 S# w
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
& S s# M, C2 q) {8 E' dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! h6 m, Z# l8 A( G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 w6 z* H/ F( e2 }; V- bmedical schools.
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I& ]! ?: M) VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 n: m6 g: I+ o* igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& a( b3 Y4 Z5 O
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 ]2 u0 T4 P. ]9 \# Kassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 l- U) H4 `; A1 ~5 q7 B/ J
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 ~0 e |4 x# H; R& X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( a) [- G( E0 G) a3 @
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" G4 I3 v# L1 L% l! {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 }7 a9 J: s" k* Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% T0 o+ ^' e8 n- J- O9 r1 X' bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. n3 U8 f4 a* ~& {
4 j1 D: u" {- Z6 _& Y3 B, nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ {0 L' q& o) ~3 O/ D: }6 {private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" [* n' j. E e( n$ ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 S* y8 Q V& E$ P: k
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
% k6 R% A" |1 n5 _! Y. {; ?& Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. p% K5 e% Z" f/ a5 q* t' y& w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. I5 _' X3 \+ q6 rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 X0 p3 B" o* d: y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 m4 l0 s" h. v7 ] `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- u% ~0 {9 D3 u& H7 }2 c
charge the fee defined by the state.
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, C7 W' n6 G; c# f, S3 K4 S; [* lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" X" N) _$ Y( Y4 u7 h
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 B2 I, ?( d" V+ r/ d5 T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# U$ g7 S- _7 v' G8 F9 w( L9 ^truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, t& S1 t: f) y3 a ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 p9 \4 ?7 K2 h( bworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 ?8 {$ z' X1 |# L, M! c2 Zschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. z" V/ |2 |- s% kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ]% R# v: L* k" B3 k) {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- f; K4 s2 f% M* w; Q3 uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ R" t& S! x" v, u# u: t$ I, e. B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ V& @ g" D: b3 r/ ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 d0 S j$ h6 h' q) `4 ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Y5 J# N* Z# pare spaces.! M3 ]6 r: R3 v) w9 I; {6 b; o* E0 D
5 Q5 A2 ?; w" ?& t3 oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 q1 D( D% o5 Y+ @to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 D% f+ |* z5 E0 l+ m7 Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ A1 r* V% w* K/ i+ z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' S; B0 F" }' ^$ Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# ^" u/ j* h' T; bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 ]$ q' Q; Z5 e) A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 ?7 Z5 z/ g, b2 L& U
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 l# }4 `4 `1 o1 ~& Tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& F5 D! ?! Y J) S We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
