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
# m: n+ z7 P9 pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 N0 ]7 E: R! E0 B9 X. s$ don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, A5 @6 r5 l- @8 r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give `9 \3 i6 J: s( m8 y6 o2 N
answers to our pointed questions., g+ h4 ^- K; a$ A" l% {0 o" J
% a8 {' Z! L, B, {/ P/ a' I8 kThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
- x% _7 K) _1 v; v: J! k- P45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! I( J# F( s4 Q& @3 N
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 B# v' `/ k6 }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. X% B# c! P0 U Z1 R7 L# _5 W; \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) e6 }* l' k' q0 D! b' G+ e% [medical schools.
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y) o3 U- E T ]8 B) N& r! `: qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* O# i2 W& {% D7 J) t- l# c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: c* \ z; P" h4 E- k8 [% [! ^
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 C4 W% L& M' [' S) p1 X M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- u8 C; i3 C9 g2 Y8 s
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* G& Q5 X- h5 Y k, C+ @5 F/ D& xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" p; G" f* F1 T0 R% K$ t! N
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ W: ^* a1 Q" a% p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* ?" \2 i/ C! l" ~- u6 Eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 n h( l/ V3 T' J3 O# S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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% w/ h5 E2 q- ~5 Y9 C" ?" vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 p, b6 h) x! E) I8 }3 F; i. U+ `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 E$ Q8 L/ T1 ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 b( X3 n/ b& g* x7 u2 R' r( ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 U' E0 e0 t) Q8 }. Z5 c9 [thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) s5 Z Q( i9 a) C9 U+ Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 E' U* ]5 L" F% }% M. ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 g# ?0 \. Y8 G% nDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; r* _, p8 c, d [a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& c9 r! F3 \# |: Tcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- e- S! g4 a' I% Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 g# A# }7 o( S
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 L5 [% a) r) ]. U2 _2 o4 vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! F% X/ W( Y1 S1 u: ~- d" T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 D! x( t8 g& B# r1 Vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( K7 z- w0 k5 d3 F% b* a# Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- S% G- O" o2 G; K9 Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 ~; g' x7 E1 r; ?" Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" C; L: i @7 a9 S+ W" m5 ~hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ d6 i/ L/ e$ T! L: @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! o, ~5 `& n( K7 T. ?) Hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( o/ P$ R! R. ]: H; rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# ~% a/ T W" Y8 |
are spaces.
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9 e8 a, d6 ]# W0 ~5 AThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 `7 B8 T8 {: `) X: V8 u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 X% |( V4 m1 B; z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 j0 b; R3 b8 {7 v7 l7 {& C
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 [% f1 |0 v% }# s, |3 I/ |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 c) s: v! b* v" K" W
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( V0 r5 i. G" V% A4 S! R
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 m6 F- z; V) q3 _6 b
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
! v6 K+ F, O$ zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 u" V B2 ]$ W- J1 D
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
