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
3 I/ ]! T4 |6 A5 u! p4 y9 Tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- M1 r7 w/ b1 u" E$ Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" ~+ g- L* m" f% {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 l/ W. O9 Z! k* F5 S+ banswers to our pointed questions.
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2 {4 G9 S w9 DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 e {! g' f+ V
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 v, T& K6 i& ?( b9 ^2 D6 e- t! Y. Fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ Y( x( Z/ v* z8 L( q9 }8 o/ C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& j8 |" Q' z" q Q0 m$ Fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ c% g- N8 x2 \4 ^( u; ^medical schools.
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7 L% w$ k6 ~9 CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' p' Y& n- G0 m5 a5 I) ?# ]/ ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% U. Q; l* P2 R( n8 O# G
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: w9 u" Y8 s! ?7 q9 {9 f3 v- K9 u3 bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* L+ N+ y) N- w) _; f3 |: \) v& ^
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- }7 D% Q6 c) i0 H( s! ^over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) O( M; F( S7 w C k; @0 ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" f V# t; ^4 p& v& N9 m4 amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; B% N: Q4 s# D7 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some) S7 \0 U" E. P$ S, S$ C% Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) u; h Q7 h& e9 a5 R U2 fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and" M% n9 _5 }9 R% ^# e7 Q- P- u2 z( L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 Q+ X) n# f7 _0 ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ C" }9 U/ M9 `/ t( L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 }9 O/ W( T. lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 w4 S2 V, ?7 ~& }* m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ p3 Z; f, f8 y# x1 eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* F; R2 b) r2 K9 N, X& I/ n, Qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( ~$ e! M% l, W7 zcharge the fee defined by the state." M" b4 G& |: F- X: {
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& I9 V4 ]4 ?% H+ o" E# G
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 E3 F ~$ l* C" X
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. u9 y# C: @; A8 \# f' W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" b6 @7 Q0 I2 T7 G9 |: U
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: M: ~ Y8 ?, S& v5 b9 F; iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& d$ i7 D, Y8 z, Y: B+ @7 B1 {( Dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: B5 b; |$ E& M, r" ]/ s. p
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' R2 W+ M. f5 |& L
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) v1 q: }3 E% ^5 Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ g J( _6 J( a9 }people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. J% P2 `, ~2 c$ ?7 z( @; L/ C
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ h0 T3 G9 R" g/ E9 q' n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! o! d+ c0 T/ O
are spaces.: f" |! K& }) h' y0 ~; W
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
9 }" e i. D3 O8 U* m. M3 Y( N/ cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
, p' Y5 q/ I$ i$ ]3 g. Xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! a7 n3 t4 P1 Z1 c! o, I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 v' v. X; M1 z/ c3 S2 ^
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; K6 a% s: l9 A( K" S/ _) Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. D7 i1 Q$ j P8 A8 L3 {- y5 Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; k) G' D, p' r6 qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# c2 s# M) [$ [+ i/ g6 Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) ]- [$ ?) i" Q4 w0 t We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
